I wanted to experiment with my idea to add improvised composition and sample it to use on the film clip I’m going to be editing for my submission. I took Raul and Jack to the performance lab.
We at first decided to work with the octophonic setup as I remember Dean showing me the plugin that lets you move the sounds around and I really wanted to try it.
I set the gain levels for Raul’s guitar and Jack was playing the Korg keyboard as well. I kept rerouting the set-up to hear what it was like to spin the sounds around and also pick a few of the octophonic speakers.
I then suggested that we do an improvisation similar to what we’ve been doing in the lectures but to a video. Just so I can see the reaction we have and the sounds we make. I still need to read the journal that Dean said that is in the library which speaks on digital improvisation. As he said they touch on certain things I’ve spoken about in the lectures of the brain trying to create patterns.
Raul had a video he made last year which was abstract and was up for interpretation. I decided to use an sm58 microphone and just create sounds around the space rather than be sat on one specific instrument or just controlling one sound. Jack decided to play the strings with a coin on the detuned piano in the room. We were hitting things and trying to find sounds using the foley objects as well as what was in the room. Raul decided to use the Korg keyboard and added some processing through Ableton.
Here is our outcome.
I think after doing this experimentation I was really impressed by what we came out with. I started rubbing the sm58 capsule along guitar strings towards the end and the sound was haunting and really nice. I really want to at least try if there is time. To do a similar thing to my clip with A Quiet Place. I also recorded with the H3 360-degree microphone but because the speakers were running stereo from behind the projector screen it didn’t really feel immersive. I want to try using the H3 in a different context as well.
Another thing I thought about was the fact that the clip we improvised to was abstract and I feel it’s easier to do abstract sound with the abstract video. I need to think about perhaps some rules or maybe multiple takes when doing it to the actual video clip I’ve chosen for the assessment.