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24:33
My Name is Harry Palmer
Mr Sandbags
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Okay I need to say a few things. Please read before listening!
I did not do the 24 hour challenge but I did try and hang around in the chatroom as much as possible with Glu, SisterS, and ChrisM while they battled through it.
At about midnight I wondered “Can I make 24 minutes of music in 24 minutes?” The short answer is “No absolutely not.” But, probably due to the hour, it seemed an interesting experiment to try and go on to make a “24 minute long track”.
Again, totally wrong and I should have stopped right there. But I am not that sensible.
I would not describe this as music so much as rhythmic noise and if you make it through more than 60s of this I salute you. If you hate it in the first 30 seconds then I implore you not to listen further because nothing about the remaining 24m is going to change your mind.
Most of the sounds you can hear are the result of taking the underlying kick drum track, mangling it with various effects, then layering the result back down. Somewhat embarrassingly I didn’t notice until I came to upload it that I actually half-inched the kick drum from a previous track of mine!
My favourite aspect is the rather spacey, echo-ey, and gurgly element that runs through the centre of the track.
I built that by:
- mangling the kick drum in two different ways and bouncing a full 24 minutes of each into separate audio tracks.
- building a cross-fader in Logics environment and imported a MIDI LFO object and used it to rhythmically cross fade between these two parts.
This is a trick I aim to try and develop as my experience with Logic’s environment grows.
Finally I used Peter Dines ParamDrumTR to create another beat that was, mangled with effects, and then layered down. There are no conventional synth parts used at all.
The final stage was layering everything together. I spent some time automating filters and delays in an effort to make it sit together comfortably. That succeeds and fails at various points but I am quite happy with some bits (e.g. the part around 10:00-11:40 where the track rhythmically bleeds through the kick).
Instruments used:
- Stylus RMX
- Reaktor+ParamDrumTR
Effects used:
- AudioDamage: DubStation, Replicant, & BigSeq 2
- PSP: Nitro
- FabFilter: Timeless 2 & Volcano 2
- Logic: AutoFilter, Multiband Compressor, Adaptive Limiter, Noise Gate, & Gain
- Camel Audio: Camel Crusher
- Artificial Audio: Obelisk
- SmartElectronix: SupaTrigga
I also used a couple of Logic audio loops as sidechain sources for the Noise Gate.
So, why is the track called “My Name is Harry Palmer”?
Well if you’ve seen the film ‘The Ipcress File’ you’ll know about ‘The Ipcress sound’ which is a disorienting wash of sound that is used to break down personality and brainwash people. As he’s being subjected to it the eponymous Harry tries to assert his identity and save himself. That noise is what this track reminds me of. It’s a good film, go see it!
I’m uploading this track in a spirit of experimentation rather than as a product that I think stands on it’s own merits.
Caveat auditor!
Mr Sandbags
said
Took a few hours to make. For example a lot of fades are hand drawn automation and the whole thing is 540 bars long so that took a while even though I can copy & paste automation data in Logic. The 05:00 mark I went a bit mad with the filter resonance. I have a version where I clean that up a little and it sounds better I think. I might replace the online version.
Gumbo
said
So how long did this take DAMN - an alarm went off just as I started typing LOL - 5 minutes in! So as i was about to say - this is intriguing and the fade-ins/outs and those watery textures make it fun. It's a long way off my beaten track but still in my jungle ... it's getting to the stage now where I'll have to pick up a guitar ...
Guest
said
! Um...I can't believe you put a massive disclaimer on this! Incredibly well played, Sandbags!
mmi
said
I don't have a lot of time this morning but it's definitely time for you to stop being so modest. This totally deserves a more pretentious description. How about (in a deep announcer voice): a post-modern sonic exploration of the contemporary kick drum. :-)
Mr Sandbags
said
Well you know on further listening I do find things to like in this. I'm inclined to give the process another go (maybe with a slightly shorter time frame) and think more about structure. Thanks again for your comments folks.
kirklynch
said
This will maybe sound crazy, but I can hear just adding low drone in places and then a big ominous synth wash over the top. Don't trash it- it's got a lot of possibility!
Mr Sandbags
said
Hi Kirk. Thanks... I do have a crazy selection of effects these days which is responsible for a lot of the sonic mangling I can do. Over the next year or so I'd like to get more selective and more competent about the results :) I also think Yelyah's onto something. This might actually be a "track" if it had more structure. As it is the micro-structure created by automation isn't enough. Lots of things to work on! Thanks again. m/
kirklynch
said
OK- I'll admit I didn't listen to the whole thing, but I did hear about 6 minutes of it and it's interesting stuff! If I knew a tithe of what you do about manipulating sounds in software I'd be a league ahead of where I am!!
Mr Sandbags
said
Yelyah, thank you for the encouraging words. You're right that I have a pretty unsophisticated approach to what a "song" is. It's a facet I've begun to notice in everything I have done so far, that it is structurally uninteresting. Guess I need to figure out how to take the next step! Thanks again. m/
yelyah
said
I listened to the full 24. :) I dig what you've done here and would definitely call this music and not noise. I would like to see you create some separate sections. Like, a breakdown for instance, where you go for something totally different rhythmically before returning to the original idea. Keep on experimenting! :)
Mr Sandbags
said
Bethan you're very kind to even attempt to listen to this! The kick drum that runs through the track is the source of most of the sounds, just mangled, tortured, and beat into shapes & frequencies kick drums were never meant to reach.
Guest
said
Full of fun, rhythm and interesting sounds. Trying to work out what some of them are, very cool!
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