the 19th
disquiet.com junto project from may 2012 explored the concept of graphic notation. we were challenged to treat a provided photograph as if it were a musical score.
bricks = guitar
mortar = synth pad
windows = bass
pipes & sky = white noise
fire escapes = guitar plucked behind its bridge
the beautiful photograph inspired poetry. i imagined a transient man, a regular in the alleyway, who often calls it home.
the ratio of the full size image on my macbook was ~23 x ~18, so the track is right around 2 min 30 sec. the vertical length is also used as a frequency range for the white noise.
the guitar is "squared" using a fender twin opto-tremolo emulator, to mimic bricks. an ibanez screamer was layered on top and 3 live takes run simultaneously. i always think of heavy tremolo as a square or rectangular sound.
a synth pad moves in and around the guitar to act like mortar between bricks, creating the 2 "walls."
i took the whiteness in the pipes and sky literally to represent white noise. the frequency of the white noise sample follows the pipes' descent in the left part of the photo. the proportions of the photograph gave me a loose vertical range of 0-1800hz. the white noise runs through a high-pass resonant filter and drops from 1800 until it hits the sky. there are 2 bursts of full noise as the horizontal pipes are crossed at ~70sec. the noise again blows out full in the middle sky section and then recedes to reflect the scattered white artifacts on the right half of the picture disappearing into shadow.
the bass was timed with the windows as you move across the photo.
i wanted a metallic sound to represent the fire escapes so i plucked my guitar behind the bridge through the opto-trem and screamer and got a sound i liked.
as always, junto opens up an absolutely fascinating creative journey.
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This track treats a photo by Yojiro Imasaka as its score. More on Imasaka at
yojiroimasaka.com.
More details on the Disquiet Junto at:
soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/info