Zodiacrobatic

Zodiac Wrap

Brian — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:05:15 +0000

Last Wednesday Erik and I presented our arrangement of Stockhausen’s Tierkreis. The performance went extremely well and I think we were both very pleased with the outcome. In many ways it was a new experience for me when I place it in the continuum of my musical career and trajectory thus far. For one, it was definitely the most collaborative project we’d undertaken as Hybrid Groove Project. Erik composed the beats and I composed the saxophone parts that were extra-curricular to Stockhausen’s melodies. The actual arrangement process was a completely collaborative effort. We even kept a massive Google Doc so we could share ideas and update existing structures instantly.

This was also the first time that I performed with an involved electronics setup. I used Ableton Live 8, which I controlled with an Akai APC40, Behringer FCB1010 foot controller, and M-Audio Axiom 25. What’s funny is that I thought I’d hold off on getting the APC40 until after this show, since I thought it might be a little overkill and that I could just control everything with the FCB1010, but I’m glad that I decided to take the plunge before the show (Guitar Center giving me the Xmas sale price after Xmas also helped). Having multiple ways to control, manipulate, and perform the software was absolutely invaluable for this performance.

I have to say that working with Ableton and the various controllers named above was and is an awesome experience. I was prepared for it to be a nightmare, having worked peripherally with electronics over the last 10 years. However, nothing about it was hard. Everything worked right out of the box, which was shocking (to me), but extremely welcome! What I was not prepared for was the extra dimension this added to the act of performing.

Suddenly, not only did I have to play the saxophone, but I also had to learn new coordinations, whether it was playing an involved line on the sax while simultaneously launching clips and/or activating effects via the foot controller or simply having to ingrain the order of events and what sequence to launch various things with via various devices. A majority of this came from the fact that this was an hour long project, making the scope of everything just a bit larger. But it certainly engaged me in a new kind of problem solving that directly impacted the performance and execution of the music. I had to actually spend equal, if not more, time practicing the sequence of events and execution of the electronics than I spent on practicing the instrumental parts (did I mention that I also played synth, toy piano, and a variety of percussion instruments for the project as well?).

Our performance of Zodiacrobatic on Mobtown Modern won’t be the last time we play the work. It was conceived as a concept that we could tote around to different places. It is also a living thing that will continue to evolve over time. Though we spent a great deal of time planning the dramatic arc of the piece and structuring each melody, we also left ourselves latitude and flexibility within certain movements to allow for improvisation and recomposition as the mood strikes us. I imagine that as we continue to perform Zodiacrobatic we’ll become more comfortable and free in performance. That’s what I’m looking forward to.

As a coda to these reflections, we received wonderful coverage of the event, thanks in no small measure to the extreme professionalism of Mike Fila and the team at Himmelrich PR. A day prior to the performance Erik and I appeared on WYPR’s Maryland Morning, where we got to talk with Tom Hall about the project. And we also garnered some very nice reviews from Charles T. Downey of the Washington Post and Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun.

Background Music for the Twins

Brian — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:59:51 +0000

Unlike the rest of the melodies in the Zodiac project, Erik and I aren’t adding any sort of beat-based material to Gemini. The overall feeling will be very rubato as the fragments of the melody are passed back and forth between Erik on melodica and yours truly on soprano sax. Gemini comes right after Taurus, which in our heavy metal setting will conclude with guitar smashing and feedback (okay, just feedback). Emerging out of the feedback, Erik will set up a feedback-y loop on melodica based on pitches from the Gemini melody and I’ll add the following synth part based on pitches from the accompaniment to further augment the texture:

Getting Crabby

Brian — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:37:45 +0000

Erik and I spent a good bit of time last rehearsal working out the Cancer melody. One neat thing is that the accompaniment is the melody played backwards. The movement will start with me playing the melody on alto sax. That melody will be looped in reverse as I continue to play it live. Next, I’ll add a layer of toy piano playing the melody and finally an obligato part (pictured above). This will form the first half of the Cancer movement. During the “exposition,” Erik will be triggering samples of triangles and other tinkly things that appear later in the beat layer. Below is a mock up with two loops of the melody: the first iteration is alto sax, reverse alto sax, and toy piano; the second adds the harmonized obligato line.

Tinkly Virgo Opening

Brian — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:32:12 +0000

One of the challenges of the Zodiacrobatic project is to find ways to make the melodies more interesting than simply repeating them over and over and over again. I spent some time on Virgo today and came up with this little opening bit. Erik will actually begin Virgo by playing the doumbek, then I’ll add the background ostinato, and finally the framework of the accompaniment.

The Virgo Vibe

Brian — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:01:25 +0000

Some months ago, when Erik and I were sketching out a basic framework for Zodiacrobatic we kind of drew a blank on what exactly we wanted to do with the Virgo melody and how we wanted the track to sound. Last month, though, Erik hit the nail on the head with this beat layer. Though we had a basic idea for the instrumentation of each melody, when I heard Erik’s beat I immediately thought that a languid, straight-tone, upper register tenor sax would fit perfectly. Here are a couple repetitions of the vibe I imagined:

MIDI-Mapping Maze

Erik — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:04:34 +0000

Geeking out in a big way, I have spent hours in the past several days programming my Behringer FCB1010 foot controller board with MIDI messages. The messages that I have programmed into the 10 banks of signals across 10 foot switches and 2 pedals will control live sampling and sample-triggering, mixing, and effect processing in both the Ableton Live software and my Kaoss Pad. Through this process I have had to consider carefully what range of actions I will want to employ in my live performance, the timbral sound world of the live processing, and what will be most ergonomically efficient. All this has to be considered numerically in terms of Program Change, Control Change, or Note On/Off commands, like constructing a serialist row in the range of 0-127. It will take a lot of practice to internalize the layout of these commands, but I think I have arrived at a semi-intuitive layout and bank structure. The mappings to the Kaoss Pad are fairly fixed (though I can always choose different effects to select), while the MIDI-mapping options in Ableton are extremely flexible. For the Zodiacrobatic project I will bypass the Simple Set Map I have laid out in Bank 2, mapping most of the MIDI commands outlined across the other 9 banks.

FCB1010- Erik’s Programmed MIDI Messages

Bank 0 (Reserved for Kaoss Pad):
1 Program change   #1    (Flt.1 = Low Pass Filter) +    CC #95, #12, #13 (HOLD on, both pedals active for each effect program
2 Program change #2    (Flt.2 = High Pass Filter)
3 Program change   #3 (Flt.3 = Band Pass Filter+)
4 Program change #74 (rVb.1 = Reverb)
5 Program change #77 (rVb.4 = Gate Reverb)
6 Program change   #84 (Grn.5 = Grain & HPF)
7 Program change   #82 (Grn.3 = Mid Grain Shifter+)
8 Program change   #23 (Mod.5 = Ring Modulation & High Pass Filter)
9 Program change   #51 (LF.19 = Mid Auto Pan)
10 Program change   #61 (dLy.4 = Ping Pong Delay)

Bank 1 (Reserved for Kaoss Pad):
1 note on/off          #36    (SAMPLE A button)
2 note on/off          #37    (SAMPLE B button)
3 note on/off          #38    (SAMPLE C button)
4 note on/off          #39    (SAMPLE D button)
5 Control change #95    (HOLD off- value 0)
6 Program change #72 (dL.15 = Dub Echo) + CC #95, #12, #13 (HOLD on, both pedals active)
7 Program change #86 (LoP.2 = Vinyl Looper) HOLD off, pedals inactive
8 Program change #94 (LP.10 = Looper & Isolator+) HOLD off, pedals inactive
9 Control change    #93, #94    (LEVEL- pedal A, FX DEPTH- pedal B)
10 Control change    #95, #12, #13    (HOLD on- value 127, X-axis- pedal A,                                                                                                                Y-axis- pedal B)

For ABLETON LIVE-
Bank 2:    SIMPLE SET MAP
1 Control change    #87    (ARM TRACK 1)
2 Control change    #88    (ARM TRACK 2)
3 Control change    #89    (ARM TRACK 3)
4 Control change    #90    (DOWN SCENE)
5 Control change    #91    (TAP TEMPO)
6 note on/off          #2 (LAUNCH TRACK 1)
7 note on/off          #3 (LAUNCH TRACK 2)
8 note on/off          #4 (LAUNCH TRACK 3)
9 note on/off          #5 (LAUNCH SAMPLE TRACK)
10 Control change    #96    (CROSSFADER- pedal B)

Bank 3: EFFECT PROCESSING (A)
1 note on/off         #110 +    CC #67, #68- both pedals controlling parameters
2 note on/off #111 +    CC #69, #70- both pedals
3 note on/off         #112 +    CC #71, #72- both pedals
4 note on/off         #113 +    CC #73, #74- both pedals
5 note on/off         #114 +    CC #75, #76- both pedals
6 note on/off         #115 +    CC #77, #78- both pedals
7 note on/off         #116 +    CC #79, #80- both pedals
8 note on/off         #117 +    CC #81, #82- both pedals
9 note on/off         #118 +    CC #83, #84- both pedals
10 note on/off #119 +    CC #85, #86- both pedals

Bank 4: EFFECT PROCESSING (B)
1 note on/off          #7    +    CC #48- pedal B only
2 note on/off          #8    +    CC #49, #50- both pedals
3 note on/off          #9    +    CC #51, #52- both pedals
4 note on/off         #10 +    CC #53, #54- both pedals
5 note on/off          #11 +    CC #55, #56- both pedals
6 note on/off          #12 +    CC #57, #58- both pedals
7 note on/off          #13 +    CC #59, #60- both pedals
8 note on/off          #14 +    CC #61, #62- both pedals
9 note on/off          #15 +    CC #63, #64- both pedals
10 note on/off          #16 +    CC #65, #66- both pedals

Bank 5:    RECORDING AND LIVE LOOPING
1 Control change    #22    (ARM TRACK 6)
2 Control change    #23 (ARM TRACK 7)
3 Control change    #24 (ARM TRACK
4 Control change    #25   (ARM TRACK 9)
5 note on/off          #26    (TAP TEMPO)
6 note on/off          #27 (TRACK LAUNCH 6)
7 note on/off          #28 (TRACK LAUNCH 7)
8 note on/off          #29 (TRACK LAUNCH
9 note on/off          #30 (TRACK LAUNCH 9)
10 note on/off          #31   (LOOPER multi-purpose transport button)

Bank 6:    TRIGGERING SAMPLES
1 note on/off          #32    (TRACK LAUNCH 1)
2 note on/off          #33    (TRACK LAUNCH 2)
3 note on/off          #34 (TRACK LAUNCH 3)
4 note on/off          #35    (TRACK LAUNCH 4)
5 note on/off          #40 (TRACK LAUNCH 5)
6 note on/off          #41    (SCENE UP)
7 note on/off          #42 (SCENE DOWN)
8 note on/off          #43 (SCENE LAUNCH)
9 Control change    #44    (STOP CLIPS)
10 Control change    #45    (CROSSFADER- pedal B)

Bank 7:    TRACK PANNING, LEVEL
1 Control change    #26, #27    (TRACK 1 both pedals)
2 Control change    #28, #29    (TRACK 2 both pedals)
3 Control change    #30, #31    (TRACK 3 both pedals)
4 Control change    #32, #33    (TRACK 4 both pedals)
5 Control change    #34, #35    (TRACK 5 both pedals)
6 Control change    #36, #37    (TRACK 6 both pedals)
7 Control change    #38, #39    (TRACK 7 both pedals)
8 Control change    #40, #41    (TRACK 8 both pedals)
9 Control change    #42, #43    (TRACK 9 both pedals)
10 Control change    #46, #47    (INPUT TRACK both pedals)

Bank 8:    TRACK MUTING
1 note on/off          #17 (TRACK 1)
2 note on/off          #18 (TRACK 2)
3 note on/off          #19 (TRACK 3)
4 note on/off          #20 (TRACK 4)
5 note on/off          #21 (TRACK 5)
6 note on/off          #22 (TRACK 6)
7 note on/off          #23 (TRACK 7)
8 note on/off          #24 (TRACK
9 note on/off          #25 (TRACK 9)
10 note on/off          #6 (INPUT TRACK)

Bank 9:    TRACK SOLOING
1 note on/off          #100 (TRACK 1)
2 note on/off          #101 (TRACK 2)
3 note on/off          #102 (TRACK 3)
4 note on/off          #103 (TRACK 4)
5 note on/off          #104 (TRACK 5)
6 note on/off          #105 (TRACK 6)
7 note on/off          #106 (TRACK 7)
8 note on/off          #107 (TRACK
9 note on/off          #108 (TRACK 9)
10 note on/off          #109 (INPUT TRACK)

Background Sketch For Cancer (UPDATED)

Erik — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:47:51 +0000

Image: an aging clown putting on his makeup, becomes enchanted by the moon outside his window.

Musical thoughts: Sparse percussion and remembered fragments of old music gradually coalesce into a texture of whimsical rapture, enveloping the accompanying line to the melody (the melody reversed) as played on glockenspiel. Echoes of Pierrot.

Here’s a sample of what I have been toying with as the background to our live performance:

Scorpio Beat

Erik — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:26:52 +0000

Latest evolution of the Scorpio electronic part, a mashup of Stockhausen’s chords and a bassline from The Budos Band. Brian will layer baritone sax loops derived from The Budos Band’s “Scorpion” in between my glissandi on theremin as the melody unfolds. Then this texture and beat track will be triggered while we add our own imitations of the melody on toy instruments.

Scorpio: Intersections and Movement

Erik — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:51:48 +0000

I’m thinking about an image of intersecting highways and other technological networks of movement in our treatment of the Scorpio melody. This was suggested to me by Jon, who will (I believe) be using aerial footage of intersections in the video portion for this one.

The melody is one of the more odd-ball that Stockhausen wrote in this cycle, featuring many glissandi, melodic fragments interspersed with rests. Brian and I had decided to feature theremin and slide whistle in the performance of this, along with some other toy instruments, giving a somewhat silly flavor to something that Stockhausen probably took very seriously. I will probably also play some glissandi, vaguely imitating the melody, on violin as well. I’ve been feeling that maybe we need to place the sillier-sounding things within a soundscape that gives it a little more depth, adapting the written harmonic accompaniment into something suggesting vast interconnections. I chose a combination of a “Comb” patch on the Malstrom synth in Reason (processed in various ways), to play the cluster-based chords, with several sustained tones on the central high C, and a loop of short glitchy sounds in the ReDrum.

Here is a taste of what I was working on for the background (no melody included):

As I was importing this into iTunes to convert it into mp3 format, I happened to notice a song in my collection that I hadn’t noticed before: “Scorpion” by The Budos Band, an Afrobeat group. I put it on and tried playing some of the Stockhausen melody with it, and you know… I felt a little bit of syncronicity (in a slightly silly way). I think it might be cool to sample a little portion, chop it up, and incorporate it into the ending of Scorpio. After playing the theremin in the live performance, I could then scratch with some of the harmonic background over a morphing beat based off of this. Drastic micro-looping of segments with the Kaoss Pad. Hmm, I’ll have to wait and hear what Brian thinks about it. B?

Gemini improv

Erik — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:37:09 +0000

Last night I was experimenting with recording directly into clip slots in Ableton, a method that should prove very useful for sampling and looping in the live performance. In the Session view, you simply record-enable an audio track and then click on the box that would trigger a particular clip to begin recording. Your recorded clip can then be looped or triggered instantly. In the fascination of the moment, using this method for the first time, I recorded a few tracks of melodica playing Gemini. 2 layers are devoted to the static, harmonic accompaniment, moving between and sustaining the tones freely. I shifted the accompaniment to the higher register while placing the melody lower. Different audio effects were applied to the individual tracks, such as Beat Repeat- which adds rhythmic stutters in somewhat unpredictable ways.

Here is a composite of what I recorded:

Jon described the video component he is planning for Gemini as a series of split-screen portraits of peoples’ faces. Duality, the two faces, is of course a symbol of Gemini. I am thinking about how to work that into our approach to timbre in this piece.

Instrumental pallette for Gemini: melodica, violin, synth, soprano saxophone.

Any suggestions?