WEEK 3 - PLANNING

This week we presented our pieces of audio that we liked / were inspired by (refer back to my last blog post to listen to them). After presenting mine, I came to the conclusion that I really enjoy the sound of strings that hold both classical and modern influences. For examples, tones that are created in-between modern guitar sounds, and more classical tones created by instruments such as the violen, cello, etc. So my intention is to incorporate this combination to create a soothing string sound in my piece. I asked Rachel what the best option was, in regards to achieving this as I cannot play the cello, therefore cannot record myself and experiment with it. Nor do I have access to a MIDI that could allow me to alter the sound of a piano to a cello - if I were to record myself playing it. I was advised by her that a good way to overcome this was to record someone playing a cello in a scale, and then unpick the notes in post production so that I may initially create any tune out of it. So I am planning on doing this next week. 

Another element that I have confirmed on including are atmospheric sounds. I like a very eerie, soft ambience as demonstrated in some of the songs I discussed in class / in the previous post. With the very natural sounds of the instruments that I will be exploring, I have decided that I would like to record delicate sounds of something that is naturally produced, such as water - whether its a small stream or soft rain, as I think they will link nicely with the type of sounds I am aiming to portray overall. 
So overall, I will be using music and atmosphere as two of the three elements. I am yet to set a final decision on this, but I think I will choose sound effects as my third option, in order to enhance the instrumental pieces so that they become more unique - such as Sigur Ros has repetitively done in their post production. 

Recently I've also been experimenting with different styles on the piano, as I've been trying to brew up some ideas towards my project. I generally like to warm up by improvising on the black keys only, which is initially using a pentatonic scale. This is an exercise I have done for many years, which has always allowed me to create something new whilst being limited to notes - so it's a pretty neat challenge. Whilst doing this today, I realised that the style of strings I like would fit this pentatonic tune perfectly, as it is always a soothing piece due to its very oriental components. The tune Fake Empire by Ryan Lewis (refer to previous post), has subtle hints of an oriental sound when the strings are first introduced in the piece. I think the oriental sound is another thing I can appriciate, even if its super subtle, as I am half Japanese so it's something I can relate to. So overall I think adding the improvisational style of using the black keys only in a pentatonic form will be great as it brings in a range of personal ties from both my childhood and culture. My task now is to record myself playing this style on the piano, and lace it together with the strings once I have recorded those too. 


So to quickly recap what I need to do between now (week 3 / 4) and the due date; I have quickly noted a timeline:

Week 4: 

• Write up audio storyboard. 
• Start recording! - Piano & Strings. Also arrange friends who play instruments to get together and record. Also record atmospheric sounds. 
• Experiment with sound effects.

Week 5: 

• Piece everything together in post production. 

Week 6:

•  Have everything complete!! (blog, audio storyboard, track)