I changed my blog site to kyriakikarydi.wordpress.com , since i had a problem uploading videos or pictures on that blog.

I have decided to write a piece based on clock sounds!You could say i got inspired by Captain Hook, but i am not Peter Pan.Anyway, through this piece i want to express the anxiety and stress in this new way of life.Starting with some old clock sounds i want to express how i imagine life some years ago before modern technology.Just before the middle of the piece,i want to use original digital clock sounds and sometimes concealed ones to express new modern life where a person has to rushed for everything.This kind of situation can cause bad results!A sound that will always follow the piece is a clock sound used as a heart beat, to make the listener feel the increasing levels of anxiety.

The score i am making is going to be separated into 8 parts (8 sounds) , where each cm represents one second of the piece.Different colors will represent different sounds, for example the heart beat will be in red color.The hard part for me is to find clear old clocks sounds with no noise around, which i have managed to find yet.(I really need to find a clock with a cuckoo)

check out this video in you tube!I wish i could find such clock to record!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QImAil_ppN4&feature=PlayList&p=96D830F4D7781EC9&playnext=1&index=15

ps..If somebody has a similar one at home, please email me

In week 1 we were introduced to Jitter, which is an extension of Max-Msp.In Jitter we can work on media such as movies, pictures etc .by using Matrix format.There are four types of jitter matrices :char, long, float32 and float 64, but we are going to use char, which is the most used type.It is similar to Supercollider,which we did the previous semester.One of the differences between them, that was mentioned in the class, is that in Jitter (and Max generally) we use different objects and connect them to achieve a specific function, but in Supercollider all parameters can be entered in few lines using the C programming language.

We were asked to study the first five Jitter tutorials, which teach you some useful objects which allow you to  make color changes on movies and pictures.

I bought two books that may help me on Max Msp , since i haven’t used it before.

1.Composing Interactive music - tchniques and ideas using max by Todd Winkler

2.Digital Interactive installations by Frank Blum

In week 7 ,we started task 3 where we have to record three instruments with different microphone techniques.We recorded Gareth playing his clarinet with the microphone in two different techniques, AB and XY.AB technique is using two omnidirectional microphones and putting them parallel to each other and  facing the hole of the instrument.XY is when we put two cardiod microphones with the angle of 90 degrees.

In week 8 and 9 we learned about ORTF technique, NOS, DIN, M/S, Blumlein Pair, Phased Array, OCT and Decca Tree.

ORTF is using two small cardiod microphones with the angle of 110° and the distance between the microphones of 17 cm that gives a total recording angle of 96°.

NOS is a similar technique.We used two small cardiod microphones with the angle of 81 degrees and distance 30 cm.

Blumlein technique is similar to XY technique where the two bidirectional microphones are facing each other , with an angle of 45 degrees.

Decca tree technique is similar to AB technique with an additional microphone in the middle of the two microphones which has distance 1 m from each.

In week 11 Julio was in Spain , so we had lesson with Paul Rhys. We watched some previous tasks from Andrew Espin, Peter and Danny.

In week 12 i was ill, but i was informed that we were introduced to Supercollider program which is a program for real time synthesis using algorithms. You can change parameters of sound and image( color etc.). In the last lesson , they learn how to change the parameters of computer created color.(red, green, blue and alfa). I downloaded the program and now i am struggling to work on it!

After researching i figure out how i can use the time and pitch machine on a blue loop.You just click selection as and create a new region and then you can use the time and pitch machine.

This week,in the first part of the lesson we watched the film “THX1138″ in detail and we analyzed it in depth.I heard more about the composer who wrote music for this film,Walter Murch.For this film, Walter Murch was inspired by  Schirfin, Pergolessi,Steve Reich etc.From Pergolessi ‘ s “Staba Matter” he was inspired for the introduction of the film, where he took the melody and he reversed  and changed  it.From Steve Reich he took the idea of not using electronic sounds.Furthermore, he took one voice and quadrupled the speed of the soundwave and then he added it with the original soundwave to give the sense of a bigger space.The whole film was originally done in mono.Nowadays, he uses Protools!!!

Moreover, this film expresses the dangers of a hyperdeveloped society resulting from the use of too much technology.This can lead to a dystopian society,which is a miserable society full of violence, disease, poverty etc.The film talks about a society where people are forced to take drugs to control their emotions , so they can be more productive.But one man rebels and stops taking the drug and starts having feelings. He is examined all over his body through a variety of machines to find out the cause of that “disorder”.

Apart from the film THX , we learned about helpful sites to find quotations, free books which help a student to have many sources and references for written work in general. Some of these sites are:www.books.google.com, www.guttenberg.org and Anglia Ruskin Library.Also , in Anglia Ruskin library, we can find the oxford dictionary where we can find interesting words and the earliest recorded use of them dating back hundreds of years.

The second part of the lesson, we were divided into groups to learn how to search the web for the most trustworthy and important information without getting lost in the numerous pages.

On Tuesday, we were introduced to the next task, where we have to write music for a painting in the cubist style.We saw some paintings by painters such as Kandisky ( fugue, 1914), Klee (fugue , 1921), Richer (Orchestration 1921), Picasso (Mozart) etc.I bought one book about Picasso by Elke Linda Buchholz and Beate Zimmermann,  in which his works are separated into eras.During that period he did  works such as “les demoiselles d’avignon”, violin”jolie eva”, “portrait of ambroise vollard” etc.I am still not sure which one to choose.I want to search more for other artists and paintings to better decide which one to write music for.

Now i am working on “The lord of the rings “, and i added some instruments such as flute and cellos, i deleted some parts of the violins and i added screams from the audio loops.I changed the pitch of the screams to make the voices sound dark and low ,but i had difficulty using the time and pitch machine to stretch the loops a little bit.

This week we showed our tasks and got feedback for the work we have done so far. We watched one really professional work by Peter who perfectly synchronized sounds with movement for a scene in “Jurassic park”, a really good effort by Daniel for a chase sequence from “Terminator” and really nice music by Nicky Brian for the film “Day after tomorrow”.

For my task, the feedback really helped me to realise what needs to be changed and which ideas need to be developed. The piece needs to have ambience, and that can be created with a nice reverb by space designer for example. Furthermore, a good orchestration is needed such as strings and cellos and orchestra percussion. Some bass sounds should be added as a background to create agony, fear and give the sense of ending. Using descending minor or diminished scale , or sounds with a long release time will increase the sense of falling and breaking of the tower.

This week we were introduced to the fourth task.We were asked to write music for a 2 minute scene from a film. I chose the scene from “The Lord of the rings- The Return Of The King” where Sauron is defeated by Frodo throwing the ring into the fire of Mount Doom. I chose that scene to show different emotions. On one hand, Sauron and the Orks are defeated and dying, and on the other hand good has won over evil! So i will combine a melody for death and evil with victory and good. I started this task using a choir, some strings and sounds of rocks falling down. I am also trying to figure out a melody that would suit the action of the tower collapsing.

Moreover, we looked at the first film of George Lucas and F.F.Copolla ,that they did in college, called “THX1138″. In this movie, there is a variety of sounds synchronized with machines that examine a man on an operating table. We also viewed films where the wilhelm scream audio sample was used.

In week 7 we watched two commercials, Heather ’s commercial and my commercial.Heather ’s commercial was advertising baby food and she used a sweet, simple melody which was really suitable for this kind of commercial.We also learned how many ways we can have different variations of the same melody and how to start orchestrating a small melody to the final piece!Knowing harmony is really helpful in creating nice and unique melodies and opens your mind to more ideas and interesting orchestrations.For example, if you want to write a piece about a product for clothes that should give you the sense of comfort ,according to harmony you have to use  the tonic ,subdominant and dominant .On the other hand,If you wanna give the feeling of surprise or fear, you can use dominant and then submediant.This is based mostly on classical harmony.But there is Jazz Harmony or atonality and various scales which, if you know how to use them, you can create different versions on the same melody.

The comments on my commercial were interesting and made me think of  what kind of melody i could write on the piece i prepared, that would be memorable and could identify the product.(in this case car brand Audi ). Moreover, i have to work on the rhythmical loops i used for the first draft!In this lesson i have learned that you can change a loop ,depending on what kind of loop it is.If it is a green loop, then you can open it and make changes directly to the loop.If it is a blue loop , then cutting the loop and choosing parts you want from it  can give you new, interesting  results.