the sounds that, I believe, have potential as musical “building blocks”.
Once I have chosen a tempo and I’ve decided on a certain “feel”, I tend to start by building up the percussive components of my track using Logic’s musical grid interface – using clips and samples that, in my ears, resemble drums of varying timbres, from kick drums to snares, hats etc.
When it comes to melodic components, I try to find samples with an intrinsic note, or sonic frequency – and I isolate that frequency using EQ. Once this step is complete, I can drop my “cleaned up” sample into Logic’s stock sampling plug in – the EXS-24, and use this plug-in to “play” my sample in a multitude of notes, and sequences. However, this process is absolutely achievable in every DAW – including Ableton Live, Reason, Fruity Loops etc.
As soon as one understands the sampling and trimming, necessary to compose with these everyday sounds, the world opens up to be one massive (potential) soundboard, waiting to be played by a creative mind.
Sound is - at the end of the day, vibration - and when we realize that everything vibrates or at least has the potential to be vibrated, they have the potential to be sounded and utilised in a musical manner – it just takes creative thinking!
From the streets that we walk everyday, to the rooms we wake up in and the everyday bits and pieces that are often overlooked in our day-to-day proceedings, the potential for musical composition in every little thing makes for an incredibly exciting and musically compelling world.
www.youtube.com/c/JJRiordanMusic
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