Recently I’ve been working on a form of music known as Musique Concrète. My interest in concrète stems from a French composer named Edgard Varèse. Varèse, who was known as the “Father of Electronic Music”, is quoted as saying “Music is organized sound.” This definition is the building block of music and has become my own as well as giving me an interest in the subject of Musique Concrète.
Defining Musique Concrète is much easier than interpreting it. Concrète is a form of electroacoustic music, composing using electronically created sounds, that relies heavily on acoustmatic sound, sounds where the source cannot be seen. If one puts all of these elements together we find that the definition of Musique Concrète is composition that utilizes organized sounds, without defined sources, that are created or arranged electronically.
I began the next step of my exploration by listening to compositions that fall under the style of Musique Concrète. These included John Cage, Nathan Edwards, Edgard Varèse, and Frank Zappa. I noticed quite a few things when comparing early recordings of the style and more modern pieces. One of these is the large sense of emptiness in older recordings. I haven’t decided if this is attributed to a smaller stereo image or a considerable space between samples in these earlier recordings. The more modern pieces contain massive pads and a wide array of stereo sounds. I decided that I enjoyed the emptiness of the early compositions and wanted to base my own piece around that style.
The third step in my project: finding my Conceptual Continuity. This idea is an all encompassing of theme, style, story, pieces, and overall feel of the piece. I decided my theme should be something like self-discovery and the unexpected. The style has already been picked out for me of course but there was also the choice between modern and classic concrète. As I mentioned earlier, I liked the more classic style. That brought me to the story, which I decided would be about my passage through college. The pieces were definitely one of the major parts for which I was excited. I wanted to take some relatively common things and use them in an unexpected fashion, it kind of harkens back to the whole definition of unsourceable sound. The final part to decide on was the feel of the piece. I settled on something a little eerie, which fits and rounds out my Conceptual Continuity.
The next step was to capture the sounds for the composition. I decided to use the Zoom Recorder H4N to record all my samples. I borrowed an acoustic guitar and set to making sounds with it. I did various things like plucking and strumming the strings on the headstock, sliding my hands down the strings in several different ways, and slapping the strings and fret board. The recording session yielded around twenty-three unique sound clips. The session also produced a new affection for the Zoom Recorder. For the longest time I was hesitant to use it, questioning what kind of quality the device would produce. As it turns out it greatly surpassed my expectations with its clear sound and accurate capturing ability.
I then imported the sound files into Adobe Audition 5.5. I did some improving to the files, but it really didn’t take much considering the quality of the recordings. After saving them I separated all the files into different folders on my computer to differentiate what I considered to be a percussive sound and more of a sound that would be used for the melody.
I decided to sequence my composition using a program called Reason 5 made by Propellorhead. After loading all of my samples one by one, very tediously might I add, I finally got to the fun and challenging part of the project: sequencing the composition. I started with some of the ones I really liked and built a simple melody. Under that I built the rhythm, counterintuitive I know, but after I found a rhythm I liked I redefined my “melody”. I decided that what needed work was my structure, what I had was a very nice twenty-five second piece that didn’t seem to want to go anywhere further. I corrected this by modifying my melody and my rhythm even further until I had something that matched what I originally liked, fit my Conceptual Continuity, and was definitely heading somewhere.
After a few iterations and tweaking I fleshed out the song to a couple minutes I don’t know if I will make any more concrète projects in the future, but I’m definitely satisfied with the process and the current outcome.
Here's the final product:
