Ethan Hein: Recent Episodes
Ethan Hein
Doctoral Fellow in Music Education at NYU; adjunct professor of music technology and music education at Montclair State University
I'm making my students rap, and to encourage them, I'm doing it to. Samples are from Erroll Garner's recording of "Close To You" by the Carpenters.
rap
Does anybody need to hear a white dad rapping? Can I get your foot tapping, your hands clapping? As I'm uncapping my rhymes, am I remapping your minds? Am I overlapping all of the lines? This is music education I write this for the motivation of the Pop Practicum It's practical and praxial An actual factual academic requirement Am I going to be making beats in my retirement? You may ask, why me, why do I have to do this? How will I get through this? Will I sound corny and inauthentic? I'm feeling frantic, it's not romantic I'm digging through Rhymezone.com traversing the rhizome, not calm, following a trail of free association exersizing my freedom of association and freedom of speech This is an unorthodox way to teach I'm not an emcee, more of a producer I hope this beat gets you looser It's Errol Garner playing a song by the Carpenters like a feral farmer sharpening the long tools of a gardener Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be a dope emcee Do you believe me? I listen to too much Lin-Manuel Miranda, can you tell? maybe you can't understand a word maybe I'm being too clever that will be my problem forever I feel no need to make sense whatsoever but whatever Whenever I write rhymes the light shines in me and maybe in you too So now let me hear what you can do
Experiments in just intonation.
12/12 (1/1) - unison 13/12 - neutral second 14/12 (7/6) - subminor third 15/12 (5/4) - major third 16/12 (4/3) - perfect fourth 17/12 - larger septendecimal tritone 18/12 (3/2) - perfect fifth 19/12 - large undevicesimal minor sixth 20/12 (5/3) - major sixth 21/12 (7/4) - harmonic seventh 22/12 - undecimal neutral seventh 23/12 - vicesimotertial major seventh 24/12 (2/1) - octave
Read more: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments in just intonation.
6/6 (1/1) - unison 7/6 - subminor third 8/6 (4/3) - perfect fourth 9/6 (3/2) - perfect fifth 10/6 (5/3) - major sixth 11/6 - undecimal neutral seventh 12/6 (2/1) - octave
Read more: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
4/4 (1/1) – unison 5/4 – major third 6/4 (3/2) – perfect fifth 7/4 – harmonic seventh 8/4 (2/1) – octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
18/18 (1/1) - unison 19/18 - large undevicesimal semitone 20/18 (10/9) - small whole tone 21/18 (7/6) - subminor third 22/18 (11/9) - neutral third 23/18 - not named 24/18 (4/3) - perfect fourth 25/18 - augmented fourth 26/18 (13/9) - tridecimal diminished fifth 27/18 (3/2) - perfect fifth 28/18 (14/9) - subminor sixth 29/18 - unnamed 30/18 (5/3) - major sixth 31/18 - unnamed 32/18 (16/9) - Pythagorean minor seventh 33/18 (11/6) - undecimal neutral seventh 34/18 (17/9) - large septendecimal major seventh 35/18 - septimal semidiminished octave 36/18 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
7/7 (1/1) - unison 8/7 - supermajor second 9/7 - supermajor third 10/7 - high tritone 11/7 - undecimal minor sixth 12/7 - supermajor sixth 13/7 - tridecimal submajor seventh 14/7 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
5/5 (1/1) - unison 6/5 - minor third 7/5 - narrow tritone 8/5 - minor sixth 9/5 - minor seventh 10/5 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
8/8 (1/1) - unison 9/8 - major second 10/8 (5/4) - major third 11/8 - undecimal superfourth 12/8 (3/2) - perfect fifth 13/8 - (lesser) tridecimal neutral sixth 14/8 (7/4) - harmonic seventh 15/8 - major seventh 16/8 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
10/10 (1/1) - unison 11/10 - undecimal submajor second 12/10 (6/5) - minor third 13/10 - tridecimal semisixth 14/10 (7/5) - narrow tritone 15/10 (3/2) - perfect fifth 16/10 (8/5) - minor sixth 17/10 - septendecimal major sixth 18/10 (9/5) - minor seventh 19/20 - undevicesimal diminished octave 20/10 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
22/22 (1/1) - unison 23/22 - greater vicesimotertial semitone 24/22 (12/11) - neutral second 25/22 - undecimal super-second 26/22 (13/11) - neo-Gothic minor third 27/22 - rastmic neutral third 28/22 (14/11) - undecimal major third 29/22 - unnamed 30/22 (15/11) - undecimal augmented fourth 31/22 - unnamed 32/22 (16/11) - minor fifth 33/22 (3/2) - perfect fifth 34/22 (17/11) - septendecimal subminor sixth 35/22 - unnamed 36/22 (18/11) - undecimal neutral sixth 37/22 - unnamed 38/22 (19/11) - undevicesimal semitwelfth 39/22 - unnamed 40/22 (20/11) - small undecimal neutral seventh 41/22 - unnamed 42/22 (21/11) - large undecimal diminished octave 43/22 - unnamed 44/22 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
11/11 (1/1) - unison 12/11 - neutral second 13/11 - neo-Gothic minor third 14/11 - undecimal major third 15/11 - undecimal augmented fourth 16/11 - minor fifth 17/11 - septendecimal subminor sixth 18/11 - undecimal neutral sixth 19/11 - undevicesimal semitwelfth 20/11 - small undecimal neutral seventh 21/11 - large undecimal diminished octave 22/11 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
9/9 (1/1) - unison 10/9 - small whole tone 11/9 - neutral third 12/9 (4/3) - perfect fourth 13/9 - tridecimal diminished fifth 14/9 - subminor sixth 15/9 (5/3) - major sixth 16/9 - Pythagorean minor seventh 17/9 - large septendecimal major seventh 18/9 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Experiments with microtonal tuning
14/14 (1/1) - unison 15/14 - septimal diatonic semitone 16/14 (8/7) - supermajor second 17/14 - septendecimal supraminor third 18/14 (9/7) - supermajor third 19/14 - Hendrix fourth 20/14 (10/7) - high tritone 21/14 (3/2) - perfect fifth 22/14 (11/7) - undecimal minor sixth 23/14 - unnamed 24/14 (12/7) - supermajor sixth 25/14 - middle minor seventh 26/14 (13/7) - tridecimal submajor seventh 27/14 - supermajor seventh 28/14 (2/1) - octave
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-made-some-music-in-exotic-just-intonation-tunings-because-why-not/
Mashup of "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MGs, "It's Not Easy Being Green" by Kermit the Frog, "Love and Happiness" by Al Green, "Green Chimneys" by Thelonious Monk, "Green Dolphin Street" by Miles Davis, and field recordings of a Green Jay and a Green Heron. GREEEEEEEEN
I'm making my NYU students do this so I might as well do it too. http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/i-am-making-my-students-write-raps-and-i-wrote-one-too/
"At The Zoo" by Simon and Garfunkel vs "What Happened To That Boy" by Clipse vs "Slide" by Missy Elliott vs "King Kunta" by Kendrick Lamar
A short loop of "Portrait of Tracy" by Jaco Pastorius that gradually slows from 130 BPM to 5 BPM.
More on this 462nd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Vade in Pace (The Assignment: Write a short piece of music that gets slower and slower as it proceeds), at:
https://disquiet.com/0462/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0462-vade-in-pace/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project is by Josh Levinger, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (flipped and cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes:
https://flic.kr/p/CHUe3K
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
A moment in the life of a jellyfish, as experienced by the jellyfish. In the spirit of a creature with no brain, I tried to not overthink this too much. I improvised on the Wave Evolve Pad preset on the Ableton Wavetable synth, randomized the filter cutoff with an LFO, ran it through the Planetarium preset on the Valhalla Supermassive reverb plug-in, added some pitched-down and reverbed bubbling sourced from freesound.org, and voila.
More on this 455th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Inner Invertebrate (The Assignment: What does a moment (or a day) in the life of a jellyfish sound like to a jellyfish?), at:
https://disquiet.com/0455/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0455-inner-invertebrate/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project drawn from Flickr.com (by James Broad) and used thanks to a Creative Commons license allowing for non-commercial adaptation (cropped, text added):
https://flic.kr/p/78CSpF
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
An imaginary first contact message from aliens to Earth. The science fiction cliche is that they would send us the prime numbers. So I set up a MIDI clip of synths playing notes in bursts of the first eight primes. Then I thought, how would aliens help draw attention to it as something significant we should be paying attention to? Well, they'd be monitoring our TV and radio signals, and they would know about music, and we use it to organize and focus our attention. So they'd want a drum pattern underneath, something with enough symmetry to be clearly ordered and enough asymmetry to keep us paying attention. Afrodiasporic dance beats fit the bill perfectly. Since they have access to all of our pop culture, I figured they would want to quote some of it back at us to signal their awareness of it: a key bit of dialog from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd, to let us know that they too have got soul, and it's the most important trait that we all share.
More on this 453rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Dial Up (The Assignment: Imagine the technologically mediated First Contact through sound), at:
https://disquiet.com/0453/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0453-dial-up/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Images associated with this project drawn from Flickr.com and used thanks to a Creative Commons license allowing for non-commercial adaptation:
Lars Hammar https://flic.kr/p/cvLDjm https://flic.kr/p/cwonUb
Marc West https://flic.kr/p/84zPoL
Tom Coates https://flic.kr/p/abPXeJ
Stuart https://flic.kr/p/eBVyxk
Pedrik https://flic.kr/p/asBiQk
Babak Fakhamzadeh https://flic.kr/p/5mArtZ
Tom Blackwell https://flic.kr/p/8pLFK8
Simon Bierwald https://flic.kr/p/bh3RGr https://flic.kr/p/bh4epp https://flic.kr/p/bh4X2Z
Chris Maytag https://flic.kr/p/BgSC
Alan https://flic.kr/p/3jfJg
verysubmm https://flic.kr/p/BcwmS
Smallbrainfield https://flic.kr/p/8y3VLP
inkelv1122 https://flic.kr/p/6z2DEf
Remix of "Ammonites" by RW: https://soundcloud.com/robin-wilkins-526931044/ammonites
Samples are from "Better Git It In Your Soul" and "What Love" by Charles Mingus and "GW" by Eric Dolphy
People love to compare rap to sprechtstimme, even though there's no evidence whatsoever that rappers have been influenced by modernist composers. Anyway, here are some samples of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire Op. 21. 18, "Der Mondfleck," performed by Christine Schäfer, over the "Shook Ones Part II" instrumental by Mobb Deep.
Alexis Weissenberg's recording of Debussy's "Claire de Lune" warped out over beats sampled from Led Zeppelin, McCoy Tyner and Adam Makowicz.
Source recordings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_BtiHVE7Og www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWf5FYSK7Yc www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8o1sqHUlgc youtu.be/j8BuB7OyQdU?t=1080
As soon as I heard Breanna Johnston's Isolation Sample Kit, I knew I had to use it:
https://soundcloud.com/breannajohnston/isolation-sample-kit-disquiet-0433-kit-bits
I set myself the challenge of using every sound in the kit. I used the 3 Sisters sample as a shaker loop with some filtering on it. I put the rest of the sounds into a Drum Rack and programmed some grooves. I also used Sew Low to make a Sampler instrument and improvised a melody with it.
More on this 434th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Disquiet Junto Project 0434: Beat Kit — The Assignment: Create music with beats crafted by fellow Junto participants — at:
https://disquiet.com/0434/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0434-beat-kit/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this track is by Abby, used thanks to a Creative Commons license and Flickr. The image has been cropped, colors shifted, and text added.
https://flic.kr/p/5azoLJ
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Solo harmonica improvisation, breathing in and out as slowly and uninterruptedly as possible. Seems appropriate to the present moment. Hopefully the basis of a future trio.
Read the prose score for this piece of music: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2020/harmonica-meditation/
More on this 429th weekly Disquiet Junto project — The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio that others will complete — at:
https://disquiet.com/0429/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0429-solitary-ensembles/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this track is by Abby, used thanks to a Creative Commons license and Flickr:
https://flic.kr/p/8LopPe
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
One-take improvisation on a C harmonica, recorded in NYU's fabulous James Dolan Studio.
A remix of Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's Sinfonia No. 9 along with his explanation of why he wanted me to make it. Read more: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2020/glenn-gould-wanted-me-to-make-this-remix/
Measures 81 through 83 of the chaconne from Bach's D minor violin partita looped over some beats. Read more about it: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2019/chord-progressions-in-the-bach-chaconne/
Washing machines have a natural rhythm to them, but it's not usually a very funky one. Our LG washer plays various cheerful little tunes for its alerts, but they're too classical-sounding, and not groovy enough. Here's a washing machine where the water sloshes around in tempo (made from sampled water drumming from the Baka Forest People of Southeast Cameroon album) and where the alerts are syncopated riffs in Mixolydian mode (played by me on electric piano in Ableton.)
More on this 414th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Mod Cons / The Assignment: Compose one or more sounds for an appliance/device/gadget of your own choosing:
https://disquiet.com/0414/
Thanks to Junto member Iain Holmes for having proposed this project.
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/ 1
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0414-mod-cons/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
The image associated with this track is by Dan Machold, and is used (image cropped, text added) via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:
https://flic.kr/p/9BsKBb
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
What if this iconic Bach piece was four times longer? Through the magic of copy and paste, we can find out! Read more: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2019/bachs-suite-for-solo-cello-no-1-prelude/
An homage to one of the stars of my dissertation. Source audio here: https://youtu.be/MSxoLJujM-k?t=1799
Read more about why I did this here: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2019/remixing-ben-shapiro/
I made a bunch of drum loops to explain to my music theory class what polyrhythm is. Then I read about this Junto project and thought, hmm, making a beat out of noise, let's use them for this too! I vocoded the loops using a straight noise carrier and used an LFO to automate the vocoder's release parameter. I used Follow Actions to randomly sequence the loops, and then edited that sequence for better flow and musicality. In order of entrance, the polyrhythms are 4-vs-3, 5-vs-4, pentuplet swing, septuplet swing, and 11-vs-5.
More on this 401st weekly Disquiet Junto project — Noise Pacing / Use background noise as a beat, as a rhythm — at:
https://disquiet.com/0401/
This project is the third and final of a series being done in collaboration with Musikfestival Bern, which runs in Switzerland from September 11 – 15, 2019. The source audio was provided by the Tobias Reber. More details at:
https://www.musikfestivalbern.ch/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0401-noise-pacing/
There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
I made myself a track to practice "Donna Lee" at a relaxed tempo. The beat is from "God Make Me Funky" by the Headhunters. Percussion is from Tito Puente's arrangement of "Donna Lee." I programmed the bass. All bebop make good funk tunes if you slow them down dramatically.
All sounds sampled from the multitrack stems. I improvised the basic structure on the Push and then then did a lot of post-production.
The Junto this week asked us to make music for an audience of one. My audience is Jacob Collier. It's a remix of a video he made explaining how his arrangement of "In The Bleak Midwinter" modulates through various keys to end up in G half-sharp major. That's the key midway between G and A-flat. It's the geekiest thing I've ever heard.
https://youtu.be/5vrhKI7JHQc?t=1005
I find the joy of Collier's explanation to be much more effecting than the arrangement itself. In general, while I like Collier's energy and enthusiasm for harmony, I find his actual music to be exhausting. It's too much information. So I guess this track is my way of requesting that Collier make music the way I like it: more repetitive, more groove-oriented, more hip-hop flavored.
BTW, in addition to the Jacob Collier samples and 808, I also used the same Mahavishnu Orchestra breaks from last week's Junto project: https://soundcloud.com/ethanhein/vital-transformation-transformation-disquiet0379
More on this 380th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Ears Only / The Assignment: Record a piece of music for an audience of one — at:
https://disquiet.com/0380/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0380-ears-only/
There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project adapted (cropped, colors changed, text added, cut’n’paste) thanks to a Creative Commons license from a photo credited to Andrew West:
https://flic.kr/p/2bg8zN
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
A remix of Believe, a Meditation Mixtape by the emcee and hip-hop educator Toni Blackman. For me, remixing is its own kind of meditation, as well as a method of close and repeated listening to the source audio. Toni is worth close listening. Get the full album:
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/toniblackman
https://open.spotify.com/album/66cmQxKbL77cX4WHEr6eUi
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/believe-meditation-mixtape/1292119004
Hip-hop educator Brandon Bennett in a session of the Producer Club at New Design Middle School. First, he leads a game where he raps lines and the kids have to guess the missing words. Next, he coaches eighth grade lyricists on writing their own lines.
Read more about this recording: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2019/brandon-bennett-the-ethnopedagogical-remix/
Follow Brandon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/locssmith/
Does "Giant Steps" work as trip-hop? You be the judge. I played the solo section by slicing the head to MIDI and jamming on my QWERTY keyboard. Read more: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/giant-steps/
Taking advantage of the fact that the intro to "Blind Alley" by The Emotions includes all seven chords diatonic to F major. I played the chords back in a random sequence using Ableton Follow Actions, and improvised on top of them using MIDI electric piano. I played in C and had a MIDI filter put everything in F because I'm the laziest musician in history. Then I edited my jam down to the good parts and did a little additional production. Read more about this track here: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/learn-diatonic-harmony-from-a-classic-breakbeat/
"O Superman" by Laurie Anderson meets "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder meets Super Mario Bros.
Continuing my project to teach myself the greatest hits of the classical canon through remixing their MIDI versions. Read more about this track: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/remixing-saties-gymnopedie-no-1-with-ableton-live/
The Force Theme meets Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, and some Wavetable synths. It always struck me as weird that "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" is all about a mysterious force. Meanwhile, my son has been super into this lovely melody from Star Wars. The connection was too good to pass up. Led Zeppelin doesn't factor in except that the Levee break sounds really epic at this tempo.
More on this 343rd weekly Disquiet Junto project (Disquiet Junto Project 0343 / Big Pun: The Assignment: What does a musical pun sound like?) at:
https://disquiet.com/0343/
Thanks to Ian Joyce for proposing this project.
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0343-big-pun/
There’s also a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet to join in.
I tried doing a MIDI remix of this Debussy piece in order to help me internalize the rhythms. However, schmuck that I am, I put a 4/4 beat underneath it: https://soundcloud.com/ethanhein/clair-de-lune
That sounded awesome, but didn't help me hear the piece correctly, since it's in 9/8. So I redid my track using a 9/8 drum groove I found on YouTube and a jazz waltz sampled from McCoy Tyner.
Read more about this track: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/learning-debussys-clair-de-lune-with-ableton-live/
Quick classical remix, unaltered MIDI file played back on a couple of synths over a James Brown break. Inspired by this wiseass: https://youtu.be/-4lB4t8X4EU But in all seriousness, I have a hard time understanding how the rhythms in this piece work, and I thought that putting them on the grid might help me hear them. I still don't get them completely, but they do sound really cool.
Read more about this track:http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/learning-debussys-clair-de-lune-with-ableton-live/
Update: hear the piece in its correct time signature. https://soundcloud.com/ethanhein/clair-de-lune-in-actual-98
Part of an ethnographic observation of a hip-hop cypher: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/participant-ethnography-of-a-hip-hop-cypher/
Part of an ethnographic observation of a hip-hop cypher: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/participant-ethnography-of-a-hip-hop-cypher/
Part of an ethnographic observation of a hip-hop cypher: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/participant-ethnography-of-a-hip-hop-cypher/
A segment of a David Bowie acapella four different ways: 1) as originally recorded; 2) as vocoded through the Ableton Wavetable synth; 3)pitch quantized with iZotope Nectar emulating the Auto-Tune "Cher effect"; and 4) with artificial harmony, also via Nectar. Read more: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2017/the-vocoder-auto-tune-pitch-standardization-and-vocal-virtuosity/
An experiment in musical ethnography: using a hip-hop remix to tell the story of a hip-hop song. This is an interview with Happy Accident (https://soundcloud.com/thetruthfairy) about her song "A Man's World" (https://soundcloud.com/thetruthfairy/a-mans-world), mixed into the song itself, along with some of its quotes and influences. Read more about this project: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2018/hip-hop-as-a-tool-for-hip-hop-ethnography/
A trio by three strangers, working asynchronously.
Part one is "Six Legged Chair" by Mark Lentezner: https://soundcloud.com/mtnviewmark-bits/0315-six-legged-chair-disquiet0315
Part two is "Twin Chairs" by Daniel Diaz, which I arrived at via shuffling the Junto playlist until I heard something I liked: https://soundcloud.com/daniel-diaz/twin-chairs-disquiet0316?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0316-el
I added samples of two Ellington tracks: trombone from a 1930s recording of "The Mooche", and finger cymbals and bass from "Chinoiserie", recorded more than thirty years later. The trombone follows the 3/4 meter of Mark and Daniel's parts, while the cymbal/bass track is in 4/4 so it cycles in and out of phase.
More on this 317th weekly Disquiet Junto project (Triadic Awareness: Record the third part of a trio, adding to a pre-existing track of two parts) at:
https://disquiet.com/0317/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0317-triadic-awareness/11271/
There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project is adapted from a photo by Martin Kenny and is used via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:
https://flic.kr/p/neoFUH
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
The task this week was to take the first part of an eventual trio and add the second part. Knowing that Junto submissions tend to be ambient and textural, my plan was to find one of those and add a beat to it. But then I listened to "Left Chair" by moduS ponY which already has a beat, and thought it would be fun to build on top of it:
https://soundcloud.com/moduspony/left-chair-disquiet0315?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0315
I added a sample of "Sugar Rum Cherry" by Duke Ellington, slowed down, stuttered a bit, and run through Ableton's Drum Buss and Echo effects.
More on this 316th weekly Disquiet Junto project (El Segundo: Record the second third of a trio, adding to a pre-existing track.) at:
https://disquiet.com/0316/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0316-el-segundo/
There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project is adapted from a photo by Martin Kenny and is used via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:
https://flic.kr/p/neoFUH
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
The first third of an eventual trio with two strangers: a short, unedited improvisation on Ableton's new Wavetable synth.
More on this 315th weekly Disquiet Junto project (First Chair: Record the first third of a trio) at:
https://disquiet.com/0315/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0315-first-chair/
There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
Image associated with this project is adapted from a photo by Martin Kenny and is used via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:
https://flic.kr/p/neoFUH
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
Vassily Kalinnikov vs Willie Nelson vs James Brown. Musical accompaniment to this post: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2014/the-saddest-chord-progression-ever/
Trying out an alternative QWERTYBeats layout. This version has eight sounds with four rhythmic retrigger values each, as opposed to four sounds with eight rhythmic retrigger values each. In this case, the eight sounds are the same gong sample tuned to an octave of C Dorian mode. It's a single take of unedited improvisation.
Testing out a new prototype rhythm performance interface. This is a single take of unedited improvisation. Promising! Read more: http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2016/design-for-real-life-qwertybeats-research/