[Morgoth]

Moon Hooch's new album 'Life on Other Planets' is a real treat. I've been listening to it on repeat all day while writing a report, and it's great! It's amazing what sort of soundscape they manage to create with two saxophones and a set of drums.

[Malankazooie]

Okay purported musicologists, I need your help. I caught this artist on a late night show and he reminds me / is derivative of someone else or band (or a certain type of music). He is Canadian, so I'm fairly confident he is familiar to some of you. Anyway, I'm trying to put my finger on who he reminds me of. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 14 February 2020 - 01:27 AM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Incidentally, here are two sets of virtual instruments I bought recently:



(that mostly for my AI to play... though I like being able to program the glissandos)




(this also to morph with my own voice, and others)

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 14 February 2020 - 03:38 AM

[Serenity]

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

[Serenity]

The Warning - Sinister Smiles (acoustic)

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Bought some new virtual instruments:



'We collaborated with classically-trained musician and sound designer Qianqian Jin who performed both standard and extended articulations for this collection. Qianqian Jin is a multimedia performance artist and designer with a strong passion for innovative sound design and composition. She began her Eastern classical training as a Guzheng player at the age of eight and received an education in Western music specializing as a digital composer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. [...] Read more about her at www.qjin.xyz
'



'[Kongzi] was playing the stone chimes in the state of Wei. A man with a wicker basket strapped to his back passed by the door of the Kong Family residence and remarked, "Whoever is playing the chimes like that certainly has something on his mind!" After listening for a moment, he added, "How despicable is this petty stubbornness! If no one understands you, just tend to yourself.

'If the river ford is deep, use the stepping-stones;
If it is shallow, simply raise your hem.'"

The Master [hearing these comments] responded, "Such resoluteness! Who could take issue with that!"' (Kongzi = 'Confucius')

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 21 February 2020 - 09:29 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'"Tibetan singing bowls" are not Tibetan. Sincerely, a Tibetan person'

https://www.thestar....jUhEBnfsr7N9k5o

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 21 February 2020 - 10:04 PM

[Malankazooie]

Found myself transfixed while listening to NPR Weekend during a segment about Hagia Sophia and the efforts to rediscover the unique qualities it brings to sound. When I got home I started down a rabbit hole to learn more. This is only scratching the surface, but I personally find it fascinating.

NPR segment: Listen: The Sound Of The Hagia Sophia, More Than 500 Years Ago

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 22 February 2020 - 06:59 PM, said:

Found myself transfixed while listening to NPR Weekend during a segment about Hagia Sophia and the efforts to rediscover the unique qualities it brings to sound. When I got home I started down a rabbit hole to learn more. This is only scratching the surface, but I personally find it fascinating.

NPR segment: Listen: The Sound Of The Hagia Sophia, More Than 500 Years Ago

c (Grimes) has a new album out, Miss Anthropocene (goddess of climate change). Her best long-tail reverb yet....

'Halfaxa, 15 ethereal tracks in which her vocals approached pure glossolalia.

Halfaxa is Grimes at her most mystical. Boucher has referred to it as her "medieval album" in terms of intent and subject matter. She once explained that the record is meant to be an electronic interpretation of Middle Age Christian reverence, an exploration of sensations beyond earthly experience: "I wanted to capture the beauty of being in a beautiful cathedral and hearing reverbed (naturally), devotional, vocal music and really believing in heaven and hell." Many of Boucher's theories for Halfaxa were inspired by her own "idol" at the time, Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century German saint without musical training whose music was inspired by divine visions she received starting at the age of three. As explained in von Bingen's theological text Liber Vitae Meritorum, after The Fall, music became a means of accessing a lost state of perfection. Boucher would later lament that her early musical ventures were recorded when she "didn't really know what [she] was doing," but listeners discovering Halfaxa in 2016 are aware of her technical ascent'

https://pitchfork.co.../21775-halfaxa/

However, the reverb in Halfaxa was set to mono to avoid creating excess mud. Her latest features incredibly lush stereo reverb (and delay), possibly using Adaptiverb (or other recent AI reverb methods) to eliminate unwanted muddiness, although the sparse composition and use of panning (software offers fantastic control over the stereo field) may already negate it.

[Serenity]

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Serenity, on 27 February 2020 - 09:04 PM, said:

https://www.youtube....h?v=iNMXfV6Ekw0

Love her vocal technique.

Assuming the audio actually is from that recording sessions, it goes to show you don't need a $1000+ condenser mic to sound great (especially with effects and in the context of a mix). (Though I do have an expensive condenser mic, I often don't bother using it.)

Bought this yesterday:



I've had this stuck in my head:

[Serenity]

Azath Vitr (D, on 29 February 2020 - 04:23 AM, said:

Serenity, on 27 February 2020 - 09:04 PM, said:

https://www.youtube....h?v=iNMXfV6Ekw0

Love her vocal technique.

Assuming the audio actually is from that recording sessions

I'm sure it is - I've seen them live and she's fantastic.



Someone's been listening to Tool:

[Malankazooie]

Another great one from NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Bought this yesterday (on sale for $30 with voucher, down from $349):



(best with headphones)

Includes a great selection of reverbs that change realistically as you move the sound source through the virtual space. (Hagia Sophia not included though, alas... but does have "cathedral", and "church"....)

'Simon Franglen Composer/Producer (Avatar, Titanic, Michael Jackson)

I can count on one hand the number of VR and Ambisonic plugins that I actually want to use, and that list got smaller because dearVR just replaced three of them. It's completely brilliant, utterly intuitive, excellent.

Lee Slater Producer/Mixer/Engineer (Emeli Sande, Roots Manuva, Lana del Rey)
Gorgeous reverbs! Lexicon move over, more realistic spaces, detailed reverb tails and completely tweakable!'

Might try to use it with this:




'"... Shepard Tones are the latest psycho-acoustic phenomena in modern cinematic scoring. The Shepard's wraps a whole new textural dimension around your composition. What's so beautiful about them is that they create an illusion of rising or falling elements, but without really doing so and without conflicting with the rest of your music. It's a sonic illusion at its finest and an invaluable tool for anyone pursuing contemporary cinematic scoring ..." (Troels Folmann)'

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 03 March 2020 - 05:29 AM

[Serenity]

Second single from Pure Reason Revolution's new album:

[Malankazooie]

[Serenity]

New Steven Wilson. Parts of it remind me a little of Up The Downstair era Porcupine Tree.