Challenge: make a cover of John Cage's 4'33"
So I thought this could be a fun little experiment? Since I started thinking about it, I have already dabbled on lots of quadrants of Drambo, and there are some more I want to add (like IR for a concert-hall, buffer modules for repetitions of room ambience, etc)
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create your best rendition of this celebrated John Cage's composition.
Rules:
- drambo only (you can include samples, though)
- some kind of interaction with the environment
- exactly(-ish) 4'33" when rendered
I haven't finished my project yet, but I want to give you guys a head-start.
Comments
here in the extended ambient mix π€ π
Hmm.. needs more cowbell
cowbell is not in the spirit of the song, I guess ;) π
you see thats exactly what its supposed to do π
nothing happens, and ppl start yawning and coughing and scratching their head,
(with a less civilized crowd they start throwing beer cans at you)
is this art, is this junk, is this over now and I go mingle at the bar? π
all its supposed to do is to make the audience uncomfortable so they make a noise, ;)
its a cheap trick, clever - but cheap.
π
how long do you sit there before you start thinking they are pulling my leg here?
1 minute?
2 minutes?
3 minutes?
haha 4 and half minutes of nothing when u expect something are fucking long, lol
thats why it makes you itchy and you make a sound ^^
The version I’m working has a lot more going. Sure it’s a silly project but one tha had me learning a lot of new techniques.
I’ll share soon enough, along with the notes I took along the way.
Just when I thought I was nearly done with all the pieces, I find out about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3#One3
One3
In late 1989, three years before his death, Cage revisited the idea of 4′33″ one last time. He composed One3, the full title of which is One3 = 4′33″ (0′00″) + π.
As in all of the Number Pieces, "One" refers to the number of performers required. The score instructs the performer to build a sound system in the concert hall, so that "the whole hall is on the edge of feedback, without actually feeding back". The content of the piece is the electronically amplified sound of the hall and the audience.[35]
My patch already resonates, but now I have to introduce feedback and some env follower to control it in the loop (so it always "is on the edge of feedback, without actually feeding back")
TL;DR: One3 = 4′33″ (0′00″) + π
this will be up your alley , I guess
Nice π I don’t have that particular one on vinyl but I have the other
yeah. the other is more or less the same. I dont think I ever managed to listen to it in one go. π
I think all of this is about showing where the music ends (or starts depending on how you want to view it) in some way?
and its all messing with what you expect ... ?
its brilliant and a dead end at the same time. π€π
In a situation provided with maximum amplification (no feedback), perform a disciplined action.
--(Cage 1962c)
This project is dear to me. I realize I didn’t approach it very well at first, sorry.
But let me rephrase: I need your help. This is not a statement on conceptual art, it’s just a fun playground (for me at least), and hopefully one that catches some sympathy (eventually)
Wanna contribute with some noise?
See the list of suggested sounds below (feel free to add your own ideas!)
Then share a rack of any type, I promise I'll compile them all into a mega-patch.
Sounds:
Real-time:
Pianist:
Audience:
Ambience:
The mechanics I have covered, it's the sound design I could help inspiration from you all
I have ideas for all of the above, but I would really like to hear yours
This reminds me I’m no where near being done with this project
So far this is just a placeholder, my early attempts are just naive, to say the best
But it’s not over, I’m just taking my time.
But in regards to the news, I wonder if it would be possible to create a drambo project that would play for 600 years…
Ambience:
this is sound design 101 (exept for the traffic) ;)
rain/wind
thunder
sirens
birds
nothing but filtered noise (sea) and heavy modulated sine waves (the birds) and reverb and panning ;)
the birds are quite convincing, when I made this the birds outside of my window startet to answer to what was coming out of the computer, lol
the trick to make it convincing is do not sequence, do not loop, do not lfo it, play it by hand - and have a lucky hand and ear optimizing it ;)
(took me forever to figure this out π€¦π»βοΈ)
you see this is version 4, the other versions were quite awful & "unnatural", I had the sounds together for version 1 already but it simply didnt work ;)
Pianist:
Audience:
these are just lofi samples - you can record yourself & friends with the device mic ...
you can trigger the random "shhh" samples with overall level with envelope follower (so it has a relation to the rest of it ) π€
play all of the "inside noises" into a convolution room
play all the "outside noise" into convolution sound from next room ...
play with the panning & filter & level & reverb for "distance"
have fun!
if you have never done something like this you really need to figure out the rest yourself, ;)
you will never forget the lessons and errors you made. π€
its challenging, dont give up if it doesn't work.
to make it more fun do all the audience talk with whatever "Siri" voices you can download to your device
this must be the most boring exhibition you have ever seen
nothing happens in a timeframe you are able to experience
its just an endless note that drones on, every few years the note changes to another note. π₯±
all the IRs you need can be found in the libs I linked too
Thanks for the feedback @lala lots of inspiration!
I agree with your assessment. Some of it is really sound design 101, like wind. I don’t want to use samples (that defeats my purpose), but I’ll surely check you IR recommendations.
This is a project I’ve been working on and off. I have many sounds already, but it’s not finished.
Nice tips on the birds, haven’t taken that yet but you give me a head start.
I know this is a silly project, but it has me learning lots of stuff, so I’ll keep pruning it.
I will have more to say later but now I’m on the phone
Cheers!
By the way, as another pedantic exercise I did the math about having a drambo project run for 639 years (someone revise it please):
So I started by lowering tempo to 20bpm.
Then I created a clip with 256 steps, 1/64 speed, and 32 repetitions.
(up to here I think I’m reaching all the limits, but please correct me if I’m wrong)
So this one clip now plays for:
20 bpm = 60 sec
256 step = 256*60/20 = 768 sec
1/64 speed = 768*64 = 49152 sec
32 reps = 1572864 sec (approximately 437 hours…)
Now, for the years calculation:
639 years = 639*365.25*24*3600 = 2.01653E10 sec
So finally, dividing this by the longest I could make that clip last, it needs 12820.75 repetitions to reach our target.
From here it becomes a simple matter of duplicating this clip 12820 times, and voila, we have a drambo project that would play for 639 years (give or take).
This may be impractical however, and I don’t know if drambo can go this far in scene number (maybe I should submit a feature request @giku)
But anyway, this kind of stuff makes me explore the limits of drambo, and as such it is a learning opportunity for me. A silly project, but not a waste of time if I come out of it more learned…
Now back to pressing that + button. See you in 639 years (which it will probably take me…)
I’ll post the project when it’s done.