Investigative Study Title

'Identifying, Understanding And Replicating Synthesiser Patches And Samples From A Range Of Extant Material.'

Description Of Study

The purpose of this study is to research relevant extant recordings which will provide a challenge to synthesise, then to gain new skills in sound design; this will manifest

itself in the form of re-created sounds, a study report, an online blog, an online soundcloud account, and various forms of scientific analysis of the results.

Investigative Study Motivation

This study is motivated by the understanding that the music industry is removing many outdated methods of ownership of recordings, illustrated

by the rise in popularity of copyright formats such as creative commons as a method of sharing artists' work. As such, interpolation of extant material will not need to be as challenging in finding the balance between legality

and similarity as it has previously been; allowing the use of many identical sounds without copyright infringement – however, to use a sound from an extant piece when it is not clearly exposed within the extant material and cannot be sampled would require re-creation of the sound via the use of

synthesis.

LiteratureThe main sources of literature I have used are listed thus:

Russ, M. (2009) Sound Synthesis and Sampling, Third Edition Oxford, Focal Press

Miranda, E. R. (2002) Computer Sound Design, Synthesis techniques and programming, Second Edition Oxford, Focal Press

Evens, A (2005) Music, Machines, and Experience University of Minnesota Press

Wishart, T. (1996) On Sonic Art Harwood Academic Publishers GmbH Amsterdam

Task One

The first task was devised through the selection of preliminary extant materials, then theorising about the methods that could be adopted to replicate the materials. Having selected three

examples of materials indicative of the extant recordings that I was proposing to use for the study I received feedback from

my supervisor indicating that the material was for the most part insufficiently challenging.

Task One

I decided to look further back into the history of sound synthesis at many different synthesiser sounds. This resulted in the

selection of the song “Holy Ghost” by The Bar-Keys, which has a distinctiveF~U~N~K synthesiser sound.

Task OneI looked at many websites to find synthesiser patches to begin my

experiments. A wealth of resources can be found at this website. Amongst many, many, sounds I searched (the majority of this list, many other websites about synth patches, as well as through my own collection of music) I decided on the synth sound heard in the introduction to The Bar-Key's "Holy Ghost".

Task OneInitially, sources such as this and this I had discovered lead

me to believe that the synthesiser sound was not exposed at any point during the track. However I

eventually found this site with a post to this video. After careful studying it gave me several pieces of information;

Task One The first is that, although there is evidently no way of

visually confirming that the sound is created using a combination of bass guitar and synthesiser, after the introduction the bass guitar is heard alongside the bass sound in the introduction. The sound of the bass guitar is distinctive, yet the sound it plays simultaneously with is the unaltered sound heard in the introduction of the song.

Task One Secondly, the possibility that there are two synthesisers

creating the sound can be ruled out by following the song into the section directly following the introduction where the player playing the synthesiser in the foreground is not playing at the time when the sound in question is heard, still unchanged from the introduction, except for the rhythm.

Task One From this I drew the conlusion that it was the sound of a single

instrument I was listening to and would therefore be able to be replicated with a single synthesiser.

Next I undertook research to discover an extant recording of the sound as an exposed sample so that it could be analysed scientifically and therefore quantify the success of a potential task to re-create the sound. I discovered that the sound has been sampled previously, so checked for evidence of where I could find the sample, which I found at whosampled.com.

Task One I began by following the technique advocated by Ed Bauman in his video “Create any

sound you hear” on the Propellerheads channel on Youtube.com

Mr. Bauman started by claiming that you must mentally de-construct the sound you are trying to re-create...

First of all, mentally remove any effects, then removing filters, LFOs, other modulation, until you are left with the raw oscillators. The next step I took was to envisage what type of wave these oscillators generated, whether there was one or more, whether they were de-tuned or not.

Task One

The second goal is to build the envelopes and filters from this “raw sound” of the oscillators. There is a demonstration, however, the best advice I have found from this point onwards is simply to practice this skill – because it is an aquired skill, which has a certain amount of taught learning involved followed by an investment of the student's own time in a more hands-on way.

Results

Here are the results of this task

Task One Learning As I searched for sounds for other experiments I began to approach the

selection process differently after my experience with the extant material from piece one. Task One had lead to a better understanding of what would challenge me or whether the material was not in fact even possible to isolate from other sounds.

I had learned that it is unusual for extant recordings to have exposed synthesiser patches of a high standard of contemporary sound design (which prevents sampling) without being a demonstration recording of industry pre-sets. This precludes scientific methods of analysing an exposed example of a synthesiser sound from many recordings as the sounds cannot be separated from other instruments heard simultaneously on the recordings.

Task Two

For my second task I decided to try to attempt a more complex synthesised sound than in task one. I researched contemporary songs with synthesised texturesThe sound I chose has both timbrel and spatial elements to consider.

Task Two

The research for this material wasn't quite as challenging as the research for task one...

Whilst listening to this track I decided that the introduction synthesiser sound would make a challenging sound to re-create. So began task number two.

Task Two

My methodology was similar to task one, except the skill set was definitely developed much further and the amount of experience I had so far of this method gave me confidence that I knew where imrovements on Bauman's (2011) technique had to be made or where certain aspects didn't work for me personally. As Bauman (ibid.) says, “Cut a new path!”

Results

Here is a video of how I made the patch

Task Two Learning Outcomes

Development of skills required for completion of tasks:

1.) Higher critical Listening Skills.

2.) Practical synthesiser programming experience.

3.) Abstract thinking with regards to de-constructing extant synthesised sounds.

4.)Operation of the program SpectrumView, designed by Grant Connell.

5.)Operation of the program music Audacity to create frequency spectrograms.

Task Three

I decided to attempt a larger challenge for this task to advance my learning to as far as I could take it in the time available to me, which lead me to examine contemporary versions of the early wavetable synthesisers such as the PPG WaveMapper. Here I decided that I was perhaps sacrificing too much time to one task by attempting a sound as highly engineered as this, so I began searching for unusual sounds.

Eventually I found this opera. To decide on which sounds i would use I researched this list of the instrumentation of the piece. The only possible option to re-create a sound from this opera would be to discover the synthesiser that were used, which i did!

Here is the extant material which I found to replicate.

Task Three I used one oscillator with a single sine wave waveform and a little frequency

modulation. This was all that was needed to replicate the main part of the sound as the DX7 is a fairly primitive synthesiser. I set the frequency of the filter very high on filer one, with a low resonance setting and even more so on the second filter, which I linked to achieve a more processed sound. I set the frequency and modulation envelopes with high amounts and the destination of the modulation envelope to phase – these settings helped to create the alien/vocal quality of the sound. I then changed the amount and the rate of the LFO but not drastically. I then changed the Frequency Envelope and Amplitude Velocity.

I used an oscilloscope to compare the two sounds (1. and 2.) and analysed a frequency spectrogram, both of which are appended and show that the there is an improvement in my skills in analysing sounds, selecting sounds which are possible to reproduce with the resources available to me, and certainly an increase in my capabilities to re-create extant synthesiser sounds.

Results I used one oscillator with a single sine wave waveform and a little frequency

modulation. This was all that was needed to replicate the main part of the sound as the DX7 is a fairly primitive synthesiser. I set the frequency of the filter very high on filer one, with a low resonance setting and even more so on the second filter, which I linked to achieve a more processed sound. I set the frequency and modulation envelopes with high amounts and the destination of the modulation envelope to phase – these settings helped to create the alien/vocal quality of the sound. I then changed the amount and the rate of the LFO but not drastically. I then changed the Frequency Envelope and Amplitude Velocity.

I used an oscilloscope to compare the two sounds (1. and 2.) and analysed a frequency spectrogram, both of which are appended and show that the there is an improvement in my skills in analysing sounds, selecting sounds which are possible to reproduce with the resources available to me, and certainly an increase in my capabilities to re-create extant synthesiser sounds.

Task Four Having searched for unusual instruments I began to look for more organic sounds:

Iceberg Grounding on Seafloor

ZeusaphonesOstrich Chicks

Sound of the Sun (HD!)

Ostrich Chicks

Pobblebonks

amidst the search I recalled that melting plastic dripping from a small height gave a very distinctive sound. I sought an extant recording of this with the sound as isolated as possible, which I found on Youtube.

Task Four I began by using one oscillator with a ramp wave as the waveform in Reason's synthesiser

Thor the technique as recommended by Mr. Bauman (2011). The signal then went through a mixer which sent the signal to a low pass ladder filter which I inverted to achieve the sound of the plastic drops' frequencies' getting more distorted as they fell to the ground. This signal was then in turn sent to a shaper. I used the shaper as a saturator giving the effect of tape saturation with a high drive to give the sound of a heavily overdubbed tape which added a required element of distortion, then used a comb filter to adjust which partials of the sound were evident in the new signal, choosing to set the resonance at a high amount due to the surprising pitched elements of the extant sound. At this point the appended Thor patch “Plastic Version 1” demonstrates the sound I have achieved. The signal is then sent through a low frequency oscillator, a modulation envelope, a frequency envelope and an amplitude envelope; all of these shape the timbrel and temporal parameters of the sound to the qualities of the squeaking sound of the plastic.Finally I added some chorus to give the sound multi-timbrel aspects as when the plastic drips there are multiple sound sources created by multiple drips audible in the extant recording

Results In this final task I concluded my practical learning by attempting to recreate

a more organic sound. I feel that it is evident from the similar waveforms shown in the oscilloscope videos that this task created a good end result from which I have progressed my understanding of synthesising sounds. I have also developed my skills at synthesiser programming exponentially; my awareness of my own capabilities has been elucidated from the creation of documents such as this; in turn my perspective on approaching tasks of this nature in the future has changed to allow an improvement in efficiency, accuracy and flexibility towards new processes and ideas. Here are two frequency spectrogram demonstrating the successful outcome of this task:

Results

Results

Study Results

I met all of my pre-specified learning outcomes which were:

Maintain a progressively updated blog on wordpress.com.

Compile a literature survey surmising relevant journals and texts.

Upload audio files to http://soundcloud.com/albertshotter/

Gather comments from peers through soundcloud regarding suitability of the patch bay with regards to the

brief.

Upload the final patches to soundcloud and gather further peer feedback.

Present the results to peers with requests for feedback.

Produce a referenced, reflective study report about the study that includes learning outcomes and how well

the creative goals were met.

These learning outcomes are evidenced by my wordpress blog http://aninvestigativestudybyalbertshotter.wordpress.com/, the appended literature survey, my soundcloud account soundcloud.com/albertshotter, and finally, this report.

Learning OutcomesAs illustrated in my study report, I met all of my learning outcomes, which were:

Maintain a progressively updated blog on wordpress.com.

Compile a literature survey surmising relevant journals and texts.

Using this research, refine ideas on how to achieve the objectives stated in the brief.

Research audio recordings of music and synthesiser patch bays which can aid this study.

Update or adjust tasks/experiments to reflect learning outcomes.

Update blog with Task Reports and documenting evidence for the study.

Upload audio files to http://soundcloud.com/albertshotter/

Finalise method of patch bay creation to develop new skills in a previously unexplored, academically challenging environment.

Gather comments from peers through soundcloud regarding suitability of the patch bay with regards to the brief.

Upload the final patches to soundcloud and gather further peer feedback.

Present the results to peers with requests for feedback.

Produce a referenced, reflective study report about the study that includes learning outcomes and how well the creative goals were met. These learning outcomes are evidenced by my wordpress blog http://aninvestigativestudybyalbertshotter.wordpress.com/, the appended literature survey, my soundcloud account soundcloud.com/albertshotter, and finally, my study report.

Conclusion The result of this study for me personally is summed up best by Hamilton

(2007) when he said “Stockhausen's early studies were constructed from sine-tones and so were totally abstract – though... he later used non-synthesised sound sources. However, even electro-acoustic composers apparently most committed to abstraction have adopted a humanistic standpoint and questioned whether such abstraction is possible or desirable.”

To me, the understanding of synthetic sounds must always remain a vehicle to a more empathetic approach to natural sounds – even though I am certain that it would be possible to almost perfectly create a synthesised version of melting plastic with more time, synthesised sounds never quite match the fidelity of field recording.

Unexpected Learning Outcomes

I learned that this sounds quite a lot like this

ReferencesBauman, E. (2011) Create any sound you hear: Part 1. (Online Resource) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyRmS2egAjc [Accessed February, 2013]

The Bar-Keys, (1978) ,“Holy Ghost”, Stax Records.

Computer Music Magazine (2005) The Essential Guide To Subtractive Synthesis (Online Resource) http://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/computermusic.co.uk/EGSubtractive.pdf [Accessed March, 2013]

Residentadvisor Website (2011) Subtractive synths explained (Online Resource) http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1351 [Accessed March, 2013]

Glass, P. and Hwang, D. H. (1988) 1000 Airplanes on the Roof Dunvagen Music Publishers

Glass, P. (1998) 1000 Airplanes on the Roof Instrumentation (Online Resource) http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2432&State_3041=3&Mode_3041=Instrumentation&workId_3041=12762 [Accessed March 2013]

Penner, R. (2012) Crazy fire sounds (Online Resource) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOUmlvvPkJA [Accessed February, 2013]

Reid, G. (1999) Synth Secrets, Part 1: What's In A Sound? (Online Resource) http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may99/articles/synthsec.htm [Accessed March 2013]

Walden, J. (2007) Designing Synth Pads (Online Resource) http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb07/articles/cubasetech_0207.htm [Accessed March 2013]

Music Tech (2013) Building Custom Synth Sounds Tutorial (Online Resource) http://www.musictech.net/2013/01/building-custom-synth-sounds/ [Accessed March 2013]

Lowther, S. (1999) 20 Tips On Synth Programming (Online Resource) http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr99/articles/20tips.htm [Accessed March 2013]

Russ, M. (2009) Sound Synthesis and Sampling, Third Edition Oxford, Focal Press

Evens, A (2005) Music, Machines, and Experience University of Minnesota Press

Wishart, T. (1996) On Sonic Art Harwood Academic Publishers GmbH Amsterdam

Miranda, E. R. (2002) Computer Sound Design, Synthesis techniques and programming, Second Edition Oxford, Focal Press

Hamilton, A. (2007) Aesthetics And Music Continuum International Publishing, London

Molleson, K. (2011) 1,000 Airplanes on the Roof – review (Online Resource) http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/sep/19/1000-airplanes-on-the-roof-review [Accessed March 2013]

Mcmaster, C. (1988) Creators Discuss the Making of 1,000 Airplanes On The Roof (Online Resource) http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19881009&id=UIsyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0OYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6918,2191601 [Accessed March 2013]

Hamilton, A. (2007) Aesthetics And Music Continuum International Publishing, London

Resources

http://aninvestigativestudybyalbertshotter.wordpress.com/

https://vimeo.com/user16975592

soundcloud.com/albertshotter