May 23rds

5/23/1912, Paris 

(Harry Kessler Diary) 

Kessler picks up Stravinsky and takes him to [D Miller] Craig’s, apparently who had been overwhelmed by so many people arriving that he was brusque with Stravinsky. Craig said he wanted to “rid music of everything that wasn’t rhythm.” 

[The Rite of Spring premiered a year later. Perhaps Craig influenced him to do something more rhythmic]

[Brian Eno once suggested in one of the “Swollen Appendices” that we could make music, but “leave the music out”, meaning that music was really more of an expression of culture, i.e. a postmodern phenomenon. This was probably happening in 1912 as well where something was to be left out–namely, melody and harmony. That’s exactly what happened 70 years later beginning hip-hop and rap. Now it seems to be wanting to go back in the other direction with metamodernism or remodernism].   

5/23/1949 (Westwood, Colorado) 

(Kerouac Journal)

Up at 9 refreshed, grocery store, breakfast. Nice to live alone. Worked afternoon to 11P, 1500 hundred words. Wonders if "On the Road" is any good, but will be popular. 

The "nice to live alone" line inherently suggests 12/8 and a bluesy feel, but sounds a bit Steely Dan with the jazz harmony,

Words can have percussive qualities and become the seed of the music.

Westwood by meta4s

5/23/2017

What I think is most interesting about AI in sound design is the notion that you could construct algorithms to identify interesting timbre combinations, and perhaps control them with the voice, or have it follow vocal contours--(essentially AutoTune). The algorithms could also sample them and save the results in a DAW for example, and the good ones are culled. The objective is to find something "alien" sounding.

I still think what composers did with the blending of instruments is far more interesting and sophisticated. Even then, orchestral writing wasn't always all about timbre. Orchestration involves many different areas: efficiency, division of labor in instrument groups. Timbre also is also a delicate area in that too much emphasis on it can simply cancel out elaborate sound stacking, or listeners won't notice it. Loudness, distortion, and the feel of bass is always the most provocative. In fact, natural distortion is still a great timbre, a manifestation of peak-shift.

I love tweaking with sounds and combinations, but at some point you pass that stage. When you're in finishing mode none of this really matters that much. A deadline naturally limits the options, and you go with what has worked before. At the finishing stages of creative work, it is the tools that are most used, not making laundry lists and categories, and sorting through them: tools that make finishing easier. One of the most useful tools at the finishing end of creative work is the "small chisel" i.e. changing your mind or tweaking how you think at the conceptual level. It's what makes the final product what it is.

5/25/2025

Today's Songday idea: