Over the past few weeks, since picking up a secondhand UDO Super 6 synthesiser, I’ve been exploring the subtle world of drone composition. Drones form the basis of a lot of music (and have for thousands of years) but it’s not common to present just the drone itself as a freestanding piece. I’ve been reading about the concept and have just ordered a book on the work of Eliane Radigue, the acknowledged contemporary master of drone composition. She’s now in her 90’s but still composing for the genre. Meanwhile, I’ve made a playlist where I will post what I’m working on. (Note this is quite subtle sound work; best listened to in a quiet environment with headphones or speakers with a good lower bass response.)
Electric études
I’ve created a playlist of short sound design studies; I’m making them alongside the course I’m doing in electronic music at Liveschool in Sydney. They will be mostly from a Waldorf Iridium synth. I’m experimenting with playing all this out live via the internal sequencer of the Iridium controlled with an AtoVproject 16n MIDI controller. This is a surprisingly versatile way to make semi-sequenced music whilst also changing parameters on the fly. A couple of these so far were just directly recorded into a CEntrance MixerFace but will mainly use Ableton as a FX processor and recorder (with the thought of recording a lot and then performing the editing and mixing in Ableton). Just experimenting now but more to come.