Soundscape

It’s the thirteenth hour, but I felt I should share some details behind my soundscape with you.

The soundscape accompanies my time-lapse video, and was recorded on my mobile phone. I recorded about three minutes of audio, of a bus ride which I took from Beaumaris to Sandringham. I then edited out what I deemed to be the best thirty seconds from this audio and layered it over the footage in Ableton. I audio was then treated with reverb and a flanger to create a more distant feeling. I also composed a rhythmic motif and faded it in about halfway through before fading out the master at the end.

The time-lapse and soundscape can be experienced here.

My creative website, for my band A Sky on Fire, is now online.

The band’s other half, Mr. Black, can be found here. He posts some interesting stuff on the modern media empire, it’s worth checking out.

A Sky on Fire

My creative website, for my band A Sky on Fire, is now online. If you get a spare moment, I’d appreciate it if you could check it out and leave me feedback in the comments section of this post.

It features several mp3s exhibiting the musical directions of our music, as well as a video which documents the recording of some guitar parts in one of our tracks. All of the media is hosted by the RMIT web server.

The band’s other half, Mr. Black, can be found here. He posts some interesting stuff on the modern media empire, it’s worth checking out.

Adios

Timelapse

For my website I was required to create a time-lapse video to accompany it.

After undertaking some thorough research, I managed to track down some appropriate software in order to aid me in this regards. I decided that it would be most convenient if I could download an application that would run on my phone.

I stumbled upon a piece of software called LifeCaptureSE2, which I found easy to program, and it offered an in-depth array of customisable features when it came to capturing the footage. The only downside is that, should your phone receive a call, then the footage would be halted, however I did not encounter this problem personally.

A blog post in regards to social media related to music consumption practices in the context of web 2.0

For your pleasure, I have analysed and compared three social networking sites that are based around the consumption of music.

The three sites are:
Last.fm
Groove Shark
Sound Cloud

Last.fm utilises the technology of scrobbling, which involves recording the songs which you play in your iTunes library and iPod, and compiling this information so that you can spot trends in your listening habits. These trends can be shared with other users, via a feature called “neighbours”. Neighbours are users that share a similar taste in music to your own, and is formulated by Last.fm. This implements a social aspect to the site, granting you the ability to meet people to share your interests. Last.fm also offers customisable radio stations in which users can enter an artist name or related tag, and the website will generate a series of songs that hold similar features. The radio is streaming, making it difficult to directly download the music that is being played.

GrooveShark is a website that allows its users to upload music, which is used to compile a library accessible by anyone who visits regardless of whether they hold membership or not. The legal implications of this website are unclear, as much of the music uploaded is not owned by the users. Through your listening habits, the website suggests other music that you may like based on a tagging system. This allows users to expand their music collection. Whilst there is no direct way to download the music to your computer, there are plugins for FireFox that can bypass this and make all of the music on the site downloadable.

Finally, Sound Cloud is a website that is generally utilised by budding and established musicians in order to host music. Sound Cloud allows its users to upload lossless versions of their tracks in order to maintain high audio fidelity. The music that is uploaded can then be embedded into other websites and blogs using the Sound Cloud media player. The uploaders can elect the settings that dictate the way people can consume their music, such as the ability to download a track or the fidelity in which they receive it. A key feature of Sound Cloud is that users can comment on tracks at certain points in the songs, allowing for a beat by beat commenting system unavailable on any other music hosting website.

Article on the Modern Music Industry

Here‘s a link to an interesting article covering the state of the music industry today.

It proves an intriguing and insightful read.

That’s ARTHAUS – Australian Music Blog

Check out Arthaus, an Australian comedic/artistic collaborative mixing old school electronic rhythms and melodies with parodic humour. I saw their live show as a part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival last Friday, and it was fantastic. I was treated to a sensory multimedia experience, with great songs and great laughs. Being a massive fan of artists such as Kraftwerk, John Foxx and Jean Michel Jarre I found the show offered a refreshing take on a movement of music that is often very serious.

Essay Plan – April 2011

“Most often, when people are asked to describe the current media landscape, they respond by making an inventory of tools and technologies. Our focus should be not on emerging technologies but on emerging cultural practices. Rather than listing tools, we need to understand the underlying logic shaping our current moment of media in transition.” Jenkins, Henry 2006, Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape, Confessions of an ACA Fan, viewed Feb 2010, <http://henryjenkins.org/2006/11/eight_traits_of_the_new_media.html&gt;.

Discuss this quote in relation to current practices of music consumption and production in the contemporary online media environment.

Your essay should draw on issues, concepts and theories discussed in class during the semester, as well as on your own research. Consideration should be given to arguments concerning copyright, law, economics and social practices. Your essay should be written in a formal academic style, making use of quotes and references to support your arguments.
I intend to respond to this prompt in a manner which both accepts the truth behind the quote, but also provide evidence against it. It is my belief that media landscapes do not shift based only on technologies or cultural practices, but a combination of the two. The pair rely on each other to evolve and change, and this will be a key point in my essay. The main focus of my essay will be based around the production and consumption of popular music in a contemporary setting, referring to copyright laws, economics and social practices. I will also compare process incorporated in a modern setting with that of twenty years ago, in order to exhibit how they have changed and the factors which caused them to changed, be it technologically or culturally.

Check This Out… (Aussie Blog Site)

I found this blog from a DJ/VJ names Nick Bertke, who goes by the alias of Pogo.

He’s a 21 year old from Perth who remixes tracks by sampling snippets from existing popular films. He’s been employed by the likes of Disney Pixar and Showcase, and on the whole does some pretty cool stuff.

Here’s an example of his work:

Week 6 Reading Response

Storage In Collaborative Networked Art

Group Authors

The reading for week six is taken from a blog post (or “network book”) penned by a variety of contributors. The piece explores the concept of “storage” in relation to forms of communication between networks, specifically in a musical sense. The writer first notes the division between “transmission focused works” and “storage focused works”. The former being a product of real time communication, such as that between a conductor and the orchestra. The latter is more of an abstract concept, brought on with technological advancements and allows for pieces to be collaborated and shared over great distances. The piece goes on to offer examples of different applications for storage focused works and how they can affect the piece itself in ways that were not possible for transmission focused works.

Week 5 Reading Response

You know the drill…