Week 4

Creative Computing :Granulation

"Granular synthesis is an innovative approach to the representation and generation of musical sounds" (DePoli 139).The grain is a unit of sonic energy possessing any waveform, and with a typical duration of a few milliseconds, near the threshold of human hearing. The typical duration of a grain is somewhere between 5 and 100 milliseconds. If the duration of the grain is less than 2 milliseconds it will be perceived as a click. The most musically important aspect of an individual grain is its waveform. The variability of waveforms from grain to grain plays a significant role in the flexibility of granular synthesis. Fixed-waveforms (such as a sine wave or saw wave), dynamic-waveforms (such as those generated by FM synthesis), and even waveforms extracted from sampled sounds may be used within each grain.
Asynchronous granular synthesis (AGS) was an early digital implementation of granular representations of sound .When performing AGS, the granular structure of each "Cloud" is determined probabilistically in terms of the following parameters:

1. Start time and duration of the cloud
2. Grain duration (Variable for the duration of the cloud)
3. Density of grains per second (Also variable)
4. Frequency band of the cloud (Usually high and low limits)
5. Amplitude envelope of the cloud
6. Waveforms within the grains
7. Spatial dispersion of the cloud

References:
* Haines.Christian."Workshop conducted on Grainular Synthesis.Programming with SuperCollider".16 August 2007.Electronic Music Unit.University of Adelaide, South Australia
* Granular Synthesis by Eric Kuehnl : http://music.calarts.edu/~eric/gs.html
viewed on 21.August.07

*Collins.Nick and Olofsson.Fredrick.Tutorials on SuperCollider.Chapter 7.2
* McCartney , James et al . 2007,SuperCollider Inbuilt Help.
* Source Forge, http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/

Audio Arts: Film Analysis
I somehow have to accept the casualness of this class. The topic as you can see is huge and can get really interesting and informative.(In any case self research is the key to learn and I dont expect to become an expert by attending those 12 hours). However I do expect inspiration and valuable sessions from my lectures.I certainly believe that a classroom with better Audio-Visual facilities will enhance the experience of any examples we talk about in the class.
Next week is the presentation of our movie and through out the week I will be doing that. Few results I got from video feedback are really interesting.This is done by pointing the camera on the computer screen while final Cut pro is capturing the live input. I will base my work around that and more digital manipulations.

This week, we briefly talked about the various aspects of film music.
Theme music as the word suggets is the title music of the film.It is the sonic image of the film and refers to a piece of music that is written specifically for it.
Mood Music refers to setting a mood of the film or sequence coming ahead.
CharacterMusic/leep music/motives : represents the character or reminds of a place/motive.
Enviornment music : sounds from the place/space/enviornment projected on the screen
Action Music : fast paced music with the action scene, climax, use of high tempo arpeggios

In the later part of the hour we looked at the film Team America - world Police by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Thanks Luke for the DVD, confessing I have watched the whole film. It is not the choice of film i would like to watch, because of the political message it has got. Now, i think its a very well made film and contains a clear message and some good sound design components and some great arrangments. Music plays an important role in setting the mode of the film. Music suggesting a part of the world/culture is very well used, like for middle eastern vocal singing.In the begining accordion is used to depict Paris.The theme music represents an american way.String arrangments plays aimportant role in depicting the mood.

I was going through the course material of film scoring of Berklee School of Music.Its quite ellaborate and different from how we approach it,but I thought there are some good individual topics here to be studied on.

Film Scoring 101: Berklee Music

Lesson 1: Drama and Music

• Absolute Music vs. Functional Music
• List Situations Where Music Provides Support
• Early Film and Sound Technology
• Identifying Dramatic Intent
• Identify Emotions for Music
• Think Like a Director
• Quiz

Lesson 2: Dramatic Functions

• Focusing on the Visual
• A Symbiotic Relationship
• Relationship Between Visuals and Music of Scenes
• More Symbiosis
• Dramatic Function: Three General Categories
• Identify Dramatic Functions of Scenes from "To Kill Mockingbird"

Lesson 3: Spotting for Music

• Spotting
• Considerations When Spotting
• Analyze the Spotting Process With a Scene
• Analyze the Spotting/Scoring of Several Scenes
• Spot Two Scenes

Lesson 4: Film Terminology and Dramatic Application

• The Stages of Film Production
• Setting Up and Shooting a Scene
• Analysis of Scene Structure
• Film Grammar and Linear Structure
• Scene Comparison with and without Music
• Basic Film Terminology
• Photographic Processing Effects
• Identify Editing Techniques and Photographic Effects
• Camera Movement and Perspective
• Breaking Down a Scene

Lesson 5: Working with SMPTE Time Code

• SMPTE Time Code
• Digital Audio – Digital Video
• SMPTE and Relative Time (aka-Clock Time or Running Time)
• Determine Relative Time
• SMPTE and Relative Time Conversion Tools
• Importing Video and Creating an Offset Start Point
• Using Markers in Your Video and Sequence
• Adding Markers in a Movie Clip
• Quiz
• Assignment

Lesson 6: Synchronization

• Synchronization
• Methods of Synchronization
• Critical Synchronization
• Music and Visual Sync
• Applying Sync Leeway
• Leeway- Early or Late
• Identify the Sync Relationship with Hard and Soft Sync Events
• Comparison of Timing Events to selected tempo - Bar/Beat Numbers
• Bar/Beat Breakdown
• Assignment

Lesson 7: Synchronization Part 2

• Frame Click Tempo Defined
• Comparison of Frame Click tempo to Metronome
• Subdivision of a Frame for Additional Tempi
• Using the Beat Sync Spreadsheet with a Frame Click
• Comparing Beat Sync Accuracy – Leeway of Neighboring Tempi
• Bar Layout and Use of Mixed Meters
• Starting a Cue
• Ending a cue
• Changing Tempo Directly
• Changing Tempo Gradually
• "Hiding" the Feel of Pulse

Lesson 8: Scoring Practicum – from spotting to mixing

• Spotting a Short Film
• Creating a Music Summary
• Developing a Concept for the Score
• Developing Thematic Material
• Relationship of Cues to Story Content and to One Another
• Assignment: Preparation for Creating a Complete Score

Lesson 9: Free Timing Techniques

• Methods of Free Timing Defined/Examples
• Comparison to Use of Clicks
• Composing to a Stop Watch
• The "Written" Click
• Freedom from Pulse – Ritards, Rubato
• Conducting/Performance Consideration
• Free Timing Applied to Using a Sequencer

Lesson 10: Overlap Cues and Transitions

• Overlap Cues Defined and Analyzed
• Why and When to Use an Overlap
• Four Techniques for Creating Overlaps
• Musical Considerations: Tonality, Tempo, and Instrumental Color
• Overlapping Source Cues and Underscore
• Double Track Cues
• Sweeteners and Overlays

Lesson 11: Scoring under Dialogue or Narration

• The Realities of Soundtrack Balance: Dialogue is King
• Open and Closed Scoring Situations
• Female/Male Voice Timbre and Register
• Narration vs. Dialogue – Other Considerations
• Rhythm and Dynamics of Spoken Word
• Instrumental Color: Choices for Blending
• Orchestration Dynamics Texture
• Dialogue and Music as Counterpoint

Lesson 12: Professional Scoring – preparations and application

• Types of Scoring Jobs
• Making Contacts
• Self-Promotion – The Scoring Demo
• Getting Organized for a Scoring Assignment
• Going Solo
• Building a Team
• Work Methods and Creating Mock-Ups
• Deadlines and Delivery
• Contracts and Copyright