11- Brian Eno

The Task

Create a “systems” piece based on either or both of the two generative procedures we have looked at in class:

1.       Using a “time-lag accumulator” to create a texture of layered repeats.

2.       Use irregular loops to produce organically-developing soundscapes.

Things to consider:

·         If you’re going for something ambient-ish, a favourite Eno trick is to use a set of notes in a particular mode or scale but omit the root note. This allows for a feeling of suspension: it gets away from the sense of teleological closure whenever we resolve back to the tonic.

·         OR: use a mode or scale but have the lowest note the fifth rather than the tonic. Again: it tends to make the music less tonally “weighted”.

·         OR: use a mode or scale that has an ambiguous tonal centre.

·         Timbral modification: “When so much in the way of melody, rhythm, and harmony have been stripped away from the music, timbral subtleties loom structurally large” (Tamm 1995: 135).

Reference

Tamm, E. (1995) Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound. Da Capo Press.

Research

Brian Eno (15th May 1948 - present) is a British composer and record producer and is best known as the pioneer of ambient music.  Eno was a member of Roxy Music as a synth player in the 1970's but left the band after conflicts with the singer Bryan Ferry.  Since then, Eno has experimented with musical styles and has been very influential within ambient and generative music.  He has produced records for many artists and bands including David Bowie, U2, Coldplay and James Blake.  

Generative music is the term that became popular from use by Eno to describe a type of music that is created by a system and is changing.  There are different ideas of generative music including music that has a certain process or system behind it, for example when the performer is given a score with numbers phrases and can arrange these section sin any way they wish, and music that has a system like a tape loop setup and the music can generated without human interaction. 

Techniques Eno uses for his ambient pieces include setting up a system and letting it run through and omitting the root note of the key form the piece in order to create suspense and tension.  Eno apparently received a phone call whilst composing one of his track and made this ambient music almost by coincidence; 

                  the phone started ringing, people started knocking at the door and I was answering                     the phone and adjusting all this stuff as it ran.  I almost made ["discreet Music"]                            without listening to it.  It was really automatic music... Since then I've expreimented a                    lot with procedures where I set something up and interferred as little as possible.                          (Tamm 1995)

Eno was named the 7th greatest producer ever. (NME 2014)

Ambient 1: Music for Airports was released in 1978 and is the first of four in the "Ambient" series.  This album utilises the tape loops and creates a phasing pattern (similar to Steve Reich Phasing Piano).  It's an ever-evolving process and uses pianos, synthesizers and vocals. This album featured a graphic score for each track. 





The Composition

The first thing done to create the piece was to decide on the key and build a melody. The melody was chosen based on the idea that the root note would be omitted and the 7th added in certain places in order to give an ambiguous tone. Once this was complete, it was sequenced into Cubase using the MIDI sequencer.  It was imported into Logic and sounds chosen from Massive.  These little melodies were bounced as individual files.  

The initial idea was to use Pure Data to complete the piece and so a patch was started to create this.  The individual files were put into PD.  The screen shot below shows the patch.  

The idea behind this is that when you hit the individual toggle, that specific sound file plays.  This signal mixes with the delay to get the delayed and dry (original) signal.  Both of these signals get routed to the output.  The writesf~2 allows for what is playing to be written from the output to the place you specify in the message above it.  Despite the simplicity of the patch, the composition didn't quite sound as desired and so it was disregarded and the piece completed in ProTools. 

The inidvidiual files (the ones which were put into the PD patch) were added to the new ProTools session and then bounced as and interleaved wav.  This track was then re-imported back into the audio track (only for ease of use).  The ins and outs were routed as seen in the screen shot below. 

Delay was setup and the distortion was added to give the piece a grungy dirty element.  The screenshot below shows the setting. 

The output was routed to a new audio track and was set to record.  While recording, the distortion and delay settings were moved in order to change the effects of the plugins. This was done without listening to the output in order to give the piece an element of chance. Once the recording was complete it was listened back and then bounced as a wav. 

Critical Analysis

The piece uses some of Eno's techniques in its creation such as the tonality technique and the tape loop technique.  It also uses his idea of an element of chance.  The piece works in terms of structure and the ambiguous tonality as it gives a sense of unknowing and tension.  the instrumentation mixes almost electronic sounds with more standard synth sounds and this gives the piece that extra sense of tension.  It also takes on board certain techniques from other composers including the minimalist approach of Reich and Glass. The structure of the piece works although there is little in the way of development; perhaps the delay time could have been longer in order to give a larger sense of duplication of the sound.


References

NME (2014) 'The 50 Greatest Producers Ever' from NME from http://www.nme.com/list/the-50-greatest-producers-ever/262849 [22.05.14]

Tamm, E. (1995) Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound. Da Capo Press.