Thursday, July 2, 2009


Technology
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This song is called House Hold Dub, it is an attempt at dub reggae using only house hold items as percussion. No drums were used in the making of this song.The first thing I did was make a shaker sound to keep time, for this I used roasted sesame seeds from my spice rack. Next I needed a kick drum so I grabbed the biggest canvas I had hanging on my wall and smacked it with the bristled end of a paint brush, with a mic very close to the canvas on the opposite side, the sound I got from this initially needed some tweaking but I eventually got a kick sound I was happy with.Next up I made a cross stick snare sound using the wooden part of a paint brush and an empty tea can. I used that same tea can along with a slightly bigger one to create some fills in the style of a timbale or high pitched snare.Finally I needed a cymbal sound, which was difficult, I searched my house for quite a while in an effort to find something with the very unique crashy-ness cymbals provide.Eventually I took a baking sheet, placed a mic inside the oven, lifted the baking sheet up about 3 to 4 inches on one side and dropped it. This definitely created a crashing sound, I then had the task of smoothing it out and giving it some sustain. I accomplished this with a little help from reverb, EQ, and whatever other effects I could employ, ending up with the cymbal sound you hear.If you listen long enough you will hear the song turn into a different one. This second half is also an experiment in sound for me. This part is made up completely of mouth sounds, there are no drums on this part either, in fact, there are no instruments at all other than the mouth.I enjoy making unique and unusual sounds, I like a song to have a life of its own and a personality that makes you think. I'm not the first to do these things, and I'm definitely not the only one, but I have always found it interesting to know how people made music, so here is a look at how I make music.

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