Category Archives: Sound Design

Sound design examples

Memory Man Saturation

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One of my favorite external processors is my Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delay. It’s mono, only has five hundred fifty milliseconds of decay, but it is one hundred percent analog gratification. My Sequential Circuits running through the Memory Man used to be a consistent part of my live keyboard setup.

I created this sound by setting up the delay as an external effect in Ableton Live then capturing the output in a separate track while adjusting the knobs. This short section was from the end of the recording after the guitar track I was running through it ran out. I had the feedback up pretty high as I manipulated the decay to get this result.

Memory Man Saturation

MIDI Arpeggiation in Ableton Live

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I recenty had the opportunity to take a good long look at Ableton Live’s Arpeggiator MIDI effect. I have used it here and there in the past, but recently discovered how flexible it is. There are many more algorithms (labeled as styles) than I have seen on other arpeggiators (a total of eighteen styles) for a broad variety of patterns. This example uses the “Thumb UpDown” style. Imagine playing a sequence of notes on your right hand starting with your thumb, then index finger, back to thumb, then middle, etc. and that’s kind of what this particular style does to the notes fed into it. Other capabilities of the arpeggiator include a velocity ramp to manipulate the dynamics of the patterns, and typical parameters like retriggering, gate, and groove.

Solar Arpeggio

Minim Sound Library for Processing.org

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This sound was made by manipulating the frequency and panning of a sine wave using the Minim sound library in Processing. I found that adjusting the portamento parameter has some strange and interesting results. Certain values for portamento seem to cause the sine wave to degrade into noise when manipulating the frequency of the waveform. I captured several minutes of this noise and then selected a small segment that has some unusual modulation going on.

Minim Sine Wave Experiment

 

Port of Indianola Surf

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Some people collect vials of sand from beaches they have visited, but I collect the sounds of the waves breaking on the shore. Well, it’s not much of a collection all I have so far is the Caribbean Sea while in Mexico and this example of Kitsap Peninsula surf recorded recently near the dock at the Port of Indianola in Washington. It’s a start, right?

I made several recordings at this location, but I particularly like this one that captures a sharp clicking sound made by palm sized rocks tumbling in the waves as they break on the shoreline. It was a very windy day, but despite a few bits in this example I managed to shield the wind from the PCM-50 by using a wind screen and putting my back to the wind behind the unit.

Port of Indianola Surf

 

Caution. Moving Walk is Nearing its End.

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One of the nine forms of transportation I did not include in the compilation from a couple of entries ago was the moving walkway. On the way home from Seattle last Sunday I had a little extra time due to a delayed flight, so I used it to capture some more airport ambiance including the moving walkway. This one is located in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The best part of the recording is the automated pre-recorded warning as passengers near the end of the walkway. The exact wording is, “Caution. moving walk is nearing its end. Please watch your step. Thank You.”

Moving Walkway