Aural Accompaniment & Structural Matching Project 1
production process, solutions/problems
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Structural
matching is defined as paralleling pictures and sound according to their internal
structure. As a "slacker" musician I've always considered scenery
or some past, present, future vision to get ideas for making new music. In some
ways I have been using the concept of structural matching to come up with interesting
music to write. Another way I could come up with music is to write the mood
of a visual into words - lyrics, and creating music from the expression of my
words.
For the
purposes of this project I found a Styrofoam object. The object consists of
four white equal, long and thin layers of Styrofoam, one on top of another.
The top layer is different from its three bottom layers. It is very untidy in
its placement over the second layer. That gives it a somewhat breaking away
from the pack look. The top layer is disagreeing with the other three layers,
giving it an inharmonious sound. The fact that other three layers are quite
even and stable gives an effect of harmonic tranquility. The sound shape related
to just the positioning of the layers is a very tense and inharmonious sound
over a background of a constant harmony.
Looking
at it from the top, the first layer is also different from the other three layers
in that it consists of two holes on either side. The holes though are of equal
diameter, but their placement is not symmetric. This gives of the feeling for
the sound as being somewhat irregular and dissonant. If one looks at the object
from the bottom, one sees a rectangular container with those two holes. It seems
as if this space is very closed and tight. Gives me a feeling of low ambience,
but anything that is entered seeps out through the hole.
The weight
of the object is obviously very light, since its Styrofoam. The sound that this
gives off is quite different from the rest in that the light weight lends a
hand to very simple progressions yet the fact that the top layer is so different
lends a hand to very complex harmony. The texture of this object is the same
throughout, except that the bottom rim is glossy. The open bubble texture of
the sides is very rough in relevance to the closed, smooth bubble texture of
top and bottom. I would say the texture is heavy, giving some more complexity
to the sound of the object. Although the texture can be placed into two different
simple rhythmic sections, giving an overall complex rhythmic structure.
The color
of the object is white throughout. White is a very low energy color, but the
brightness is high. This is also a contrast in dynamics. Hue is totally cool
and lends itself towards a low pitch sound. Hence the sound design based on
its color has two dynamics high and low but in low key
The light fall off the object is fast, which is perfect with the dynamics of
the object's color. They both give me a sense of high-contrast dynamics, one
loud and one soft.
The overall
effect for me is complex and mysterious. The sound design has to be two separate
sections or two separate keys due to the textures segueing in to one another.
Each section has two layers, one aggressive because of the breaking away qualities
of the top layer and the other stable and calm because of the tranquility of
the other layers.
With the mysteries and complexities
of this object it has to have a minor key. The aesthetics of light give it a
staccato feel in a minor key but with high contrast dynamics based on the color
properties.