disquiet0023-palindrone, disquiet Kaboodle Sound
Primal Chaos on the Edge of Oblivion [disquiet0023-palindrone]

Created on Sweetmorn, the 15th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3178, for the 23rd soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...uiet-junto/info assignment.

Thanks to Mystified (aka Thomas Park) for the wonderful samples. [http://mystified.bandcamp.com/album/various-wind-instrument-drone-samples and archive.org/details/Junto_23_Samples]

See also: mystifiedmusic.com

Assignment:

"This week's project is about drones, a pervasive undercurrent in contemporary music. Whatever your definition of "drone," you will compose a piece of drone music using five of the provided source tracks. These source tracks are a series of drones made by Mystified (aka Thomas Park) from such analog instruments as kazoo, bottle, slide whistle, and didgeridoo. There are 20 source tracks in all, and you will select 5 for your piece. You cannot add any new sounds, but you can transform the provided ones as you wish.

"Your drone will take the form of a palindrome. This is to say: once the track reaches its midpoint its structure will then continue to unfold as a mirror, or reverse, of its first half. As always, these instructions are intended as a starting point, and are open to interpretation. "

Method:

I don't normally discuss my religious beliefs in public, largely because there are a lot of prejudices and misconceptions, and it makes people uncomfortable. Also, a lot of it doesn't make a great deal of sense to those who are still 'endarkened'.

However, this is a special occasion. 23 is a Holy Number in my religion, and, this being the 23rd Junto assignment, I felt it necessary to honour my Goddess - Eris, Our Lady of Discord - with this Sacred Chaos Drone.

Five is also a special and sacred number:

"The Law of Fives is one of the oldest Erisian Mysterees... And POEE [PARATHEO-ANAMETAMYSTIKHOOD OF ERIS ESOTERIC] also recognizes the holy 23 (2+3=5) that is incorporated by Episkopos Dr. Mordecai Malignatus, KNS, into his Discordian sect, The Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria.

"The Law of Fives states simply that: ALL THINGS HAPPEN IN FIVES, OR ARE DIVISIBLE BY OR ARE MULTIPLES OF FIVE, OR ARE SOMEHOW DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY APPROPRIATE TO 5.

"The Law of Fives is never wrong."

[from the Principia Discordia - principiadiscordia.com/book/23.php ←←← note the page number]

I started contributing to the Disquiet Junto on the 5th week/assignment.

And we had to choose 5 samples on this 23rd assignment, thus proving that "The Law of Fives is never wrong."

After playing around with the 20 samples, I finally chose the following to work with:

02_Bottle2
07_Didg3a
10_Didg
12_Kazoo2
18_Slidewhistle3

I decided to stick to the 5 and 23 concept religiously.

[WARNING: very simplistic use of mathematics ahead]

(23x23)-(23x5)=414

414/2=207

I time-stretched the 5 samples to exactly 207 seconds, for what will become obvious reasons.

I played two samples at a time, using Mixxx (DJing software) on an Acer laptop running Debian Linux. I fed the two samples through three Kaoss pads (two Mini KPs feeding into one KP3). [2 and 3 relating to 23 again].

On the Mini KP Kaoss pads, I made good use of effect number 23 (pitch shift + delay), and I had the BPM set at 115 (23x5=115). I also used various delays, the talk filter, fuzz distortion and filters.

The Kaoss pads were fed into a Behriger DJ mixer, and, when I wasn't playing the Kaoss pads, I played with the EQ settings on both the Behringer mixer and the ones built in to the Mixxx software.

I did this 10 times, resulting in 10 files, each with two samples mixed together through effects. (I would have done it 23 times, but hey, life's too short, and at least it's a multiple of 5).

Obviously, all effects and EQ settings were applied live.

I opened the 10 mixed files in Ardour (Digital Audio Workstation), and carefully adjusted the levels and pan settings. I had five core files that formed the centre of the track. The other five files were to be less prominent in the mix.

I applied fade envelopes to all the files, with the tracks fading in and out at intervals of 23 seconds, or multiple of 23 seconds (46 seconds, 69 seconds, etc.) The five 'core' files faded out only to -23dB so that they were still just about audible, while the other five files faded to silence.

I exported the mix, and opened the resulting file in Audacity. As the delay effects I'd used had resulted in the file being slightly longer than 207 seconds, I chopped the file off at exactly 207 seconds. I then copied the file, reversed it, and glued it on the end. I adjusted the transition so that it seemed seamless, but the resulting track was a little short of the planned 414 seconds (about 0.97 seconds). So I time-stretched it to exactly 414 seconds, and palindromic drone was complete. I think it looks a little like a bat, or a Rorschach test.

The title of the track relates to this passage from the Principia Discordia:

"1. Before the beginning was the Nonexistent Chao, balanced in Oblivion by the Perfect Counterpushpull of the Hodge and the Podge.

"2. Whereupon, by an Act of Happenstance, the Hodge began gradually to overpower the Podge -- and the Primal Chaos thereby came to be.

"3. So in the beginning was the Primal Chaos, balanced on the Edge of Oblivion by the Perfect Counterpullpush of the Podge and the Hodge.

"4. Whereupon, by the Law of Negative Reversal,** the Podge swiftly underpowered the Hodge and Everything broke loose.

"5. And therein emerged the Active Force of Discord, the Subtle Manifestation of the Nonexistent Chao, to guide Everything along the Path back to Oblivion - that it might not become lost among Precepts of Order in the Region of Thud.

"6. Forasmuch as it was Active, the Force of Discord entered the State of Confusion, wherein It copulated with the Queen and begat ERIS, Our Lady of Discord and Gross Manifestation of the Nonexistent Chao."

[from THE BOOK OF UTERUS, from The Honest Book of Truth revealed to Lord Omar, Principia Discordia (principiadiscordia.com/book/51.php)]

The track image adapted from these two images:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sac...Sacred-Chao.svg
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mic...nightingale.jpg

I find it disturbing how much the warped image of Michael Palin looks like John Hurt.

[as a Discordian, it was EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to me to get a reference to beloved comedian and traveller Michael Palin in here, as the title of this weeks Junto assignment was 'Palindrone']

NB: Contrary to some people's conception, Discordianism is not a joke religion, but it is a joke about religion and it does take religion as a joke. As a religion, it is completely serious (maybe).

Ahem.

Hail Eris!

--

Samples courtesy of Mystified, aka frequent Disquiet Junto participant Thomas Park:

archive.org/details/Junto_23_Samples

[see also: mystifiedmusic.com and mystified.bandcamp.com/album/v...-drone-samples]

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...uiet-junto/info

For more details on Discordianism, consult your pineal gland.