disquiet, junto Kaboodle Sound
The March of Progress [disquiet0032-sonicvote]

Created for the Disquiet Junto.

This track features the mangled voices of several famous politicians (mostly American), Tibetan Buddhist monk chanting, Mongolian throat singing, church bells, coins, a bank machine, bank notes being counted, a mad woman lamenting, children playing, 'The Last Post' played on a trumpet, some screaming, a Japanese political announcement, an african percussion ensemble, a military band, foot stomps, artillery fire, airplanes, helicopters and a cash register. I think, altogether, that this relationship between society, religion, the miltary and, most of all, money sums up the global political system for me at the moment.

I wanted it to 'enjoyable' for fans of military and weird martial-industrial music such as Laibach or Current 93, but also to work as soundscape-cum-commentary. Please note: this track is not just a comment on/reaction to American elections - it's all elections.

Assignment:

"This week's project revisits the concept of the graphic score, something we explored with earlier in project 0019. You will treat the provided image as if it were a musical score. The image can be found at this link:

"disquiet.com/wp-content/upload...onicvotetpm.png

"You can use any instrumentation you choose. (You may employ the human voice, but no comprehensible words should be used, just sounds.) The goal is for you to "read" the image as if it were presented as a piece of notated music. You might do this by assigning note values across the page horizontally, or by interpreting it holistically, or by running the image through a piece of software — or by any other systematic approach."

Method:

Kind of messed up this week - went over the alloted track length (of 2 to 4 minutes) by just nearly 6 minutes... Reasons will follow:

Knowing that this was an image relating to an election, I decided to use samples that related, in my mind, to what an election means. The list of samples I used is at the bottom of the text. All were from Freesound, and I chopped them all up into loops, hits and longer sections. The loops and hits I fed into an Electribe ESX.

Next step was to read the score.

I cut up the image into bars (the vertical lines in the image). There were 34 bars in total, so I did some quick calculations, and worked out the BPM that I wanted (74 BPM), which would produce a track of around 3 and half minutes.

However, I messed up. Somehow, I ended up setting the BPM to 113.6 BPM, and using sections of 8 bars in length instead of 1 bar. Dumb. I guess I should have paid more attention. I didn't realise what I'd done until I'd programmed about 3 or 4 sections, at which point I thought "what the Hell" - what I had would no longer fit with 74 BPM or a 1 bar section. Hence the 10 minute running time...

I followed the 'score' by treating the dots as 'voices' or instruments, and the lines as a general reading of intensity. I would have followed the score more closely, but my method meant that I had to interpret the score in a more general way. Each of the 34 'bars' ended up being an 8 bar section on the Electribe, and I followed the dots-as-voices rule strictly until about the 20th bar/section, where it kind of turns more to chaos.

Once the track was assembled on the Electribe, I recorded it on a Zoom H4n, imported it into Audacity, and then added background sections, such as crowd chanting, airplanes, helicopters, political rally voices, some more drums and a few other bits and pieces. My intention was to create a Surround Sound mix, but I didn't have enough time left... Not sure if it would even be playable through Soundcloud anyway...

OK. Hold onto your hat - what follows is a list of all the samples I used from Freesound in making this track. There are a few that are too buried in the mix to really be noticeable, but, apart from perhaps one or two that I lost track of, they're all in there somewhere:

S: alé l'ogyym alé.wav by olive-yeah
S: kids playing soccer in the park, shouting and arguing.aif by Tomlija
S: . . . .. . .Nice.mp3 by olive-yeah
S: Allez.mp3 by olive-yeah
S: noise#01.aif by huubjeroen
S: Step.wav by CGEffex
S: Cardiff fans Oxford Circus tube.wav by LondonSoundSurvey
S: Multi Groan 2.wav by vtownpunks
S: small crowd yelling 'YEAH'.wav by Tomlija
S: scream_group_long.aif by thanvannispen
S: jackals.wav by ERH
S: lyin' to ya 2.wav by ERH
S: ExcessiveExposure.wav by acclivity
S: Hiroshima.wav by ERH
S: regieme.wav by JohnLaVine333
S: the famous Belgrade Police Department chopper flying over the city during 'Belgrade Pride 2010', monitoring the street riots [as seen on various TV networks].aif by Tomlija
S: Antiwar protestor outside Parliament.mp3 by LondonSoundSurvey
S: bells1.wav by sagetyrtle
S: nelsonmandela-freedomforall.wav by ERH
S: PoliteApplause.flac by acclivity
S: Fires of frustration.wav by ERH
S: G.W.Bush - An empire of oppression.wav by m_colon_o
S: cash_register.wav by pierrecartoons1979
S: kumi1#04.aif by djgriffin
S: 3Sometimes_i_Scare_Myself.wav by hello_flowers
S: mass in croatian cathedral.wav by Satoration
S: 20110517.sevilla.demonstration.20.38.wav by dobroide
S: TokyoElectionMessage2001.aif by strawberryviagra
S: 20110517.sevilla.demonstration.20.40.wav by dobroide
S: 00075 bankomat 1.wav by Robinhood76
S: 00125 banknoty wkladanie.wav by Robinhood76
S: 00183 counting a lot of money manually.wav by Robinhood76
S: 01103 banking machine counting.wav by Robinhood76
S: 00637 small coins spilt.wav by Robinhood76
S: 00150 monety wysypywanie 1.wav by Robinhood76
S: cha ching.wav by creek23
S: Single Coin Return.wav by tweeterdj
S: Coin dropping.wav by Jace
S: till beep aldi.aif by happyband
S: SW005.WAV by Koen
S: Last Post 2.wav by Benboncan
S: Last Post 3.wav by Benboncan
S: Last Post.wav by Benboncan
S: 00892 funeral silencium trumpet.wav by Robinhood76
S: churchBellTapeFails.wav by nicStage
S: DommeBells.wav by acclivity
S: Heineken percussion Ensemble before start 005.wav by klankbeeld
S: Heineken percussion Ensemble 008.wav by klankbeeld
S: Heineken percussion Ensemble 009.wav by klankbeeld
S: Heineken percussion Ensemble 0062.wav by klankbeeld
S: Heineken percussion Ensemble 0011.wav by klankbeeld
S: Heineken percussion Ensemble 0061.wav by klankbeeld
S: STE-009 minden market square military marching band.wav by dankopp
S: Ceremonie militaire - Caserne Marceau - Limoges -1996 by ingeos.mp3 by ingeos
S: Symphony Orchestra Warming Up Noisily by blouhond
S: BRASS END IN A 001.wav by sandyrb
S: Military exercise.wav by juskiddink
S: USAT BOMB.wav by sandyrb
S: Nuclear_Alarm.wav by IFartInUrGeneralDirection
S: t128.wav by guitarguy1985
S: carterattack.mp3 by guitarguy1985
S: Warfare drums.wav by jobro
S: Police_Helicopters_SanFrancisco_2003MAR03.mp3 by medialint
S: referee-whistle.wav by Pablo-F
S: One Blast Whistle.wav by tommon
S: Ant Marching Band - Dave Girtsman by blimp66
S: fort.wav by mattbronka
S: MarchingBand.wav by daveincamas
S: lamentations.mp3 by fourbissime
S: 20070402.crowd.flac by dobroide
S: Kirmes_Orgel_004_3_Radetzkimarsch.mp3 by bilwiss
S: Foot Stomp B.wav by patchen
S: Foot Stomp D.wav by patchen
S: Foot Stomp A.wav by patchen
S: Foot Stomp C.wav by patchen
S: brass band metz.mp3 by pmelidis
S: drums.parade.mp3 by dobroide
S: Police sirens.wav by fonogeno
S: brass band and public atmos.flac by klankbeeld
S: marching boots from left to right.wav by klankbeeld
S: marching boots in room.wav by klankbeeld
S: marching boots.wav by klankbeeld
S: Floor_trading5.wav by touchassembly
S: Salut. by urupin
S: cw_monk4.mp3 by cyberworm
S: high low chant.aif by djgriffin
S: tibetan chant 4 colargol 2.aif by djgriffin
S: tibetan chant 1.wav by djgriffin
S: mongolian folk chant.aif by djgriffin
S: solemn.mass.liturgy.20050813.mp3 by dobroide
S: Chant01.wav by chipfork
S: Demon Chant (Latin) by cycro
S: chanting_cultists.wav by Incarnadine
S: evil_incantation.wav by Incarnadine

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The track image is adapted from this:

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...eep_herding.jpg

and from this:

disquiet.com/wp-content/upload...onicvotetpm.png

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More details on the Disquiet Junto at:
Disquiet Junto