Category Archives: Compositions

Mid-Missouri Composers Symposium at Osage Arts Community

I was attending Mid-MO Composers Symposium in mid July. This week-long event was initiated and directed by composer Nolan Stolz, and was hosted by the Osage Arts Community in Belle, MO.  Total of eleven composers from all over the country gathered at the OAC, and we discussed various topics and inspired each other.  In fact, I don’t think I ever had this much fun talking about music since the college years.

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Here are some topics we have discussed in the formal discussion panel:

  1. Electronic music
  2. Perceiving musical form
  3. Timbral/behavioral counterpoint
  4. Intertextuality in instrumental composition
  5. Teaching students in the interdisciplinary arts
  6. Perceiving musical form
  7. Outreach and funding
Here are some planned (and a few unplanned) activities
  1. Hang out at the river
  2. Listening and discussion of Corigliano’s score for Altered States
  3. Attend Alarm Will Sound’s open rehearsal at Mizzou International Composers Festival
  4. Attend county fair and demolition derby
  5. Watch the movie Untitled
  6. Tour of a restored Missouri prairie
  7. Karaoke night
  8. “Guess the composer of this program notes” game
When there were no activities, each composer worked at his/her work in a private and quite space. The center has many buildings in the town, and is transforming the town into an artist heaven. All accommodation and foods are provided by the OAC for free.  In short, I highly recommend the Composers Symposium and residency at the OAC. I know I will come back when I need a time and space for my projects.

Lastly, Belle is located in a beautiful rural area. I was happy to hear many inspiring sounds. The below is a recording of a chicken coop owned by OAC. You can almost hear checkins pecking my leg and the recorder.

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Snake Extension – What I have learned in the Spring semester

I taught Digital Signal Processing Theory class in the last Spring. I have never studied this hard to teach a course. As a result, I learned (or relearned) about DSP quite a bit. More specifically, I learned to appreciate elegance of “classic” techniques, such as AM, FM, sample-and-hold, and delays. I think I can explain them in digital terms. Most importantly, I learned that digital signal processing is all about (good) math.

The best way to wrap up the semester and summarize what I have learned is to make a piece using the new techniques I have learned.

1. To start the piece, I begin with a sinusoid generated with very slow Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) on its pitch. The LFO’s shape is made with a  wave shaping function using polynomials. The result is an unusual curve pitch pattern.

2. On this polynomial curve, I add sample and hold. The smooth line gets “steps” in terms of pitch. I change the S&H rate to create different rhythms

3. As the piece progresses, I would like to have some frequency modulation gradually fading in.

4. This should sound fun if I have more of them. Here is an example of all the techniques with four sinusoids. The rate of S&H, the shape of polynomial curve, and the modulation rate of FM are randomly selected for each line.

The resulting sound sounded like a good accompaniment for a noisy electronic piece. So I played a no-input mixer and custom synthesizer over the polynomial pads. I also continued the piece with algorithmically drum part that I have developed for Snake and Ox track in my latest album (more about this track later).

Here’s the final result, Snake Extension. I think I’ll add this to my solo repertoire.

A new album is coming!

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My new solo album titled Overundertone will be released on this coming Monday (April 13) by NoRemixes label.  If last album, 120V was a collection of my old pieces, this album is a representation of where I am now. Almost all the tracks in the album use computer-synthesized sounds. Just like anything with with the computer, the sounds in this album are precise, digital, almost to the point that it feels unnatural and inhuman. But I like that aspects of computer music.

Album Art work by Sarah Snyder

I think I made an interesting album. I hope you like it, too.

 

A new album is out

120V is out now on Amazon as a downloadable album.

This is a compilation album of my solo works from 2002 to 2013.  All tracks except one are available for streaming in Soundcloud (The SCloud has a better streaming quality, and you can listen to the entire track). The album-only track, also named as 120v, is a no-input mixer piece that is quite different from all other works included in this album.
Visceral Media also made a video interview about me and my album. The guest in this video also appears in some of my works.

Please listen, share, review, and purchase the album!

A New Album is on the Way

Visceral Media Records will be releasing my new album in few weeks. The album is titled 120V, and it is a “best of” album that contains my works composed in the past 10+ years.  It also has a new track for no-input mixer and computer (marked with * in the track listing).

The album has quite a variety in terms of electronic music style. I feel very happy to share an album that contains pieces that reflects who I was and who I am. My life and music has changed immensely since I started to make electronic after plugging things into 120V outlets in the US.

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Track Listing:

  1. Sound Mobile – I. Forward
  2. Decrescendo
  3. Fireflies and Cicadas
  4. NCP2010
  5. Nocturne
  6. Sound Mobile – II. Backward
  7. 120V*
  8. Elegy
  9. Retrace
  10. Reed Bed
  11. Sound Mobile – III. All Together