Artificial Rain Storm (2014)
Instrumentation: fixed-media (quadraphonic)
Duration: 6 minutes
Duration: 6 minutes
Program Note:
A rainstorm relies on the articulation of several billion water droplets and the boom of thunder to produce sound. Similarly, an artificial rainstorm depends on the sound of wooden doorstops, rolling coins, cufflinks, dangling keys, whiteboard erasers, mechanical pencil lead, and assorted pointy rubber and plastic objects that scrape surfaces or fall on top of them. In addition to these everyday items, Absynth patches, MIDI, and reverb are used to generate thunder. One key idea in Artificial Rainstorm is the layering of articulations from falling objects to create rain-like textures. Second is the process of granulation, where small grains of the falling articulations are transposed, reordered, and sped-up in a compressed texture to create denser rain. Pitch-shifting, time scaling, and spectral effects also make greater variety in use of the piece’s sonic contents. In terms of form, gradual timbre transitions fashion the core thematic process of Artificial Rainstorm.
A rainstorm relies on the articulation of several billion water droplets and the boom of thunder to produce sound. Similarly, an artificial rainstorm depends on the sound of wooden doorstops, rolling coins, cufflinks, dangling keys, whiteboard erasers, mechanical pencil lead, and assorted pointy rubber and plastic objects that scrape surfaces or fall on top of them. In addition to these everyday items, Absynth patches, MIDI, and reverb are used to generate thunder. One key idea in Artificial Rainstorm is the layering of articulations from falling objects to create rain-like textures. Second is the process of granulation, where small grains of the falling articulations are transposed, reordered, and sped-up in a compressed texture to create denser rain. Pitch-shifting, time scaling, and spectral effects also make greater variety in use of the piece’s sonic contents. In terms of form, gradual timbre transitions fashion the core thematic process of Artificial Rainstorm.