n-Track Studio's Featured Artist of the Month

NOVEMBER 2001


The Five W

Featured Artist's Web Page: http://stage.vitaminic.com/main/audio_imagery/singles


Where:
Manhattan, KS USA

Who: "I think of Audio Imagery as a life of its own, but in human terms it is generated by Jeffrey S. Pontius"

When: Audio Imagery creativity began in Winter of 2000, and continues

Why:
[..] "
I mainly get emersed in analog synthesis. Audio Imagery came about while my analog studio was in boxes. So as an alternative creative outlet I decided to explore analog-style software synthesizers. This new medium of expression was an exciting change of pace from using
'real'analog synthesizers."

What: [..] "Electronic music. What 'genre' of e-music, I'm not sure it is
really relevant."

In Short:

Influences are many electronic music composers from Stockhausen and Subotnick to Tangerine Dream and Larry Fast.

What's in the Home CD Player?: Arcane, electronic music pioneers (i.e. Subotnick), Larry Fast, Tangerine Dream.

Gear: Most of the audio was generated using SimSynth 2.x. It has nice analog emulations with sequencer and fx (delay).
Additionally: VAZ+ 1.7 (very nice analog style sequencer and real-time controls), GranuLab (granular audio and processing), DrumSynth (mainly fx), AnalogX SayIt ("speech", listen to e-Conversation), and Hammer Head Rhythm Station (some "percussion"). n-Track was used to make the pieces come to life. Plug-in audio processing with BJ flanger and JS humanizer, resonator and pandelay was used sparingly (well, most of the time). Also used were n-Track reverb and FreeVerb2.
[It may be of interest that, given the cost of a Celeron-based computer, total cost for the above software was under $120.] "Collapse of a Spiral Galaxy" contains a few samples (e.g., 'voices').

Thanks: Eunhee Kim for listening and commentary, and Hanley Jackson for
expert advice and education on e-music.



CD - Audio Imagery (2001)

Audio Imagery
by Alessandro De Murtas

Featured Songs: 

A Cranial Cauldron of Neurochemicals Real | MP3
Collapse of a Spiral Galaxy Real | MP3
Wolf Spider Hunting Real | MP3
Eye of Jupiter Real | MP3

[..] "Audio Imagery is a collection of electronic music pieces inspired by visual images, from neurochemicals to wolf spiders to planetary
landscapes and imagined galactic events. The audio is produced entirely using analog-style software synthesizers, and then assembled, mixed, and produced only in n-Track Studio 2. Genre? I find these classifications rather limiting and not very descriptive. On my Vitaminic website, Audio Imagery is under Electronic: Ambient as this seemed to be the most appropriate. Audio Imagery is available via RealPlayer audio streaming and .mp3 download at Vitaminic.
Note that because the 128kps mp3 compression cannot reproduce well very dynamic audio, some of the .mp3 versions are not as 'smooth' as the original .wav files. I'm considering having an .mp3 cd available from Vitaminic.
If you are interested in receiving a cdr of the currently produced original .wav files (all of which can be previewed via .mp3 at Vitaminic), please contact me. Charge will be $8 (including shipping via United States Post Office for continental North America). If you live outside of continental North America, please contact me and we can make alternative arrangements for shipping.

Tips and Tricks from Audio Imagery using n-Track Studio.


Given what I read on the n-Track Discussion page, I am a
novice and basic user of n-Track. Many of you are a lot more talented than I with this great piece of software. Possibly a few things I've learned will help someone someday.
(1) Because many times I have assembled 8 to 12 simultaneous tracks, I will partition pieces into several separate sections (in n-Track jargon, .sng's) so that I can obtain listenable playbacks. Each section will be mixed and processed separately, and then each Mixed down separately in n-Track to .wav files. Then the Mixed down .wav files will be assembled in a new .sng to produce the final .wav file. The sections begin and end at places that are 'natural' transitions in the piece, many times the sections overlap in the final .sng. Of course, this takes a bit of upfront planning, but is not very difficult for electronic pieces that have well defined transition areas. For example, sequences are always contained with sections. 'Electronic fx' areas are some of the best places to overlap sections.
(2) Because SimSynth contains some nice on-board fx, I can add fx without using n-Track resources. This involves some planning, but generally works well in the final product.
To construct pieces I generally start by sketching out the basic
components. For example, the general electronic audio, basic sequence patterns, and any integrated dynamics. I then experiment with basic synthesizer audio (much as I would with actual analog synthesizers), and if I think it is appropriate, move on to shape envelopes, filter resonance, and other parameters until I approve of the final audio. This may occur in combination with a particular sequence, or I may generate a sequence of interest, and then experiment with audio that I think fits.
After I am satisfied with the final version, a .wav file (from SimSynth, for example) is produced and added to an n-Track section track. Most 'loops' of sequences are done with the software synthesizers, not in n-Track.
Essentially, this process continues until I have completed a section of a piece and the beginning of the next section (so that I know how the two sections will 'interact' when the final .sng is assembled). Sometimes I will do a preliminary Mix down of the two sections, and combine them in a temporary build just to make sure that they will 'work' together. Then the section is processed (e.g., adding reverb) until finalized. Once every section is finalized, each is Mixed down to a .wav file, assembled in a new n-Track .sng, and finally Mixed down to the 'final' .wav file.
The last is 'final' because I then write a cdr and listen to the piece on several sound systems just to make sure that it sounds reasonable. For me, the real fun and challenge is in the composing, synthesis, and assemblage.

Some 'listening' aspects of Audio Imagery pieces that may be of interest:

My favorites: Gorgonum Chaos (an actual landscape feature on Mars), Collapse of a Spiral Galaxy, A Cranial Cauldron of Neurochemicals, Wolf Spider Hunting.

In Dasht-e Lut, digital aliasing by overdriving the audio in SimSynth
produces some nice 'sandy' effects, especially in the caravan
'walk' section - seemed relevant to a piece about a desert.

e-Conversation is almost entirely constructed using GranuLab processing on .wav files generated from SayIt.

The 'bird chirps' in the middle of g-Experiment are straight out of
GranuLab using its sine wave generator, indicating that granular synthesis can generate some very nice electronic sounds.

Wolf Spider Hunting is almost entirely VAZ+, giving you an example of what this software can do. 'Nature sounds' are from DrumSynth. About 80% of the percussion audio is actually from SimSynth.

In my 'real' life, I am an Associate Professor of Statistics at Kansas
State University. I mainly enjoy working on applying statistics to
ecology and environmental problems.
"

Gallery


Eye of Jupiter


Wolf Spider

What's Being Cooked Up?

Featured Artist of the Month - Comments and suggestions are welcome.

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