Strange sounds, accenting compositions

Samuelroy · Joined: Oct 18, 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Seattle

Hi, I'm new here... hopefully this isn't redundant.

When composing songs I often do it like this:

Start with a beat. Add a synthline... add a bassline... add some hats etc.

Finally a song is finished (more or less), but it sounds too generic to me.. it needs that special something to set it outside of other electronic songs and give it that tad bit of unique flavor.

To get this I've done a variety of things: I've sampled video game noises... I've sharpened knives into a microphone then bitcrushed it... I've recorded my cat... I've time-stretched the HELL out of things.

Still, I always have to rack my brain to come up with ideas.

What are some things you guys use to create those strange noises in your songs? Are there any freeware synths that make cool sounds like that?

m_oestling · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:25 pm Post subject:

hello and welcome!

this is a very complex question, and it probably deserves a good answer.
unfortunately, in the realm of modern electronic music, and its tendency
to be focused on strange noises, they can be used to a certain extent until they turn into clichés and drag the attached tracks down with it.
not to say strange noises can't be used or that every sound has to be reinvented each time, but i'd say it's more about layering and composition.
Even the most mundane sounds can be turned into something very interesting when layered with other elements, and the ambience around the weird sounds often need to be right for the sounds to have any relevance or impact (what i mean is, some video game noises and cat samples might not work well over a funky beat with an acid bass line, but rather behind a haunting detuned dx7 sting and an amen break, its impossible to know until hearing).

from your post it seems like you are frustrated over the very thing thats supposed to be the whole joy of it, in your case you appear anxious to create new sounds for example. Ask yourself: Are you preparing the track for this purpose? Could you approach composing in a different way to better suit your workflow? Why not try fitting a beat into the ambience of a field recording? mixing the accented stabs of a bassline with sampled fragments of you banging on stuff? etc.. freeware synths are ofcourse an easy way of creating new sounds, but without an imaginative and loving approach to your own work, you will soon find how fast a piece of software becomes boring and predictable:) .. good luck! and make sure to post some of your tracks.

Samuelroy · Joined: Oct 18, 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Seattle

What really inspires me to write music is usually a melody, a rhythmic structure and perhaps lyrics I want to get across. My music is fairly poppy and is inspired by song writing and not really so much by sounds. However, it might be interesting to try starting from some strange sounds and writing a song around that -- I've never really done that before (I don't think). Thanks for the lengthy response Smile

I haven't dipped my hand much in field recording... perhaps I should try more of that. Got any good recommendations for an easy way to do this?

m_oestling · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:04 am Post subject:

It's all about experimentation and being patient when trying to come up w/ interesting sounds! Since you are inspired by/focused on melodies and rhythmic structure it could probably add a lot of flavour if you get comfy with your experiments! As for field recording, depending on your setup there are a lot of things you can do. My mate just brings his laptop with him and has a good mic and a decent soundcard, and records straight into his sound editor. Unfortunately for me my iBook did'nt come with a mic input so i do it with my minidisc player. Even old tape recorders give you a really interesting sound with a pinch of lo-fi and are very diverse and cheap:)) If you have a few microphones you should definately check out the possibilities of DAT recording. With a portable DAT recorder and a multi input mic preamp you can set up very surreal and detailed atmospheres by arranging the mics in the environment. It's not a cheap alternative but brings alot of dimension!

Antimon · Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:05 pm Post subject:

There is a short talk about field recording gear here: http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-13188.html

I also like to spice up poppy stuff I do with "strange" sound burst or waves. I usually create a patch on the Nord Modular where I do new "wrong" patch connections that I haven't tried before, modulating delay times with square LFOs, cross-modulating stuff etc. Try out the demo, if you haven't already!

/Stefan

kijjaz · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:23 am Post subject:

i'm into these kinds of ideas.
i strongly agree with m_oestling: it's all about experimentation and being patient when trying to come up w/ interesting sounds!

so have fun doing the experiments. don't push yourself too hard on that..
just try to have fun and a lot more fun doing that each time.
this way helps me a lot. it's like i'm playing with things around me all the time, just like playing with some new toys.

most basic software synth & effects with unusual arrangments can be used to create strange sounds.
and creating a 'feedback line' can let you play around a lot with ambient / feedback sounding thingies..
for example.. if your DAW can't make feedback line.. you can wire output of the soundcard to line input
and create a delay line in your DAW.. then prepare some effects ready..
and when tweaking in real-time & recording, you'll be able to play with feedback.
that's one main thing i love to play with.. feedback!

using some music synthesis programming langauge is fun also..
for example.. modular synthesis program .. for example, synthedit, synthmaker .. (on windows)
dataflow graphical programming .. MAX/MSP, puredata ..
programming with syntaxes: csound, chuck, supercollider ..
but these might be too complicated to some musicians ..
i recommend playing with modular synthesis program.
you can create a lot of strange sounds easily by wiring the modules in there..
and it's not too hard for normal musicians.

take care ^_^

Digiton · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:16 pm Post subject:

METASYNTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bbinkovitz · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:53 pm Post subject:

drippy or bubbly noises of water in metal pans. that's one of my favorites -- you can get so many sounds by swishing it around.

teakettles are good too. each one whistles differently.

brake whines can be quite beautiful.

crosswalks that beep or chirp or talk.

vintage educational tapes of various kinds.

things on archive.org that are in the public domain, such as thomas edison recordings and 50s ads.

circuit bending noises -- toy keyboards in demo mode are good for this.

insects, frogs, birds.

or just walk around your city with a minidisc recorder and get any sound that strikes your fancy!

hope this helps.

kijjaz · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:40 pm Post subject:

I also like abusing things or observing things operating not normally/properly.

For example, sound recorded when turning on / off a machine..
(especially electronic music things...
Turning on/off Condensor Microphone phantom power is supercool sci-fi facourite of mine.)

Sound of something usually not recorded..
for example.. analog SPDIF signal.

Loose jacks.
Bad microphone feedback.
Annoying feedback or booms accidentally happened in live shows.

These kind of things.
There are a degree of error in these things.

dewdrop_world · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:58 pm Post subject:

Antimon · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:14 pm Post subject:

Back in the early days of dodgy cassette copies of commodore 64 games, there was a turbo program called "turbo 3", which "played" the data being loaded from the cassette through the sound chip (it also turned the data into red/black lines on the screen). At the start of a program there was a tracker signal that sounded like a bit like a whining duck, and when the program started loading it was all varied noise. I keep thinking I should dig it the old 64 and record some of that noise... I think that the ZX Spectrum made some noise also on the tracker signal, but not when the actual program started loading.

Anyone else here know of some old computers that used magnetic storage or other stuff that made noise? I've heard a story about the first computer that was installed at the university I went to: they hooked up a speaker to a register so that they could listen to programs as they executed their machine code. The operators learned quickly to recognize the sound a program made when it ended up in an endless loop. Very Happy

OT: A benefit of using those cassette copies back on '64 (besides economics) was that there was a huge improvement in loading time (especially when comparing to floppy discs) - we're talking 20 seconds instead of 15 minutes. And the cool intros and stuff... However: I don't support this behavior and nowadays everything I own is legal etc.

/Stefan

DrJustice · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:03 pm Post subject:

Some of the most interesting music I know consists largely of what many would call Strange Sounds. "Strange" sounds doesn't have to be "effects", they can be totally musical and fundamental to a composition. The scenario can even be reversed from the traditional, where a non-strange sound becomes the spice or effects. The degree and type of strangeness may vary, of course, just like your mileage... This is a big part of what makes electro-music interesting for me.

DJ
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