I initiated the recording process for my final piece, tentatively titled ‘Alpine Dream’. I began with a highly specific idea that I wanted to convey, experimenting with the potential that the analog oscillators of Behringer’s MS-20 clone could provide. I tuned the sound of rushing, roaring and whistling winds in an attempt to re-create the atmosphere I was interested in with my prior bass amp experiments. In a somewhat pareidolic way, the synthetic illusion I found to be more evocative than if I had attempted to record real winds through painstaking field recording. The ontological significance of the man-made’s oscillator and circuitry emulating the natural so well is an intriguing dichotomy. Despite my hesitations surrounding the computer, and especially AI and generative techniques, I still feel the value of certain applications of technological transmutation. I attenuated the Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release, and especially Hold controls to simulate wind’s rising and falling. Recording two sparring and contrasting takes, patching first the pink, and then the white noise generator to the external input of the high pass filter. The interplay between the smoothness of the white and the coarseness of the pink lent real environmental shape to the work, I could imagine the way crags, outcrops and stones filter wind in different ways.
I also used the ring modulator and feedback that can be created with this kind of lowpass filter to sculpt a bright, fluting tone, one that suggests a tense serenity heard faintly on high winds. This lent my piece a musicality that indicated to me the direction it could be further taken in.
Alongside the synthetic winds, I recorded a ride cymbal played gently with brushes and beaters, aiming for a worldly, monastic tone and very faintly suggestive rhythmic gesture.