Whilst my house move continues, I find myself without my little sound studio set-up. So I am resorting to the Netbook, with Ableton Live (Launchpad edition). This has sent me back down the path of making ambient drone pieces. This is a small looped arpeggiated sample I made using Simpler, that has had grain delay and stretching treatment.

I watched the sun disappear this evening and the sky slowly became a deep rich lilac colour. This matched the sense of mood that dusk emitted.

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Lilac.mp3
Lilac 96kbps.mp3

This rather wonderful surprise appeared out of the blue and has knocked me sideways.

I urge you to listen to it as it really brings some of my work to life in a way that I could not. You can stream or download it from here via Soundcloud.

If you can, please follow @djchloeharris on Twitter and check out some of her other terrific mixes and sets via Soundcloud.

A massive thank you to her and to all of you that have taken the time to listen to my output since this all began last February. It’s been a joy.

Here is the nineteenth zip file containing the latest ten tracks posted.

There are two zip files, one for lower bitrate MP3s and the other for the rather better 320kbps files.

All of the tracks here are free for you to download and distribute. However, because of the earthquake in Haiti, please consider making a donation to any of the major aid agencies, if you are in a position to do so.

Oxfam USA

Oxfam UK

UNICEF

As ever, thank you for listening.

181 to 190 – 96kbps – zip file (27Mb)
181 to 190 – 320kbps – zip file (75Mb)

This little piece was the result of my noodling late Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday.

I’d spent the evening listening to The Blue Nile and Mark Hollis. This left me feeling incredibly bouyant and relaxed. This gentle drone was then made using Reaktor 5 and a rack of unusual effect combinations in Live 8. A little stretching was applied in places too.

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Cherry Light.mp3
Cherry Light 96kbps.mp3

Here is the eighteenth zip file containing the latest ten tracks posted.

There are two zip files, one for lower bitrate MP3s and the other for the rather better 320kbps files.

All of the tracks here are free for you to download and distribute.

Thank you for listening.

171 to 180 – 96kbps – zip file (63Mb)
171 to 180 – 320kbps – zip file (212Mb)

The sound of winter, out on the Arctic tundra?

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Polar.mp3
Polar 96kbps.mp3

Things in my life are bit hectic right now and chances to play with sound are not happening as often as I’d like. This piece reflects that in some ways as I am once again starting with a piece of sound from someone else.

It’s a sample of the Portsmouth Sinfonia (a link popped up on Twitter from a few people I follow). It’s their rendition of the opening music to 2001 A Space Odyssey, ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’. In brief they were an orchestra made up of non-musicians and/or musicians playing an instrument totally new to them. The resulting sound they make is perfect for stretching and manipulating.

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Psinfonia.mp3
Psinfonia 96kbps.mp3

My first experiment with a Max for Live audio effect used alongside an existing rack in Live 8. A sampled sound of some glass, returned to grains and made to sing.

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Silica.mp3
Silica 96kbps.mp3

More experimentation with the Conet number station samples, led me to try and reshape one of them so that it became something totally new and almost unrecognisable. It’s meant to represent the sound of the Earth lamenting her demise. Not cheery stuff, I know, but I love its melancholic feel.

All of the sound in this piece came from this Conet sample.

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I used Paulstretch to pull it apart, but everything else was done using Ableton Live.

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Umweltverschmutzung.mp3
Umweltverschmutzung 96kbps.mp3

Very small grains of sound taken were from Elbow’s Mirrorball. These were then stretched out enormously and overlaid a few times, with pitch changes. A lot of Live 8’s internal effects where applied and the result is a soothing 20 minute ambient drone best enjoyed late at night, with headphones. I hope Guy, Mark, Craig, Richard & Pete will forgive my allowing this to be downloadable.

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Mirrors.mp3
Mirrors 96kbps.mp3