A
lifelong music fan, Dean has spent the majority of his adult life atoning for
his early love of Chicago. He is currently filling the gaps in his post-punk
and ambient vinyl collection. For
decades, he has worked as a lighting designer, and he noted that while considering
these questions,”I had a revelation that I structure sound the way I
design lights by responding to what is in front of me.”
How would
you describe what you do?
Basically I push blocks of sound around. I have
always had music in my head, but the computer is such a wonderful tool for
those of us less musically inclined. To be able to see sound as well as hear it
is wonderful. Eventually I have to force myself just to listen.
Is this
different than what other people think you do?
I don't know what other people think I do. I do
share sound files with people but no one has ever really asked how the sound
was produced.
How do
you know if you’re on the right track with a project?
It really has to do with feeling it out. I have
tons of projects I have abandoned because I didn't quite know what to do with
them. Some are samples, some layered sounds with effects, some built up with
real instruments. Occasionally when I come back to them I hear something in
them that sparks a thought and then I can finish the track. Other times it is
just best to move on.
How do
you go about making choices?
I like using programs and filters that mangle
sound, chop it up, create something I can't control. And then I listen. I may
hear a small bit that catches my attention and so I magnify it by pulling it
out of the mix or looping it. Typically one choice leads to another and another
and so the track gets built up over time by adding layers, effects, and other
sounds.
How do
you know when you’re done?
I can usually feel it. In a way it is like
structuring a narrative. The essential pieces are established in the opening
moments and then they are developed. Some pieces can sustain a long slow build
that can last five or ten minutes, others run their course in two or three
minutes. Strangely I can usually hear that something is missing, some sound or
build or chunk. I keep adding those until it doesn't need anything more.
What’s
your workspace like?
It's everywhere. I have guitars and a bass in the
back bedroom along with a USB mic set up to sample live sounds and drums in the
basement, but I have also taken samples on my phone or from a cd player and a
glitched disk - which basically means I wrote on it in sharpie, cut it,
scratched it or whatever. You never know where it will catch or what sounds it
will make so it is always a process of discovery. I actually would love to
create a workspace where everything is always set up an accessible, but mainly I
move from room to room so no one can hear what I am doing. I tend to head to a
far corner of the basement when vocals are involved.
What are
your essential tools?
Mac laptop and GarageBand no question. I bought a
decent USB mic a few years back which works great for recording live
instruments. I occasionally use Audacity when I want to reverse a track
which is hard to do with GarageBand. I have a copy of Logic but it is so
complicated I have yet to sort it out. The same is true for MAX/MSP. Basically
I get an idea and I want to get it down quickly and GarageBand is great for
that.
What’s
the most surprising tool you use?
I guess it depends on what surprises you. Basically
anything can make sound and with a combination of filters any sound can be bent
or mangled or altered. I've sampled my furnace turning on, I have sampled
skipping CDs, I even sampled the erratic sound of dripping water on a trip to
Biltmore.
What was
your biggest mistake or the one you learned the most from?
It's all mistakes. I have no idea what I am doing.
That is the fun part. I listen to early pieces I made and I can hear that I
really had no idea how to use the tools. It's all a learning experience and
every time I get a new plug-in, a new effect, a new toy that makes sound I make
mistakes all over the place. But these lead to a greater understanding and some
very interesting and unpredictable sounds.
An example of Dean’s work:
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