A totally different application of acoustic guitar

pjd3 · #1 08-02-2021, 07:44 AM

https://soundcloud.com/philip-donova...stered-3-28-21

After years of hearing about this thing called "granular synthesis", I finally had to bite the bullet and see what this was about - the very word was mystifying in itself. So, I did some researching and things pointed me to a $27.00 granular softsynth named, "The Mangle", I had to wonder just how effective something could be that was only 27 bucks but, the reviews and video's increased my interest by 10 fold.

The link to the results of my first experiment is at the top of this post - plus a heads up, it takes about 30 seconds to gradually fade in - its an ambient type piece.

To put it plainly, I hadn't been amazed and engaged with something in a very long time, to the depth that I was with this. Everything you will hear at this link is done with my Martin Shenendoah, only. I wrote out a 14 chord sequence and then began the task of building the chords with my acoustic guitar and Ebow, then placing sections of the 4 part chords into the granular synth for manipulation. It took a while to get the kind of sonic landscapes I was going for but, some diligence and time began giving me results that totally blew my mind. I got hooked on doing this and spent hours everyday for a couple of months to come up with what you hear at the link posted at the top of this post.

The basic chord bed is real time and non-synthized but, everything else you will hear is a piece of those chords inputted into "The Mangle". There are also some other melodic performances using some backwards techniques and other effects but still, using only my acoustic guitar.

At my Soundcloud site there is also one more Ambient type piece that was the result of my second experiment ("I'm only one person") adding in my fretless Ebow guitar along with granularly synthesized acoustic guitar and bass guitar through fuzz box and lots of reverb/chorusing/flanging.

This was the most engaging 27 dollars I have ever spent and everyone will do something different with a granular synth. Its open territory and contains an infinite variety of possibilities, but, relatively easy to get off the ground on.

Enjoy,
Phil Donovan

rick-slo · #2 08-02-2021, 07:58 AM

Not something I like or would listen to but probably fun to play around with no doubt.

pjd3 · #3 08-02-2021, 08:47 AM

Hey Rick-slo, and yeah, I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to just like it,

It was more about how an acoustic guitar can be morphed into many different things with minimal equipment. A person can make it into all kinds of symphonic textures that could be useful for backdrop and embellishment to their core music,

Everyone would have their own perspective on its usefulness (or un-usefulness) and manipulate things to the results that were desirable or useful to them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Best,
Phil

Glennwillow · #4 08-02-2021, 09:17 AM

Interesting stuff, Phil! That was quite a project!

- Glenn

FrankHudson · #5 08-02-2021, 09:44 AM

Tastes in music differ, but I like that quite a bit. At times I like working with modified attack envelopes on guitar (usually electric) to get different sounds and textures.

I may not be able to determine exactly what is the treated acoustic guitar here, but what I think I hear as that has a buzz, similar to the "sitar effect" that is often heard as a problem to be fixed with a bad fret, nut, or saddle. Some folks create it by weaving something in the strings of a guitar, or of course the designed on purpose to be rounded "buzz bridge" of the Coral Electric Sitar or it's copies. Ring modulators (once a reasonably common stomp box, less common now) are another way to get some of that odd harmonic content.

Speaking of problems that can be effects instead of issues to be fixed, I experimented recently with allowing the edge of a fretting finger fingernail to touch a neighboring string to produce an odd buzy harmonic in an acoustic piece. I could have said "Sloppy fretting there" and got out the nail clippers as well, but it was an interesting effect I decided to incorporate into the next take.

pjd3 · #6 08-02-2021, 09:50 AM

Hi Frank,

The buzzy stuff is actually the real non granulated performance of the chord beds, and the Ebow grazing the strings a bit. Yeah, I could probably try to find the EQ point and notch that out a bit, this piece isn't necessarily finished, its just what my capacities were up till that last mix. I'd love to put the piece in the hands of an accomplished ambient producer/engineer, but for now we only have the newbie bedroom abilities of myself. Maybe someday.

Thanks for listening and commenting, I have no objective perspective on this!

Phil

FrankHudson · #7 08-02-2021, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjd3

Hi Frank,

The buzzy stuff is actually the real non granulated performance of the chord beds, and the Ebow grazing the strings a bit. Yeah, I could probably try to find the EQ point and notch that out a bit, this piece isn't necessarily finished, its just what my capacities were up till that last mix. I'd love to put the piece in the hands of an accomplished ambient producer/engineer, but for now we only have the newbie bedroom abilities of myself. Maybe someday.

Thanks for listening and commenting, I have no objective perspective on this!

Phil

I get that noise sometimes with an ebow channel too, but it doesn't always detract to my tastes. Similarly, to my taste somewhat sloppy slide technique that doesn't sound like a clean part (don't get me wrong, clean slide is a great sound, well worth aiming for) can add something to some performances.

slooky · #8 08-02-2021, 07:07 PM

hauntingly beautiful!

Aimelie · #9 08-03-2021, 03:50 AM

Really cool!

SprintBob · #10 08-03-2021, 08:11 AM

Nice presentation given your first experience doing this.

This type of music is what I regard as atmospheric New Age. It can be really nice as background music to relax with (say a clear starry night on the back porch with a glass of wine and the company of your favorite honey).

Gtrfinger · #11 08-04-2021, 04:33 PM

Simply put. Extraordinary.
Reminds me of Robert Fripp, but then, you'd know that. You must do. I've no idea how you did it, even though you explained it.
Music of, and for, the Spheres.

Seriously. Well done Philip.

There are some incredible talents on this forum.

pjd3 · #12 08-08-2021, 11:53 AM

Thank you everybody for your honest comments and feedback.

As I suspected, there would be the full spectrum of responces to this, everything from "I wouldn't listen to it" to "Simply put, Extrodinary" and a welcomed percentage of tech talk surrounding the techniques and perspectives. Well, its been enough for me to keep going with this, get better at it, and have it find its place in my music world.

Should anyone be interested, here is the second experiment where I added in my "Fretless Ebow" guitar. Still, 80% of what you hear is initially generated with my acoustic guitar

https://soundcloud.com/philip-donova...nly-one-person

I built this guitar with the intent of having alot more string instrument expression and the "guitar" exceeded my expectations. It comes in first around 1-2 minutes in. There was also experimenting with multiple layers of bass guitar into my germanium fuzz pedal, each layer with a different stereo time based effect. That was fun.

Of course, feel free to enjoy, critique, not like it and comment.

Thanks for coming by,
Best,
Phil Donovan