Music at Quarter Speed

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Clint wrote referring to an Eno remix:
"Ha! This whole time I've had that and never realized it was a slowed 
remix."


Yeah, that's so cool and it  reminds me that a couple of years ago I was 
looking for one track for a video and going through a lot of  things
I've composed and never put out to see if I could find a match.

I couldn't find anything.    I finally found just a single loop that I 
had composes in Fruity loops that seemed close
but it was a bit too uptempo. 

I went into Soundforge and started to slow it down a bit but I hit the 
wrong button
and the thing went to 1/2 speed, accidentally.    The accident sounded 
really cool so I did it , purposefully,  again
and it sounded fantastic at 1/4 speed.

Ever since then,   I am always try radically slowing things down to see 
how they sound.
It's amazing how sounds and timbres change with radical repitching.

Fruity Loops has a wonderful global tuning fader that allows you to 
pitch an entire mix up or down an octave.
What's great is that it's non-destructive so you can really play about 
with it.
You can even tell certain elements not to pitch if you want to keep 
timbres staying the same.

I especially love my Repeater for it's ability to pitch things down two 
octaves while keeping the same rhythm
because of it's IVL streching algorithms.     You can use this to 
reharmonize things or just to change their
timbre.   Cymbals sound brilliant pitched way down.

   This isn't live looping but here's a track I did this week using this 
technique (just a mockup, not a completed track)
where the main loop is a sample of breaking glass slowed down over and 
over (I didn't even count how many times I slowed it down).

By restretching and then repitching several times, it ended up having a 
more rhythmic feeling to it.
I had just seen a really excellent documentary on Netflix watch 
instantly on the history of the Bloods and Crips
in LA that had a really beautiful mournful and slow trip hop sountrack 
(DJ Krush, Portisehead, et. al.)
and was in the mood to write such a piece.

www.looppool.info/BreakingGlassAtQuarterSpeed

Also, you should really check out list member Matt Davignons'  CD,  
"Music at 1/2 Speed."

www.ribosome*music*.com/*music*.html

He went through archival music of his own and slowed things down and 
even reversed the material.
It's a compelling listening,   one that really inspired me, personally.