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An example of a microtonal chord progression in 22edo (22 equal divisions of the octave, aka 22-tone equal temperament). These harmonies would be impossible to reproduce accurately using standard Western tuning, Arabic intonation, or basically any other traditional intonation. But with the new intonation systems that are popular within the xenharmonic scene, you might hear something new.
The tempo and velocity is controlled by a drunk walk using the drunk object in Max/MSP (Max 4 Live). Sound designs using Xen-Arts IVOR and FMTS2.
Here’s an improvisation from a few years back, warts and all. It’s a microtonal piano piece.
I will be live-streaming another music making session this weekend! Tune in here:
http://www.twitch.tv/sevishmusic/
Sunday 2:30am UTC (Saturday 10:30pm EST)
This time I will be attempting to start a new track, so you’ll get to see my creative process from the beginning. We’ll kick off with scale creation and I’ll be creating a new musical tuning specifically for this piece. Make sure you sign up for a free Twitch.tv account so that you can get involved in the live chat.
It will be my second time doing a live stream. First time had a few technical problems, but next time things will be smoother. Bits of the first session have been archived on the above link in case you want to catch up.
My piece Guano Sequence was featured in a compilation album from the music blog Can This Even Be Called Music?
There are some really far out sounds on this album, so check it out! Can This Even Be Called Music promotes unique underground bands and genres by reviewing their music, art, and lyrics. Dave Tremblay, who founded the blog, is even a microtonal musician in his own right!
Last weekend I put on a live stream about making microtonal music in Ableton Live. While there were a few technical issues, I did manage to get my head into a spacey improvisation in the Bohlen-Pierce scale. The improvisation was played with my AXiS-49 by C-Thru Music (a company which unfortunately went out of business recently).
The Bohlen-Pierce scale provides an exciting alternative to the Western 12-tone equal temperament. Instead of using major (4:5:6) and minor (10:12:15) triads as the basis of its harmony, it uses 3:5:7 and 5:7:9 “triads”. The ratios refer to the frequencies of the notes which form its harmony. To my ear, BP is spaced out, sparse and atmospheric. It sounds alien but it makes sense in its own weird way.
Actually the chords that are in the background of my improvisation don’t use the 3:5:7 or 5:7:9 chords, but to my ear they still capture that unmistakable BP sound. Definitely a great xenharmonic scale to go back to now and again.
If you want to hear more, you’ll find a plethora of Bohlen-Pierce recordings on YouTube.
For more reading, check out the Bohlen-Pierce site!
And just for good measure, here’s another Bohlen-Pierce track that I wrote way back in 2010.
Just for fun I’ll will be live streaming my next music making session. Tune in here:
http://www.twitch.tv/sevishmusic/
Sunday 2:30am UTC
There will be live chat so we can discuss approaches to microtonal composition, sound design, audio engineering etc. Just follow the link to start watching. You’ll need to sign up for a free Twitch.tv account to get on the chat, and I hope you’ll do that so I can have some company while making noises.
I’ll be working on some new stuff, and maybe also creating some synth sound designs to be used later. I’m happy to load up the songs from Rhythm and Xen if you want to see how they were made. Never tried anything like this before so let’s do something new!
I’ve been gradually releasing all the tracks from ‘Rhythm and Xen’ on Soundcloud and YouTube since May. Now you can finally stream the whole album for free on either service! So pick one and listen to the whole thing uninterrupted as much as you like. :)
If you wish to support my work, please consider buying Rhythm and Xen from Bandcamp. I’ve been blown away by all the support so far, and happy that people are enjoying these sounds. I can’t wait to get back to writing some new stuff again.
UPDATE February 2017: You can now stream this Rhythm and Xen on Spotify. While you’re there, please follow my Sevish artist page on Spotify!
It goes without saying (actually maybe it doesn’t) that if you want to make microtonal music, you need to have the right tools. For my album Rhythm and Xen I found the perfect set of tools that worked for me to get the sound that I wanted. And all while bending notes like a madman.
Stream and download Rhythm and Xen
First the machine: I produced half the tracks on a home-built desktop computer running Windows 7. The other half were produced on an Acer laptop running Windows 8. That should tell you there’s no need to get fancy and expensive, just grab a computer made within the last 5 years and start writing.
My DAW of choice is Ableton Live 9. I used to be an FL Studio user – a really common phrase for my generation – but when I picked up Ableton Live I preferred the workflow and the base functionality. There was no looking back.
As for the default synths that come with Live, throw ‘em out. They can’t be microtuned, so they’re only good for making music that everybody else makes.
For me, the key to making microtonal music in a DAW is to find some microtunable VSTs that you like the sound of. So here are the 5 VSTs I used in Rhythm and Xen:
I love the sound design potential of this synth, and the VA waveforms sound nice for a digital synth.
FM synthesis built from the ground up to get spectrally microtuned sideband partials… what’s not to like? And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s just a good FM synth. :)
Virtual analog with some weird characteristics, quirky yet bold.
It’s a SoundFont player. When you’re craving some 12-bit sounds.
An affordable orchestral sound bank, nuff said. Sadly, the more I work with GPO4, the more I can recognise it from a mile off. So now that Rhythm and Xen is complete I’m gonna retire this one.
As far as VST instruments go, these 5 were all I needed. Although, I did create a couple of my own sound generators in Max/MSP to fulfil other needs. But if you’ve seen my downloadable music resources then you already know what those are.
FX wise, I just love the collection from Variety of Sound. NastyDLA is all over this record, and I used some of their bus compressors in mastering. These plugins are amazing and free!
Oli Larkin’s Endless Series v3 is a really unique effect which can generate Shepard tones, endlessly rising tones. But the killer bit is, it can do endlessly rising or descending phaser and flanger effects too. You can create a sense of urgency doing this (great risers), or else just come up with some cool sound designs.
In the liner notes for Rhythm and Xen there a track-by-track breakdown of what instruments and compositional techniques were used. Some geeks just gotta know.
Download the album: https://sevish.bandcamp.com/album/rhythm-and-xen
Rhythm and Xen: An album of atmospheric drum & bass, breakbeat and electronic music.
Download Rhythm and Xen by Sevish
I won’t spoil all the surprises here, except to say that it’s the spiritual successor to my album Golden Hour, and has some influences from Sean but not Heard too. I hope you find it deep & wide; full of layers, details and surprises.
A full-length album like Rhythm and Xen is a huge undertaking. Almost 3 years is how long it took to complete the effort, all in my spare time, while trying to develop my career. For the first time, I’m selling an album of my solo work. Grab it for £4 – it’s more than worth it.
Facebook comments from people who listened on day 1:
“new electronic beat music that’s *actually new*”
“Better than coffee. Springer than spring. You best be listenin'”
“Wild, out of this world textures and sounds. Microtonal, hybrid, dreamy goodness. Kickass sound design.”
https://sevish.bandcamp.com/album/rhythm-and-xen
– Sevish
Sometimes when I am working on a track and I get excited, I will put a demo version up online. Some of those demos were later finished and made it onto Rhythm and Xen, the album that I’ll be releasing on May 10th. Listen back to these lil things and get a glimpse of what’s coming:
5 days to go!
Update: Download Rhythm and Xen now! :)