Robert Rich, Robin Storey and soundscapes

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Scriabin

Scriabin

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hello everyone,
ive shadowed this board for over 3 years and finally signed up a few days ago. Even after reading here for so long I never once saw anybody interested in composing ambient soundscapes or minimalism. I know its a lesser known area of music but it can be combined with pop, rock and alot of other styles subtley and can add life and lushness to alot of recordings. One band that i know of that has started to experiment with soundscapes is Radiohead especially on Amnesiac. Is there anyone out there that finds this stuff as interesting as me? Check out sonic foundry loops for acid "textures & soundscapes" and "Liquid planet" for a taste of it.
 
Well I am interested and 'dig' radioheads stuff but I don't really know if I understand the concept enough to comment on the subject.

Maybe you should give a more in-depth account or a link to a more detailed explanation of the idea.

Im certailny open minded to new ways of writing/creating music and would be interested to read any response you may be able to give.
 
hey krystof1,
I'm glad to see someone finally responded. Judging from the number of views and replies i can see most people don't know or have particular interest in soundscapes and minimalism.

Minimalism as a "style of music" was born as early as 15 years ago. Before this time new modern composers sought to place dissonance upon dissonance and large swirling melodies in a wash of sound in most of their works. In the time of this complicated "serial" and "post-serial" forms of music, minimalism emerged as a sort of baby music in answer to the complicated forms existing at the time by going back to compostions based on the classical triads and not much more.
Unlike past forms of classical music that wooed crowds with intensely complicated patterns and order, minimalism only demands stamina on the ear of the listener.
Some noteworthy composer of classical minimalism are:
a) henryk gorecki's 3rd symphony
b) philip glass
c)john adams

Not much unlike minimalism in art, the music seeks to create the widest range of emotions with the fewest brushstrokes or notes available. The main idea and point of minimalism is to transport the listener into a trance and lead them into the subconsciousness of the mind. Through the use of drones, varying tone patterns, ambient sounds and textures, and ethnic instruments, composers such as robert rich and robin storey have experimented with this idea. of course these are just the two composers im most familiar with, but their are many other groups such as zoviet-france and amoeba.
ambience also plays a major part in the world of soundscapes. through its use of "organic electronica." Robert Rich records most of his own work at his home studio where he has a large collection of ethnic instruments such as mbiras, different analog synths, ethnic drums, ect....
In an interview i read of Robert Rich he said that he started to compose with other ethnic instruments because it offered him the freedom of not being tied down to the western scales, tuning, pitches, ect. He takes each sound he creates with whatever he hears in his head by using whatever he can. not just guitars, drums or piano but household objects or sound he hears in nature.
here's a link to some of his work:
http://www.amoeba.com/rrframeset.html

Robin Storey is a strange artists altoghther as he has not listened to "conventional" music ie. pop, rock, rap, country in over 15 years. he's been a sound designer for over twenty years and has been a member of zoviet-france.
here's a link to his work:
http://www.sleepbot.com/ambience/page/rapoon.html

while some of this music seems out there in left field, nevertheless if used creatively in our "conventional" music, it might make for some more interesting music. Of course their are those who say it's just ear candy but that is their opinion:)

Also an example of radiohead's experimentation in ambience and minimalism can be found in "treefingers" on Kid A among many other songs.
 
Yeah; real integrity, real organic music. It's almost like it's a mix between simplicity and complexity at the same time; there being no rules or limits but at the same time quite refined with almost a contrived feel.

I think what puts people off listening to this kind of music is the fact that it can be quite challanging to the ear primarily, but once you've unlocked any mystery you certainly receive the reward. Like you said, away from western scales and tunings; very interesting stuff.

I can't see myself delving into this kind of music myself as a musicain at this stage but it's certainly a possibiltiy in the future and for on going listening currently. I think with the example of radiohead you have them touching upon the idea but still holding back at the same time.
 
im not an ambient artist either my friend, but i do experiment around with it because it is a novel idea:) i still, like most musicians, stay in mostly 4/4 time with the usual progessions and not so abstract melodies for writing.
if you'd like i can throw up some music of my mine on the net, i'd love to get some feedback.
aw well, thanks for keeping it interesting krystof1:)
 
Yeah; put it on. Go through the current threads on this forum, there was the request to start a posting of mp3's here for review on this songwriters forum.

Don't worry; we'll tell you if it's bad.
 
hi scriabin,

thanks for the post and info, i'm intrigued by the idea of minimalism/soundscapes.

i didn't know anything about this style of music til you mentioned it, though i have been very interested recently in the radiohead amnesiac/kid a stuff without realising what you referred to.

the work on these albums is surely an example of minimalism/soundscapes being incorporated into the more conventional style of music which radiohead have maintained, rather than a full on side step into that direction, as krystof01 said.

i'd be interested to listen to one of the artists you mentioned above that produce primarily this type of music.
can you suggest something, a piece or whatever, that would be a good first listen?

-matt
:)
 
sure my friend, personally if you want full on minimalism type stuff check out of course robert rich... for me ive found that the most pleasant to my ears. as far as ambient stuff and soundscapes go zoviet france are the pioneers of the stuff....kind of like the beatles of modern music. as far as my collection goes ive mostly got just that, robert rich, robin storey, zoviet france and marc anderson but thats a little more ethnic stuff but really neat.
ill tell ya one thing, you get into this stuff and you'll be a "pioneer" because most peeps have no knowlegde of it. Maybe its still one of the unexplored regions of music. hope this helps!
scriabin
and there's a link to some of my stuff in the mp3 mixing section under "some experimental music" so give it a listen, i'll take any thoughts or suggestions:)
 
Scriabin,

I don't believe what I'm doing is the same thing you're talking about. But as to what you said in an earlier post:

"Not much unlike minimalism in art, the music seeks to create the widest range of emotions with the fewest brushstrokes or notes available. The main idea and point of minimalism is to transport the listener into a trance and lead them into the subconsciousness of the mind."


I am in the middle of an instrumental project that targets something similar. Although I am using more conventional instruments, the goal is still the same, less is more. I use simple repetative progressions. Complicated riffs and progressions tend to pull for attention while this, hopefully, makes one say," where am I."

George
 
hi,
just started checking out the robin rich site. i've listened to a couple of songs so far, it's pretty interesting.

thanks for the informative thread scriabin. :)
 
hi george, if you get a chance to record some of your music, post it on the net. i recommend nowhereradio.com which is very musician minded. i used to like eighties hard rock but for some reason all that overplaying and crap just got out of hand as far as im concerned when these guitar shredders came along and even those dreadful hair bands.
of course by no means do i hate extremely technical musical. if it moves you in some way other than nausea from excess then it has served it purpose. its the knowledge of knowing when less is more that is most important in writing music. if you take away all the lyrics, harmonies and chords to any great beatles or mozart compostion you will always find a simple, memorable melody. that is the most important object in music. Melody. the fewer notes you use to convey your message, the better.

matt, im glad you have an open mind, your light years ahead of alot of musicians
 
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