Soundscapes
Landscapes for the ears
Vistas for the mind
Sounds and musical phrases that slowly shift and drift in & out of focus
No real beginning and no real ending
Not build on rhythm or melody lines like music as we know it
No obvious message either
It could be called ambient music
Music that is there around you and you almost don’t notice
Because it surrounds you like the hills, the trees, the lake
Like houses, fog, rain showers
Those ambient music pieces create atmosphere, mood, open focus
Listening to them is like looking out the window on a train ride
Half looking outside, half daydreaming, looking inside
Looking at nothing specific
Just following the stream of your consciousness
Ambient music often uses low tones, deep frequencies to accomplish that state of mind
slowly moving melodic shifts that repeat in seemingly random patterns
But of course, it is not random
There is a system to the randomness
A kind of composition happening behind the scene
I became interested in Ambient music in the 1980s by listening to Brian Eno
And the Minimal music of Steve Reich, Erik Satie and such people
Those people experimented with tape machines, synthesizers and later computers to “compose” their music. Later on computer become capable enough to create all possible sounds and musical phrases thru code.
Its not easy to do, just like its not easy to hold a cello or a silver flute and make it produce heavenly sounds.
But it became possible to do similar things with computer code in specialized programs.
I became interested in this kind of musical adventures with code again in the last two years.
Because now some browsers expanded their capabilities so much, that it becomes possible to do such things on the web.
Actually – as of now – only the Google Chrome browser has these kind of advanced features. And Firefox has some of it.
The code that makes such experiments possible has to be written in Javascript and i have to confess that i am just a novice in that art.
But it is fun!
Sometimes : )
So i did a few pieces lately, just to find out if i can create something satisfactory (for me ; )
And learn a lot in the process.
So here – without further ado – are a few examples of my efforts.
All still pretty raw, did not take the time to smooth the edges.
I also always like to let the sound interact with visual elements.
But as of now, i did not include interactivity with you, the listener.
Your job is to look out of the window, stare into the air, maybe even forget the music.
Just let the sounds drift you away.
There is no real end to the pieces, so its up to you when you’ve done enough drifting.
Its a good idea to listen over a good speaker or headphones, usual computer speakers can not reproduce the low frequencies.
And of course, use the latest Google Chrome browser, most other browsers can not handle all those advanced audio features > Download here
A word of caution though: this is not for people who have a five second attention span ; D
Only for the Interested, for the Curious.
For folks who have the heart to listen to a whole symphony or a CD full of music in one piece.
Music for Airports by Brian Eno 1978 – a coded “recreation”
Discreet Music by Brian Eno – a coded “recreation”
69.3, 174, 285, 396, 417, 528, 639, 741, 852, 963
And remember … all the sounds are created on the spot by the programs, no pre-recorded audios here.