Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Project 1: Final Version

Step by Step by Shuanged

Project Description and Reflection:
This piece portrays the progression I went through in my life of dancing. The mood is set to begin on a low, sort of depressing note. It then starts to get lighter and lighter throughout the piece. The mellow guitar loop in the background gives the impression of walking through time. The rising piano sounds are a checkpoint through each point in time when a change can be seen. It starts off with me dancing alone and frustrated. The next stage shows me dancing with others in a more formal dance session. It shows we’re more focused on executing and practice. A small chuckle at the end of that sequence shows a lighter side to this piece. By the third and final stage, it can be seen that dancing has become much more enjoyable with the laughter that ensues. The mellow guitar chords in the background can no longer be heard at the end to show that time has come to a stop at the present.
The idea for this project came almost instantly. Dancing is such a rich medium for this project and it is something I truly enjoy doing. I was fixated on a song that I thought would help make my project better. By the final version of my piece, the song is nowhere to be seen in my project. However, its presence can be seen if one looks at my earlier works on the project. It helped shape what my project became by the end. I think the final version is much stronger in comparison notably in the transitions and ending. Manipulating beats to match the foot stomps and slides in my piece helped provide a strong platform to work from. The manipulation of beats is only prominently seen at the end to emphasize what can be done through dancing together with other people.

Sources:
http://www.freesound.org/people/hello_flowers/sounds/31894/
http://www.freesound.org/people/plagasul/sounds/1280/
http://www.freesound.org/people/mattlohkamp/sounds/33167/
http://www.freesound.org/people/jpmreprise/sounds/103278/
And self recorded audio

Inspirations:
The transition between the voice saying "tick tick" to the actual beats of the song is something I want to emulate.
The beats made with the basketball is worthy of note here.
A look at a previous work of the project.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Project 1 Draft

Project 1 Draft: The Sounds and Joys of Dance by Shuanged

This piece is a self expression of my love for dance as well as showing how it is evolving with music. Figaro is used as the main song in this piece because it is a classic that can be recognized by many people. The ending adds a twist to show how music has changed and how dancing has adapted to it. The laughters throughout show the pure joy and bliss of dancing.

Improvements:
  • Add a little more length to the piece (but with what?)
  • Make the beginning a little stronger
  • Beginning transitions (maybe?)
Questions:
  • Is it clear that this piece is about dancing just by listening to it?
  • If not, should there be an obvious hint to it?

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Small Project #1

FND 112 Small Project 1 by Shuanged

Project 1 Proposal

Idea: Something continuing on the sounds of dancing. It can perhaps be mixed with two other loves of mine: God or basketball. The former is tougher than the latter to incorporate since religion is a difficult subject to mix in.

I want it to have a fun, yet soothing feel to it. In making this piece, I hope to have listeners feel as if they are moving to the beat as they listen.

The general structure I have in mind is for the piece to start off quieter and gets louder as it progresses. Repetition of beats will most likely going to be featured. If possible, I hope to have more than one climax (preferably two). As the first climax passes, another will be built up. This will keep the listeners on the edge since they won't know what to expect next.


This is a sample of a song mixed by Poreotics for a dance set they had (with the audience in it). This can be found on YouTube and it was cut to avoid 8 minutes of non-related sounds. I really want to incorporate something similar in my project. The transition between the "tick tick" to the actual beats of the song is something I want to emulate.


This is a clip from a song from High School Musical (not sure which one). This can also be found on YouTube. SImilar to the audio before, this shows the transition between one sound to another (in this case, the dribbling of basketballs to the beat of the song)