Shivam Rath
Crystal Slider & Music Producer
Dualtopia .mp4The Dualtopian Animation I created for my non-linear musical soundscape.
Play video with the below audio track for a (linear demo) .
Dualtopia Ambience.wavMy biggest Project this Trimester I would say is the Non-Linear music and video art installation remixed from the image below.
This Project I termed Dualtopia from a fascinating concept I delved into deeper and deeper with the prospect of attempting to blend harmoniously musical motifs and atmospheric soundscapes from both the Dystopian and Utopian worlds together. My overall concept being that there cannot exist a Dystopia without a Utopia in natural balance and thus I create a wide array of sounds and musical clips depicting each side but all harmoniously interchangeable.
This meaning that opposed to the sounds just clashing with each other creating friction and disharmony I created a series of tracks that coexisted whilst still representing each seperate side of the dystopian / utopian coin.
Original Artwork.
annibale-siconolfi-inward-utopia-vs-dystopia
Process
Using The Ableton Push
Why ?
I could colour code the midi buttons which would be easily relatable to the image of the Dualtopia animation, mirroring the red darker side with the blue / green utopia side. The sounds would then consequently trigger sounds associated to one side or the other and be different with each clip but relative to either the Utopia or Dystopian world.
The cool thing & plan!
For the actual exhibition night I am planning to engage the audience with live interaction as a creative music and art installation. So while the animation is looping (over the spam of about 8minutes ~ long enough with variations not to feel repetitive ) people come into the space and see the Ableton Push lit up with colours and have the ability to choose which sound they want to hear. Reflecting either the Dystopian or Utopian world or everything together in so many different ways that it would always be a little unique to the individual experience.
With 8 tracks and 8 different scenes for each sound that is 64 variations with even more possibilities as I have randomised different clips within grouped tracks using Abletons Follow action.
Collaborative Work:
Music For Film
For this Project I was hoping for some real world collaboration so began Scoring for a Film trailer for a fellow campus film student called Hope. The theme was about a"bunyip" and Indigenous dreamtime storytelling but something mixed with fantasy with references to Harry Potter trailers and also mention of "portals" between worlds being revealed within the trailer, so opening up to universal mysticism I envisioned.
I do wish the visuals were actually finished before this projects deadline so that I could have composed and combined to the actual completed trailer but at the same time this allowed me to run with my own imagination more and still work alongside the vision and storyboard of Hope as the director with regular meetings and discussions throughout. She was always very happy and encouraging with my work from the beginning allowing me to keep creating in the way I saw fit and this makes me quite hopeful the track and composition will sit and align well with the trailer and potential full film when the filming is at last completed.
Hope Trailer Linear Project 2.wavMy original composition for the Trailer Hellbound 2
HellBlade Non-Linear Project .mp4Music For Games
When I first watched the trailer it literally blew me away, the graphics, voice acting and gradual build up of atmosphere, suspense and final fast paced action made it a great narrative to compose for but interestingly more so was the fact the scoring had been quite minimal in the original piece.
At about 1min .05sec I made a brief cut here being a transition from the intro into gameplay and where it resumes I automated some of the original audio which can be seen below in the image because it was mostly dialogue in this part and allowed me to blend my music with the original trailer to see how it fit. I only could do this briefly however in certain sections because of the over lapping music from the original trailer with mine and wanted all the actual sounds and music the listener heard to be my own.
Flight Drum Pattern
I played different clip variations for running and fighting which I bounced from Midi to Audio and would then be applied to FMOD
Fighting Drum Pattern
The drum pattern would transition smoothly still in the same BPM but with more intensity in dynamic volume and rhythmic patterns. Sometimes even combining with the flight pattern.
I really enjoyed this project and scoring for the video game trailer because it opened me up to also looking and composing music in a different perspective. While I did not get around to implementing the music into FMOD I learnt enough in class to know how I would do so and what would be the most efficient means of importing the audio into the program. This opens up to composing in simple systematic measures with looped tracks that are seemless and thus easy to transition between. While I did not get the time for this specifically with my main priority on the above non-linear project I am inspired to delve deeper into programs like FMOD and explore its unique functions such as the scatter instruments with self - generative capabilities to randomise clips and scenes to unique chance, which could be great for naturally immersive and atmospheric sound scapes.
REFLECTION
I had a great time engaging with the various forms of musical composition for film and game and also exploring other mediums and DAWS for this such as Bitwig and Fmod (game programming engine). I didnt realise how feasible music for games is and how much attention to detail actually goes into place until this tri, even more so than the movie industry.
Working in a non -linear manner also was really quite rewarding and far more encompassing in the way we can explore and create new ideas. Because I spent so much time in this non-linear view for this above project I began to hear so many different combinations of sound and arrangement possibilities, I realised this would have never happened had I just worked in the arrangement view predominantly and began working towards a ' set composition' as I normally would.
This has given me more focus and drive to work on creating non-linear systems of practice for more future projects even if they are destined to become a set linear arrangement and composition.
Contact Details
Shivam Rath
Performer, Producer,
Event Manager, Facilitator, Music Teacher
Contact:
Website: www.crystalslide.com
Facebook: ShivamRathCrystalSlide
Instagram: crystal_slide_shivam
MUSIC LINKS :
https://soundcloud.com/shivam-rath
https://shivamrathakasha.bandcamp.com
https://insighttimer.com/crystalslide
Spotify : Shivam Rath / Micotsuki Shivamoon
https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/shivam-rath/1553578656
https://www.tiktok.com/@shivamrathcrystalslide
https://www.youtube.com/c/ShivamRath