Mp3s
The Paper Music to download from this site comes from 3 sources:
1. A 'Live Suite' recorded at the Clinic,
Germany, in February 2005.
2. Music composed from a library of approximately
200 paper sounds, also recorded at the Clinic.
3. Guest contributions. Please contribute!
The tracks are mostly very different, one from another.
So, if you have the time, please listen to as many tracks as possible
-- there's bound to be something you like!
It is important to remember that all the sounds you will hear come
from paper sound sources. The majority of sounds are completely unaltered electronically,
including many of the apparently non-paper sounds. However, some of the composers have altered
some of the sounds, but often just by adding a little reverberation or by changing
the pitch.
In truth, paper is a material from which a remarkable diversity of sounds can be made, not all of which sound like our pre-conceptions of how paper should sound!
If your speakers are somewhat puny, some of the tracks will sound distorted. The low rumbles and explosive 'Bangs!' heard on some of the tracks are difficult for ...er ...cheap speakers to relay without buzzing. As with all music, try to listen to Paper Music through quality speakers.
Here are the downloads ...
1. Live Suite (excerpts)
'Wobble'
6.2mb
A double track recording, with each track featuring 5-6 players.
The sounds are made by holding large sheets of cartonboard or smaller sheets
of card and vibrating or flapping them vertically in the air. Fans of the
Australian/British entertainer Rolf Harris may recall that he used a similar
'Wobbleboard' on several hit singles in the 1960's.
'Bangers'
3 mb
A double track recording, with each track featuring 5-6 players.
The sounds are made with the traditional origami 'Banger!', made in a wide
variety of papers and sizes to achieve a variety of sounds.
'Bangers
Beattrack'
1.5mb
A quickly devised improvisation, made to explore the possibility of playing
live to a beat.
2. Clinic Sound Library Compositions (selected)
'Can
You Guess What It Is Yet?'
4.7mb
Written and produced by Dave Jones for Phuturelounge Productions, 2005
'Sequenced using a soft sampler inside Cubase SX, with no efx, EQ or compression
whatsoever, just a little pitch bend'. DJ
'Papier
Mache'
5mb
Written and produced by Nwachukwa for Nepa, 2005
Constructed from a 'drum kit' of paper sounds, over which riffs and long sounds
were layered.
'Papering up the Cracks'
4.2mb
Written and produced by Mira
Calix, P & C Warp Music, 2005
A very atmospheric wash of sounds, some recognizable as paper sounds and others
considerably altered. 'I had this sense of emptiness, like a blank sheet of
paper that gets filled with these folding sounds and becomes more intricate'.
MC
Part 1
Part 2
'Above
and Below'
5.6mb
Paul Jackson, 2005.
Using one 'click' sound and one 'wobble' sound (both with several pitch bends),
the piece explores the limits of rapidity, repetition and contrast in Paper
Music.
'Wobble
Continuum'
6.2mb
Paul Jackson, 2005.
Similar to the 'Wobble' live track, but more intense, dense and breathless.
'Rrrrrrrrrrrrip'
5.9mb
Paul Jackson 2005.
An attempt to make a track of awful beauty, that is both difficult to listen
to and transfixing. A kind of Paper Music 'white noise'.
3. Guest Contributions
'Against
the Grain'
6.1mb
Nick Robinson 2005
'Since I discovered Acid Pro, I've intermittently
moved away from the guitar as my primary sound source. My first piece
to "feature" no
guitar at all was based around two acoustic percussion instruments. I then
thought about my love of origami and how that could inform a
musical piece. The biggest problem with "paper sound" is the lack of harmonic
/ pitched content, so I aimed for a more rhythmic approach, with splashes of
atmospherics.
As the piece progressed, I became aware of how organic some of the sounds were
after they had been pitch shifted - crickets chirped, lions roared and frogs
croaked! I was put in mind of a vintage Monty Python sketch about "the wonderful
world of sound". I'm very pleased
with the final outcome - it has a quirky feel probably in keeping with my own
character.
Technically, it was all created on a PC using Acid Pro and a couple of VST
filters which allowed the sounds to mutate in a subtle way,
giving life to the loops.' NR
________________________________________
Legalities
The 'Live Suite' and 'Clinic Sound Library Compositions'
are © Hangar
7, Salzburg and have been created in connection with “Masters
of Origami” (July-September 2005) – an exhibition hosted by Hangar-7.
Legal clearance to use the recordings for anything other than private listening
must be obtained from Tom Wallmann (organiser
of “Masters of Origami”), and from the individual composers. Other pieces are © the
composer.
It is permissible to sample any of the recordings to create your own Paper
Music.