Unhinged
2017
INSTRUMENTATION
fixed media |
DURATION
04:57 |
Unhinged is a fixed media composition that uses recordings of doors sliding, slamming, and squeaking. While some sections are more or less obviously doors, I also used a variety of effects, pitch shifting, and playback speed to mold the sounds into other forms. While composing this piece, one of my main composition tools, in addition to all of the audio effects and editing, was orchestration. Where a composer writing something for orchestra may think about refreshing timbre by switching instrument groupings for a particular section, I similarly tried to make section distinctions through use of timbral differences. An orchestrator may use variation in register or range when delineating form or creating tension, and when creating electronic music, it is easy to think about pitch range in the same way. For certain sections, I drastically slowed a recording’s playback speed to give the impression of very low, grumbly sounds and fill out the bottom register of the frequency spectrum. The opposite effect could be achieved as well by pitch shifting certain recordings up. Contrasting or complementing rhythmic lines also played a huge role in the composition process, as many of the recordings I was working with were inherently rhythmic on their own and I could embellish that more by playing with simultaneous lines, like a chorale, or off-set entrances, like a canon or fugue. Although it could never be performed in real time, Unhinged is essentially a concerto for doors, doorknobs, and locks, and I am reminded of it every time I open my squeaky bedroom door.