20 Process - Using Field Recordings
Computer goes “Bleep bloop bleep bleep bloopity bloop. Whoosh. Bleep bleep… BRRRRR….”
If the sound sources for your generative ambient music using synths and sound generators that don’t involve sounds from “real world” instruments and you add in random and probabilistic processes then pretty quickly you have moved away from anything that could be described as “natural” sounding. How can this kind of music appeal to humans, who by their nature are more used to organic sounds and textures they hear day to day?
Key idea
Field recordings of nature, or sounds that humans might hear day to day add back in context that might help listeners feel more engaged with the generative and more random aspects of the music. The sound of a stream, birds, rain, wind, people talking in a street and cars passing, even the hum or mechanical clicks of machinery can help the listener create a mental picture to go with the more abstract or generative ideas.
20.1 Natural and urban sounds
Take a walk in a woodland area. It’s never entirely silent. There’s likely the sound of wildlife, wind in the trees, perhaps the sound of water. By describing it to you now, I’m sure you have a mental picture (even though it’s sound!) of what you might expect to hear. The idea that we’re aiming for is to provide some context that listeners are familiar with to counteract the “unnatural” sounds from the generative processes. Similarly, you can use urban sounds (street sounds), sounds from the house, mechanical noises - basically anything that listeners might be familiar with.
20.2 Recording noises
You likely have a phone with you now, or perhaps nearby. In that case you have a microphone to hand. So next time you’re out for a walk, take out the phone and record some noises. All you need to do is to be ready to listen and decide how the sounds you’re hearing are interesting, or how they could be contextualised (or provide context).
20.3 Online sources for field recordings
Many producers create field recording sound packs, and some of these are sold through places like Bandcamp. Searching for “Field Recordings” should allow you to find these.
20.4 Using the samples
You can use these as is, alternatively you might want to put the sample into Ableton’s Simpler and have a MIDI note trigger the sample but with random modulation on the sample start point. This will vary the starting point of the sample with each MIDI note and allow you to effectively extend the length of the sample to an arbitrary extent.