Word Count: 924 Words

Electroacoustic 1 – Waterworks

The Backstory and Meaning

I wanted this piece to feature a diverse use of sounds that are recorded using the Zoom H6 microphone from inside my home. The sounds are then warped to create a water-like effect that merge with real water recorded sounds.

The reason why I chose to go down the route of water-like sounds are because I was inspired by the piece Ice Breaker (Blackburn, 2015). I found her use of writing and structure for water and ice sounds that warped into glistening and undulating effects was interesting. I felt that creating sounds of water through the use of GRM Tools with sounds that are not remotely close to water and merging them with real water sounds i.e. taps running, was an interesting decision.

I designed the piece to book-end its own sounds by doing a full circle of starting with its original sound then changing to a water-like effect then back to its original sound. The piece ends with the microwave ding that brings us back to the original sounds.

The GRM Tools Used In This Piece:

• GRM Delays
• GRM Freeze
• GRM Doppler
• GRM Reson
• GRM Shuffling

Extra Effects Used:

• Reverb
• Echo
• Pitch Shift
• Reverse
• EQ
• Warp
  

How I Used These Tools in the Piece

The most notable GRM effect I use is the delay. The first sound that plays is the Vape which I placed put through the Reson effect then added delay. The Reson effect sound makes the Vape into a tinkling sound which then the Delay effect add the extended ambience and the reverb adds the depth. The vape sound at the start is long but it allowed me to state my intentions with the piece right away, foreshadowing how the other sounds will play out into a water-like sound.

One of the effects I utilise is the GRM Freeze tool which I used on the microwave ding. I then weaved the sound in and out throughout the piece. The frozen ding effect moves up and down from the pitch shifter and has added reverb to extend the effect. The reverb adds a undulating sound which adds to the ambience of the piece. I have it move in and out to bring us back and forth with the original sounds and the newly created sounds to show the depth that the new sounds create, it also keeps us grounded.

I used the GRM Doppler and GRM Shuffling tool to add to the spontaneity of the piece. I mostly used both these effects with the fizzy drink and the microwave, both of which sounds I used the GRM Freeze tool for. Both of these sounds have reversed and warped sound effects that play only in specific section as those sounds are so noticeable that over-using them would take away from their effect on the piece.

The Recorded Sounds Used:

• Clock ticking
• Computer Keyboard typing
• Fizzy drink cap opening
• Microwave running and Microwave ding
• My cat meowing
• Tap running down and going down the drain
• Turning off the Fire-heater
• Turning on the Fire-heater
• Vape smoking
• Washing Machine spinning
  

Photos of my recorded sounds

Electroacoustic 2 – Realities Shifted

The Backstory and Meaning

For this piece I chose to primarily use sounds from both the piano and guitar and warping them to create odd soundscapes and interesting textural sounds all of which were recorded by using a Zoom H6 microphone. I also recorded sounds that were not from instruments and edited them using GRM Tools and other effects to blend them with the instrumental sounds I recorded, for example, hitting the Fire-marshal bag, pitch shifting and adding the Reson Tool to create a metallic kick sound.

The reason why I chose to go down the route of this and main inspiration for this piece was 07 Objets Rassemblés, Ou Strette (Schaeffer, 1958). The use of instruments being warped in this piece inspired me and I wanted to write a piece using instruments in a different way than I usually would do. This is where the GRM Tools come into play which help with the warping of the sounds.

The structure of the piece was designed so it would book-end itself, starting with the guitar then being warped to sound as fragmented and unorthodox as possible over time till the original sound is not recognisable, then when the piece is coming to the end the original sounds start to come back full circle and end on the original sounds.

The GRM Tools Used In This Piece:

• GRM CombFilter
• GRM Shuffling
• GRM Doppler
• GRM Reson
• GRM Delays
• GRM Freeze

Extra Effects Used:

• Pitch Shift
• Echo
• Reverb
• Reverse
• Distortion
• Warp
• EQ

How I Used These Tools in the Piece

I used the CombFilter, Shuffling and Doppler tools in tandem together to create an unpredictable and spontaneous sound that has an undulating effect when brought up and down in volume. I used these for the guitar glissando sound mainly because the glissando technique adds a sporadic effect, when in reality it is controlled and designed to play out how it is heard.

To get an unfamiliar yet familiar sound, I used Reson on the low guitar notes to give them a metallic dink sound paired with the use of pitch shift to make the sound more unfamiliar. I wanted to utilise pitch shift and Reson moving either up or down in pitch depending on the original sounds pitch, if the original sounds pitch was in the higher frequencies, then Reson and pitch shift would be used to make the sound lower and vice versa for if the original sound was in the lower frequencies. Not only does this technique make the sound more unfamiliar but those sounds are not supposed to reside in that frequency, which makes for interesting sounds to work with.

I used the Freeze tool on the Piano Gm9 chord sound. I did this to sustain the Piano chord longer than was recorded without time stretching which would add a noticeable warped stretch sound. Because the chord was prolonged, I used reverb to add depth and pitch bending to change the chord voicing to match other aspects of the piece. Overall, the use of freezing this sound allowed for a more controlled environment and connected the other aspects of the piece together. It allowed me to create a chaotic but controlled piece of music.

The Recorded Sounds Used:

• Bottle hit
• Closing lid of Piano
• Closing hood of Piano
• Guitar glissando
• Guitar high strings 1
• Guitar high strings 2
• Guitar high strings 3
• Guitar low note 1
• Guitar low note 2
• Guitar low note 3
• Hitting Fire-marshal bag
• Knocking on guitar
• Piano Gm9 chord
• Plucking Piano strings
  

Photos of my recorded sounds

Bibliography

• Blackburn, M. (2015). Ice Breaker. [Streamed] Available at: https://empreintesdigitales.bandcamp.com/track/ice-breaker [Accessed 1 May 2026].
• Schaeffer, P. (1958). 07 Objets Rassemblés, Ou Strette. [Streamed] Available at: https://pierreschaeffer.bandcamp.com/track/tudes-aux-objets-objets-rassembl-s-ou-strette [Accessed 1 May 2026].