The idea began with me thinking of an instrument that could fall under more than just one of the major categories that instruments are based on i.e. chordophones, aerophones, membranophones and idiophones. For the overall material of the instrument I had chosen was metal, mainly for its resonant quality meaning that it would be more towards being a idiophone than anything else. The overall material of the instrument essentially meant that the membranophone part of the thought process would be abandoned. But I also wanted to have strings and also use something that could be blown into to create pitches and tones.
I didn't want to have the instrument remaining as only a hardware based device. It could have been played fine the way it was but I don't feel it would have held enough interest on its own for the 5 minutes of play time. Apart from that, I also decided to add software generated accompaniment because simply due to fun and interest of what could be from having this as a source. I mainly foreseen using Logic and experimenting with its effects to find some effect that would compliment the natural tones of the metals.
Construction
The first element to the instrument that i had collected with a large length of copper pipe. I sawed the the pieces into 6 parts with each piece getting gradually smaller then filed done the edges so that they were no longer rough and safer to use. This was of course so that each length of pipe had a different pitch and the instrument would be ordered from largest to lowest. I had originally planned to find a way to have the pipes going through a sheet of metal to act as both a base to hold the pipes upload but also to emphasis any resonance from striking the pipes. The base metal could be struck also and have small objects rain over it for extra interesting sounds. A big problem with the sheet metal was it was extremely difficult to create holes into that the pipes could slot into, I knew this would be the case I simply didn't foresee how difficult it could be so I quickly moved on to trying to find a new route with the tools I had at my disposal. Wood was a thought but it wouldn't have any of the resonance I wanted.
Instead of a base that the pipes stem from, I decided to have the pipes hanging in mid-air using a bass string and some form of structure to hold that up. First I decided to drill holes into the cooper pipes so that the bass string could go through them. After finding the right drill head size, I performed the difficult task of drilling through the pipes considering they are metal. Luckily it was thin enough to be able to work. I used tools borrowed from my father and also had him around for safety purposes, using a vice to keep the pipes steady and wearing eye protection incase of any fragments of metal flying off during the drilling.
After all the cooper pipes were successfully drilled I filed down the exit holes so no rough and potentially harmful bits of metal were present. The bass string was placed through pipes rendering the instrument like chime bars thus far however I was hoping that since the string was metal and from a bass would add some resonant interest.
After I needed some form of structure to attach the bass string to in order to hold up the pipes. At first I thought of having the string being held up with wood since it would be much easier to work with and could be fashioned into a platform with stands. Then I found an old oven tray that I was planning on using the to have the bass string on top of so that when the pipes were hit then they would resonant further but I ditched that idea when I found a really interesting garden shelf construction that was made of wire and had a very nice aesthetic. It worked well as a structure to tie the bass string too and also stuck to my fundamental point of have a entirely metal instrument.
I took more strings, this time from an acoustic guitar, and tied them to the main structure trying to keep them as tight as possible like they would be on a guitar. I was hoping that plucking would still work well but I didn't work as well as I had hoped but it could still hold interest, especially when used for scratching as opposed to plucking. Plucking didn't really work in the end however for scratching morphologies that changed in pitch they were perfect.
After the instrument was finished and set up I moved on to the software side of the project. I used Logic Pro and set up some channels with various mixes of plug-ins set in an order of my design and also with settings decided by myself, nothing preset! I used multiple reverbs that had very long diffusions and next to no pre-delay as I wanted the sounded to have a more ambient drone like sound with I thought would work well with the metallic sources particularly when scratched and struck.
In the end I had only two channels because when the demonstration was recorded I was in the process of moving and a lot of my recording equipment (particularly my contacts microphones) were in another city difficult to find in time within boxes.
Video Presentation and Possible Improvements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5960CZzsQ_A&feature=youtu.be
Here is the youtube link to my video using the instrument in conjunction with the effected channels of logic. Unfortunately I could only record using my laptop webcam therefore it isn't seen in the video apart from seeing me look directly towards the camera to adjust effects. Because the webcam was used and the audio was recording to logic, no audio was picked up from the video recording so I synced my recording from logic to the video using iMovie as accurately as I could.
I found that playing the instrument that the tones may have been too similar all around especially when washed in effects. I did like the sound of the pipes in the end and scratching the strings I felt worked really well. One effect I really enjoyed that I did not think would come out as well was the sound of the pipes being blown into.
After playing and recording the instrument I feel that it could have benefitted from more materials being added. Maybe more rods of a different non-hollow metal sticking out at different lengths and also maybe some non- metals like thin wood. This would somewhat compliment the natural aesthetic the instrument has but I still preferred the idea of the instrument being entirely metal tried to look like nature just for the interesting aesthetic of it and tones that stay in the same group of timbres because it could loss focus. More contact microphones would more than likely have helped bring out more unique tones from different areas and all could have summed up in an interesting way.
I hindsight I should have down much more tweaking with the effects side of things. Maybe some possible automation pre- planned out before the 5 minute play through, however that would stunt improvisation. More sends to auxs with different effects could have been implemented, being turned on and off by myself if the laptop could be placed right beside the instrument, which could very well have been possible with better video recording equipment.
Another edition could have been the use of hardware effects pedals that could be manipulated very easily on the fly. That could make the instrument as a whole much easier to handle with out any obvious interruptions but even then would not be better implemented than having two people involved. One interacting with the instrument and one interacting with the software side of the project. Again however I do feel that one person can run it effectively, just when the laptop itself doesn't need to be used as a video recording device so it had better placement.
I really liked the instrument itself aesthetically with the leaves and earthy browns of the cooper pipes complimenting the green of the overall structure. Possibly in the future some lighting could be added in the form of LED for any performances in a darker setting.
All in all I really like the instrument but more time should have been focused to the software and recording side of the project as opposed to just the construction of the instrument.
Here is the youtube link to my video using the instrument in conjunction with the effected channels of logic. Unfortunately I could only record using my laptop webcam therefore it isn't seen in the video apart from seeing me look directly towards the camera to adjust effects. Because the webcam was used and the audio was recording to logic, no audio was picked up from the video recording so I synced my recording from logic to the video using iMovie as accurately as I could.
I found that playing the instrument that the tones may have been too similar all around especially when washed in effects. I did like the sound of the pipes in the end and scratching the strings I felt worked really well. One effect I really enjoyed that I did not think would come out as well was the sound of the pipes being blown into.
After playing and recording the instrument I feel that it could have benefitted from more materials being added. Maybe more rods of a different non-hollow metal sticking out at different lengths and also maybe some non- metals like thin wood. This would somewhat compliment the natural aesthetic the instrument has but I still preferred the idea of the instrument being entirely metal tried to look like nature just for the interesting aesthetic of it and tones that stay in the same group of timbres because it could loss focus. More contact microphones would more than likely have helped bring out more unique tones from different areas and all could have summed up in an interesting way.
I hindsight I should have down much more tweaking with the effects side of things. Maybe some possible automation pre- planned out before the 5 minute play through, however that would stunt improvisation. More sends to auxs with different effects could have been implemented, being turned on and off by myself if the laptop could be placed right beside the instrument, which could very well have been possible with better video recording equipment.
Another edition could have been the use of hardware effects pedals that could be manipulated very easily on the fly. That could make the instrument as a whole much easier to handle with out any obvious interruptions but even then would not be better implemented than having two people involved. One interacting with the instrument and one interacting with the software side of the project. Again however I do feel that one person can run it effectively, just when the laptop itself doesn't need to be used as a video recording device so it had better placement.
I really liked the instrument itself aesthetically with the leaves and earthy browns of the cooper pipes complimenting the green of the overall structure. Possibly in the future some lighting could be added in the form of LED for any performances in a darker setting.
All in all I really like the instrument but more time should have been focused to the software and recording side of the project as opposed to just the construction of the instrument.
