Random Seed
Concept
Owning a piece of vinyl used to be the only way to have a copy of a song. In that sense, the vinyl was the single or album. Music no longer has any intrinsic physical form -- it could be on YouTube, on a CD, or just an MP3 file.
The question that started the Random Seed project was: How could a composition be inherently physical?
I've been working with composer Tom Bryan to explore compositional methods that could answer this question.
It's a tough problem, because no matter what you do to prevent a piece of music being separated from a physical object someone can always record it with a microphone and upload it to YouTube.
Unless. Unless it's different each time. A device that plays back a song which is (slightly) different each time can't be uploaded or streamed normally. It might still be digital, but it requires its own specialised player. That player might only exist as a physical object.
An interesting consequence of this is that Random Seed takes full advantage of what a computer can do - going beyond linear playback and using the flexibility of a medium that can include algorithms.
The three minute pop song exists because of the length of a side of vinyl, choral music is written to suit the reverberant cathedrals in which it is performed - why shouldn't music that's played back on a computer take advantage of the properties that implies?
One criteria that has guided us in our thinking is that authorship of the music remains fully with the original composer. In the era of social media it's easy to assume that users want control delegated to them. We feel this assumption needs to be challenged in the context of aesthetic experiences.
Development
Below are two experimental versions of Random Seed, the result of our exploration so far. Please be kind to them, they are prototypes.
Most of that journey has been about building a tool to compose the music, playback will eventually take a very different form using a physical electronic device rather than the virtual devices below.
You'll need to let all of the samples load completely before pressing play. Pressing the randomise button will give you a new version of the music, you'll have to rewind and press play again to hear it.
Radiohead - Reckoner
This is a reworking of the Radiohead single Reckoner. They released stems for the song as part of a remix competition. It explores introducing a random element into a composition while using conventionally structured music.
Don't forget to let all the samples on this page load - nothing will work in this prototype until they do
Press 'Play' to listen. Press 'Randomise' to load a different version. Press 'Play' again to hear the new version .
Memba Dat
Memba Dat is an ambient piece. All of the samples are composed to work together in many different combinations.
Don't forget to let all the samples on this page load - nothing will work in this prototype until they do
Press 'Play' to listen. Press 'Randomise' to load a different version. Press 'Play' again to hear the new version .