Suggestions on creating the most effective listening situation:

This is an evolving piece. Listening to the piece in its entirety, will reveal its true evolutionary nature. This drone waxes and wanes in amplitude, as it progresses over time. It begins in virtual silence. To maximize the intended experience, the listener should set the listening level at a standard music monitoring volume and try not to adjust it throughout the duration of the piece.

This piece was intended to be listened to in a full sonic spectrum environment, with a balanced stereo-field. If a “good” open monitor situation isn’t available, a decent set of headphones or earbuds will also work great. In any case, try to make sure the ambient noise of the listening environment is low. External noise can dampen the effect of the piece, especially things that create tones or white noise (e.g. fans, refrigerators, AC units, etc…).


Producer/Composer Notes:

This is a 432Hz based drone. In the spirit of fractal self-similarity, it is actually one large pulse, which contains many other pulses of the same type of shape. If looped, the entire piece can be viewed as 1, 11 minute and 11 second, cycle.

In regards to parameter settings and time-stamps, using prime numbers usually yielded the best results. Prime numbers seemed to aid in maintaining a sense of balance between symmetry and chaos, within the drone. For continuity sake, all time effects and organic pulses on guitar were set/played to a specific tempo (or a subdivision of that tempo). The tempo is a multiple of 25,920 BPM, which is the relative BPM for 432Hz.

This drone’s seed starts with a 432Hz pure tone. All other pitches layered are octaves above and below 432Hz. Any other harmonies heard, not in the 432Hz octave set, were created organically, by the drone itself. Each pitch (layer) has its own unique “character,” as a result; the amplitude's pulses, phasing, panning and time modulation create natural overtones. To add to this effect, all layers were printed in real-time so every new time-constant in the piece is different from the last one. This also allowed the drone to evolve upon its own accord, always changing.

The signal generator to create the pure-tone set was the only “synthesis” used in making this drone. Instrumentation consisted of rudimentary time/space modulation (in parallel with the pure-tone set), and multiple unique layers of a single 432Hz A note from a guitar (ran through an analog effects pedalboard). Using more analog (∞) methods and not using sample based waveforms and pre-processed loops, helped to let the piece evolve on its “own” - free from the manipulation and artifacts of pre-prescribed patterns.