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White Noise in Electronic Music

White Noise in Electronic Music

by James Hollow


It took a while for me to realise how much that hideous sound which comes out of an un-tuned TV is used in electro. It has many different uses, a few of which I shall list below.

• Giving synths a bit more character.
• Noise snares.
• Build ups and drops.

Adding white noise to synths
Doing this creates a bit of a retro vibe, or you can just use it to create a bit of "fizz". Some artists (Chris Lake) use it for making a bass synth a bit more filthy. Don't go overboard though, you just want to add a touch of grit, otherwise it'll just sound odd.

Build Ups and Drops
This is probably the most common use for white noise. Don't ask me why it works but it just does. For some reason the sound of a hiss just gets people going, I guess its sort of like the sound of pressure being released or something.
Anyway, it just helps make transitions a bit more exciting. You can often hear it straight at the beginning and many other times in many dance tracks.
There are thousands of other ways to make it your own too, like adding chorus, phasing, reverb and delay effects. One really great effect is to put a very fast LFO filter on it to give it a "fizzing" sound.

Noise snares
Adding noise to a snare will give it that real "pssht" sound (think Justice - Genesis). In fact, a lot of distinctive retro snares use a lot of white noise. These are generally used in drum and bass and hard electro, but can be used in most genres. It just helps to give it some real impact.

Sound Elements of Experimental Music

Experimental Rock or Avant-garde Rock

A type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the avant garde genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common music composition and performance technique. Some of the more common techniques in experimental music include:

• Extended techniques: Any of a number of methods of performing with voice or a musical instrument that are unique, innovative, and sometimes regarded as improper.

• "Prepared" instruments—ordinary instruments modified in their tuning or sound-producing characteristics. For example, guitar strings can have a weight attached at a certain point, changing their harmonic characteristics (Keith Rowe is one musician to have experimented with such prepared guitar techniques). Cage's prepared piano was one of the first such instruments. A different form is not hanging objects on the strings, but divide the string in two with a third bridge and play the inverse side, causing resonating bell-like harmonic tones at the pick-up side.
• Unconventional guitar playing techniques—for example, strings on a piano can be manipulated directly instead of being played the orthodox, keyboard-based way (an innovation of Henry Cowell's known as "string piano"), a dozen or more piano keys may be depressed simultaneously with the forearm to produce a tone cluster (another technique popularized by Cowell), or the tuning pegs on a guitar can be rotated while a note sounds (called a "tuner glissando").
• Extended vocal techniques—any vocalized sounds that are not normally utiliized in classical or popular music, such as moaning, howling, vocal fry, overtone singing, screaming, death growls, or making a clicking noise. Artists such as Cathy Berberian, Roy Hart, Meredith Monk, Michael Vetter, and Björk. Berio's Sequenza III for female voice (1965) and Peter Maxwell Davies's Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) utilize many of these techniques, along with other rock artists.

• Incorporation of instruments, tunings, rhythms or scales from non-Western music traditions.
• Use of sound noise sources other than conventional music instruments such as trash cans, telephone ringers, and doors slamming.
• Playing with deliberate disregard for the ordinary musical controls (pitch, duration, volume).
• Use of graphic notation, non-conventional written/graphic 'instructions' actively interpreted by the performer(s). This practice continued through composers/artists such as La Monte Young, George Brecht, George Crumb, Annea Lockwood, Yoko Ono, and Krzysztof Penderecki.
• Creating experimental musical instruments for enhancing the timbre of compositions and exploring new techniques or possibilities. Artists such as Harry Partch, Luigi Russolo, Bradford Reed, Iner Souster, Neptune, Hans Reichel.

Pim Zond - Prepared Electronic Guitar P.E.G. Chaos 1

Pim Zond - Prepared Electronic Guitar P.E.G. Chaos 1

Experimental noise guitarist Pim Zond searches for death metallic radio frequency with his Metropolis guitar in a free improvised track: Prepared Electronic Guitar P.E.G. Chaos 1. www.pimzond.com

Pim Zond - Chaos 1 - Prepared Electronic Guitar Music VIDEO by Pim Zond

Pim Zond - Music VIDEO Avant-metal Song on Dailymotion

Pim Zond - MUSIC Video Avant-metal Song on Dailymotion

Avant-garde guitarist Pim Zond releases music video of single from album "Ethical Treatment of Machines", entitled: "Disturbed Solo for Prepared Guitar and Percussion" on Dailymotion.com  

Pim Zond - Prepared Solo for Disturbed GUITAR & Percussion New MUSIC Video by Pim Zond

Pim Zond - World's Largest Moon Guitar Mandolin - Recordsetter.com

Pim Zond - World's Largest Moon Guitar Mandolin 22" diameter

Experimental guitarist Pim Zond briefly plays an original free improvisation (now called "Dead Ring"). Hand-built from non-music related parts this 5 string acoustic "moon guitar" or mandolin has a body ring of 22" in diameter, and a fretboard of 11 inches is currently the world's largest. It's design is inspired by his previous record set with the world's smallest mandolin. Both are based on Chinese designs of pipa and rupan, as well as abstract sculptural appointments.

Zombies from Pim Zond (not Mars)

Zombies from Pim Zond

Not another planet, but the most unique avant-garde guitarist from Canada, Pim Zond, releases a new single on iTunes called: "ICE ZOMBIES", from the music EP "Monodon Monoceros / Narwhal". Click this link to proceed to iTunes.

Pim ZOnd - Ice ZOMBIES -New VIDEO and Music from Album Narwhal by Pim Zond