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This week I picked Chocolate Matter by Sweet Trip. I found it randomly on YouTube, and at first I was not expecting anything special. After a short moment I realised the mix felt completely different from other tracks I listen to. It sounds chaotic but still controlled, and it gives me a feeling of something broken but beautiful. Because I am working on my own songs at the moment, this kind of mixing caught my attention very quickly.

The first thing that stood out to me is the space in the mix. The vocals sit very close to the ear, almost like someone speaking softly right in front of me. The reverb is light and does not wash the voice. This makes the vocal feel very personal. When the guitars and noise layers enter, they suddenly become very wide. It feels like sound is rushing in from both sides at the same time. This contrast creates a strong atmosphere and makes the whole track feel bigger and more emotional.

I also really like how the layers are arranged. The vocal stays clean in the centre, and the distorted guitars and glitch textures are pushed to the sides. Even though the sounds seem messy, they do not cover each other. Every layer has its own place. The electronic drums keep the rhythm tight and help the track stay organised. This balance makes the mix feel both chaotic and stable.

Listening to this track gave me new ideas for my own mixing. Normally I try to make everything very clear and clean with EQ and effects. After hearing this song, I realised that a mix does not need to be perfect to be powerful. Sometimes rough textures and wide layers can express more emotion than a clean mix. I want to try using more contrast between soft and loud sounds, and between close and wide spaces.

Chocolate Matter showed me a different approach to mixing. It made me want to experiment more and be more open with my sound choices. I think learning from this track will help me create a more unique style in my future music.

This week we did not have a workshop, so I used the time to work on my composition. For this piece, I want to make a small emotional space with vocals, soft pads and some sounds I recorded on my phone. I want the music to feel like a quiet moment from my diary. It should feel close and personal, but also a little unreal. I recorded a few sounds in my room, for example the sound of my window and the fan noise from my laptop. Then I used EQ and reverb to make these sounds soft and smooth so they can sit in the background.

I started the track with a simple chord progression using a warm pad. After that, I recorded some short vocal lines. I tried different ways to place the vocals in the stereo field. I tested different reverb and delay settings to see how the space would change the feeling. Even a small change made the vocal feel very different. Sometimes it sounded too far away, and sometimes too close. I kept adjusting the reverb size and decay until it felt right for the mood.

One problem I had was keeping all the sounds clear. Sometimes the mix felt messy. This made me understand that space is also part of the composition. It is not only about notes or melody. By choosing how near or far a sound feels, or how wide it is, I can guide the listener better. This helped me think about my own music in a new way. I usually focus on melody and vocal tone, but now I see that the space around the sound can also tell a story. Next week I will continue working on the structure and try more ideas with movement and space.

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Blog Post Spatial Processing Research

This week I listened to Björk‘s Hyperballad as an example of spatial processing in experimental music. I chose this track because it creates a very clear sense of space, even though it still works as a pop song. The sound-world in this piece feels open, floating, and a little distant, and most of this comes from how the producers use reverb, delay and stereo movement.

The vocal has a long reverb tail that makes Björk sound like she is singing inside a large space instead of a studio. Sometimes her voice feels close to my face, and sometimes it feels like it is further away. This shifting distance gives the track a sense of emotional movement. The background synths also spread out widely in the stereo field, almost wrapping around the listener. I noticed some short delays on small vocal fragments that make the sound bounce slightly left and right. It creates a feeling that the song is breathing, as if the space is alive.

Listening to this track helped me think about my own composition for the assignment. I usually focus on making vocals clean or “beautiful,” especially coming from my Diary Plugg and cloud-rap background, but I realised that the space around the sound can also tell a story. It doesn’t need to be realistic. It can feel dream-like, broken, or far away. For my current project, I want to experiment more with reverb shapes, stereo imaging, and using movement to show emotion instead of only relying on melody. This track reminded me that space itself is a part of composition.

Link:

chose jackzebra – 魔鬼似爪牙, produced by chinapoet. The beat mixes jazz, experimental, ambient and plugg, so it feels more like ambient plugg. What makes it special is the sound-shaping.

There is no clear kick drum, and the 808s sound very unusual, not like normal trap. They move in strange patterns and give the track a laid-back groove. The synths are covered in delay, creating a wide atmosphere.

The vocals are also treated in an unusual way. The low frequencies are almost gone, leaving only mids and highs. This makes the voice feel light, like it’s floating above the beat. The wet delay on the vocals blends with the synths, so sometimes it feels like another instrument.

The vocals don’t have a strong attack, they stay in a long sustain with echoes moving in space. The instrumental has a wide stereo field, and the ping-pong delay makes the sounds bounce around my head.

Even with so much delay, the track feels clean and never boring. That combination of ambient texture, strange 808s and floating vocals makes the sound design really unique.

Sound Arts: vq live at AVYSS BOX

This week I chose to write about a live performance by vq at AVYSS BOX, with visuals by Scrying™. I found this performance really special because it shows how sound art can exist outside of the normal way we think about music. It’s not just about songs or beats — it’s about using technology and space to create a full experience.

The main reason I chose this work is because vq used four iPhones to perform the whole show. That idea really caught my attention. It’s very simple but creative, and it shows that sound can come from anything, even from something we use every day. I like how he didn’t hide the phones but made them part of the stage and the visual image. It breaks the rule of what a “live performance” should look like.

The visuals made by Scrying also matched the sound perfectly. They built a digital and emotional space that made me feel like I was inside the performance. The lights, textures, and slow movements of the visuals made the sound feel more alive.

After watching this, I started to think about my own sound works. I want to try using small devices, like phones or small speakers, to make interactive or moving sounds. It feels more personal and closer to daily life, and I think that’s what makes sound art different and exciting.

Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting in a Room (1969) is a landmark work in experimental music and sound art. The piece begins with the composer recording himself speaking a simple text: “I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now…”. The recording is then played back into the same room, re-recorded, and repeated many times. Over the course of the process, the natural resonant frequencies of the room gradually dominate, while the intelligibility of the speech disappears. What remains is a series of pure tones created by the feedback between Lucier’s voice, the recording technology, and the acoustic space.

This work explicitly explores the sound of the medium. The process relies on analogue recording and playback technology, where each generation introduces slight distortions and reinforces certain frequencies. Instead of trying to eliminate these “imperfections,” Lucier makes them the central focus of the composition. The tape recorder, microphone, loudspeaker, and the acoustics of the room all become part of the instrument.

Historically, I Am Sitting in a Room belongs to a wider experimental tradition of the 1960s and 1970s, in which composers questioned the boundaries of music and sound. Unlike conventional music, which emphasises melody and harmony, Lucier’s piece is about listening to the sonic properties of technology and space. The work demonstrates how recording media are never neutral but always shape the sound we hear.

What is interesting about this piece is its simplicity and radicality. The text describes exactly what happens, yet the result is surprising and almost hypnotic. Over time, speech dissolves into resonant harmonies, turning a technical process into a kind of acoustic meditation. The work shows that the “errors” or “limitations” of recording technology can be reimagined as creative possibilities.

References

• Lucier, A. (1969) I Am Sitting in a Room. Lovely Music, Ltd.
• Cox, C. and Warner, D. (eds.) (2004) Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. New York: Continuum.
• Demers, J. (2010) Listening through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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