We learned how to effectively use panning in Ableton, experimenting with multiple forms of the effect as well as mapping it to a keyboard knob to use panning efficiently. I will say this was something I was very familiar with already, however, using it in Ableton was something very new. I feel like I would need to go over the techniques I used again to be able to use them purposefully.
I found being able to map the panning so you could control at what angle the amount of effect was pushed through at was really interesting. I was able to make it so at anywhere before halfway it would pan left and then once I pushed the knob past halfway it would pan right. Using this with two at the same time allowed for more communicative ideas.
We also learned about binaural and surround sound – something I haven’t really used it before. Starting off, we were given the task of using our phones to play a sound at different places around our heads. I chose the sound of rain which I felt would accurately represent a sound I am familiar with.
I found that at some places rain sounded very unusual to hear (right next to my ear) – especially because I hadn’t consciously thought about the sound of rain that close before, whilst when it was above me it felt very familiar as that’s the place in which I was used to hearing it come from. I found out how effective surround sound could be and how different it was to just listen to music/sound in stereo.
I also found out how important the origin of the sound is in the surround sound atmosphere. We listened to different pieces that used atmosphere effectively such as Kraftwersk -Autobahn and I found how entrancing the use of effective surround sound along with warping synthesis was.