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Re: [microsound] AI & rhythm perception - 'groove' heuristics?
Well, I mean look at this way. In minimal techno the most simple groove is:
kick on every quarter
hh on every off-eighth
clap on 2 and 4
What makes things groove, beyond this, is adding and subtracting from
what is essentially a continuous 16th note pulse. And that's really
it. I don't think you can break it down any farther.
To clarify, I mean you can break that 16th note pulse in many ways -
but the final result of a dense groove is that the different parts
blend into a single stream of 16ths. Then in more sparse sections,
parts are stripped off to reveal some simpler sub-rhythm, which
typically hits on between 2 and 4 points within the space of two
beats.
But what makes the grooves interesting is the constant building -
reducing - building - reducing to various combinations over time, not
really any particular rhythm. You'll hear most all combinations within
an hour or two set, typically, as we are talking about a rather
limited set of permutations.
Some of what really makes great grooves in this style, for me, are not
just rhythms, but actually timbral and pitch modulations that push and
pull in certain ways.
~David
On 11/21/06, Damian Stewart <damian@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Paul Sanders wrote:
> In music a beat is not the equivalent of a mathematical point on a
> mathematical line. It has its own dimensions. No two beats are exactly
> alike.
I'm currently reading "Unlocking the Groove" by Mark Butler, which talks
about electronic dance music (EDM) from a music-theoretical perspective.
One of the things it is pulling up is this idea that, in EDM, because of
the mechanical origin of the beats (sequencers and drum machines) actually
the beat does become the equivalent of a mathematical point on a
mathematical line. Yet, we still manage to infer groove and 'funkiness'
from a machine-generated beat that is precisely the same every time round.
--
Damian Stewart
+64 27 305 4107
f r e y
live music with machines
http://www.frey.co.nz
http://www.myspace.com/freyed
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