Sound Collage (revisited revamped and in HD)

I like this EQ animation better than I like the C2 VeeYou animations (which are free plugins for Motion and Final Cut and definitely *worth* checking out!) But I like being able to do things for myself.

[update: I've posted a tutorial video on how to develop the VU meter effect in Apple Motion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDEGb_lngZk ]

I did the original version of this video about 10 months ago in Motion 3 on an original Intel MacBook (it didn't go over all that well.) I used a different approach in the original in which I used black rectangles to cover a photoshop graphic. I used the audio and quantize effects to "reveal" the graphic beneath. In this version, the graphic is just the colored rectangles on a transparent background cropped tightly around one "bar". This time (iMac i7), the audio and quantize behaviors are applied to the "top" crop parameter of the image object (the starting value of which is set to the height of the graphic.) It makes the effect much simpler AND you can use the extrude and other filter effects on the group containing the graphic objects. I may do a tutorial on how to accomplish this if it's requested enough.

From the original "sound collage" video:

As an "experimental" (emphasis on "mental") musician, I tend to do some really weird stuff. This little piece is basically the result of me sitting around "noodiling" on the (Reverend) Warhawk and the (Behringer) V-amp 2. It's 3 different improv tracks + 1 track where I just played chords -- single strum and let them ring. In my track editor, I basically pulled a photoshop-like collage of the parts -- erasing some areas and "blending the edges"... the music is so "flow of consciousness" that it lacks anything resembling a beat -- it's like drifting on the sea... so I added a percussion track at an approximate beat to fit the guitar tracks as a (not a musical) *counterpoint*, i.e., it adds contrast...and, I think, focus. I just wanted to see if I could make something out of, bascailly, random tracks. And I have this theory: you can get away with just about anything as long as you give people a visual stimulus to distract them ... LOL ... hence the animation ( -- "hence"... geez i'm getting old -- and yet another reason why you'll never see ME in any of my videos trying to perform this stuff... the flaws are bad enough without providing the proof.) Anyway, as I've said before, I am, 99.5% of the time, an acoustic guitarist... but I just love the subtle nuances I can get out of the Warhawk/V-amp combination... they're the best toys I currently have in my desktop music setup.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• apple motion
• Logic Pro
• Reverend Warhawk
• Behringer V-amp
• EQ
• animation

[XxGenetsuxX]

I might not know what im talking about here...but by any chance could this be made into a plugin similar towards Milkdrop for winamp? I would love to set this into my desktop background while I play music.

[fxmah]

@XxGenetsuxX someone (but not me, because I don't know QC well enough) might be able to engineer this effect in Quartz Composer for a desktop/screensaver or other iTunes visualizer plugin. Check out this page:

(since URLs aren't allowed in comments, you'll have to reconstruct it: )

machinecodex(dot)com( slash )codexmachina( slash )?q=node( slash )8

It might be what you're looking for.

[lnfinityArts]

Nice! Plz make a tut! 10/10

[fxmah]

@lnfinityArts I'm working on a tutorial for the VU meters in Motion. I don't know if I could do a tutorial for collaging sound.

[pavojuz]

perfects but no tutorial 8/10

[Artharex]

Bien joué garçon

[ChemicalComedown]

You do have some really great ideas 10/10 : )