Nouvelles :: Nouvelles Artistes

2007-07-18 - Alan Blattberg

Alan Blattberg is an attorney based in NYC. Self-taught and self-recorded on piano, drums, synthesizers, electric bass, guitar, and assorted percussion, Alan studied physics and music at Wesleyan University. An electronic/experimental music pupil of Alvin Lucier , Ron Kuivila and Neely Bruce , Alan thrash-drummed his way through the latter's "Quartet for Bands" as part of the 1988 "John Cage at Wesleyan" birthday celebration, as a bemused Cage looked on appreciatively.

Brief excerpts from Durga Slays the Demons and Teratoma show how nicely Giga/GVI-based sampled instruments (original Drumkit From Hell, heavily treated orchestral sounds, etc.) integrate with live playing (guitar, bass and synths) in the progressive rock vein.

Adapted from a larger piece built around VSL samples, just to see how well the piece would translate, the excerpt from Stalking the Wrong Muse uses only SONiVOX MI "GVI 1.1" instruments that came bundled with GVI. About 95% of the material comes from only four of the "GVI 1.1" instruments (two other instruments appear, occasionally, as background embellishments). Each instrument runs through a separate instance of GigaPulse VST in Cubase (used for both ambience and placement), so the sounds aren't exactly "out of the box." Still, a proper convolution reverb like GigaPulse VST is a straightforward addition to GVI, so this is still a good example of how, in just a couple of hours and using only four main instruments, someone can create and produce a short- and-sweet, grandiose-yet-melancholy, decidedly "soundtracky" orchestral cue out of the sounds bundled with GVI.

Drowning in the Desert, Part 1 , another piece featuring SampleTekk's monstrous TBO piano library (pretty much "straight out of the box," with only minor EQ-ing in Cubase), is culled from a cycle of meditative piano solos crafted in the spirit of Terry Riley, Gurdjieff/DeHartmann, William Duckworth, etc.

All songs, and these excerpts, (C) + (P) 2006, Alan Blattberg. All rights reserved.

Questions, comments, licensing inquiries and commissions for new works should be directed to [email protected] .