Lil Smokey’s Last Ingredient
This is an original composition. I composed all the music, recorded the spoken word section, and produced the entire song. For this song, I used Logic Pro on my computer, as well as this Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface. I use a strat knock-off guitar and a Squire P-Bass. I also use an Ensoniq KS-32 piano.
In multiple parts of this song, I reverse guitar audio. You can hear that at the beginning, during and after the B section at 1:38 and 2:10, and a different reversed chord is heard before the final section at 3:34. I worked with my friend’s dad to read one of Aesop’s fables, which can be heard in the final section. This was recorded on a Bluebird condenser microphone. In Logic, I took advantage of the EQ and Logic’s pre-installed “ChromaGlow”, a distortion plug-in, to turn his vocals into a rough and faint radio sound. This song goes through multiple time signatures and is very inspired by bands like TOOL and Slint, who irregularly switch time signatures.
Flow-A
This is an original composition. I wrote each instrument’s part and did all of the production. I am present in three of the field recordings. For this song, I used Logic Pro on my computer, as well as a Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface, and multiple field recordings. I also use an Ensoniq KS-32 piano.
In this song, I manipulated recordings of my school’s Chord Organ, running them through ChromaVerb with the “GrainFx” setting to create a spacy and expansive effect. Every other instrument has this reverb and reverb setting applied. There are multiple field recordings present, including a day at the beach, a group of my friends harmonizing in a car, me walking on rocks, and me scratching a straw hat.
Five Seven Eleven
The video below shows the final product of a project built in Max 9. I received help to create the counting parts and the rendering for the cubes, but everything else was designed and placed by me.
On this Max patch, I have included a song, created from an edited session on a Buchla 200 series synthesizer. The song also includes a recording of my voice, slowed down and with reverb and delay. There are three “clocks” that run at the same rate but for different lengths, which, if measuring when each clock resets, creates a 5-7-11 polymeter. The data from each clock is sent to the x-coordinate of a position node which determines the position of each cube on screen. There is another subpatch with four timers. When each timer’s goal is hit, it sends a bang to a playlist, which contains images that are stretched to fit the screen. The main background and a few of the images in the final image sequence were created in an image and audio manipulation program called Argeiphontes Lyre 7.
Battle Theme for ~NOIS
In 2023, as a freshman, I was one of two high schoolers in Chicago who won the ~NOIS Young Creators Fellowship, which provided me with a $500 award and the chance to work with the ~NOIS saxophone quartet and their collaborator Joey Meland. With their help, I composed a piece for the quartet, “Battle Theme for ~NOIS”, that was inspired by videogame soundtracks. ~NOIS performed the song at their Discovery concert at DePaul University, and they still play it when they visit high schools to talk about the Young Creators Fellowship. I wrote this piece by hand in MuseScore.