Oliver Baker
My name is Oliver, and my portfolio is a representation of my audio expertise and electroacoustic accomplishments. From a young age, I have encompassed a true passion for all aspects of sound, exercising my creativity across many specialties of musical composition and sound. The works in this portfolio are a demonstration of varied skills in audio asset design and proficiency of audio software.
SOUND
A passionate musician, I certainly enjoy composing and creating vast forms of sound. Music helps me converse emotions that I feel words can not touch. I use music as a means to express my creative ideas in a sonic format. I exercise a varied knowledge of digital audio workstations as infinitely flexible spaces to create original audio works.
Touch of Light
This project features original score and film to create a short movie showcasing an exploration of light and sound. Touch of Light is a study in to ambient score and conceptual film, exploring abstract media production and electroacoustic composition in ambient music.
The score was produced in Logic Pro using software instruments such as Sculpture, an extremely sophisticated modelling synthesizer. Sculpture's material pad and pickup parameters were used to produce complex and unique tones with rich texture, whilst LFO's and modulation of envelopes were used to create a more ambient and spacious pad sound by sustaining sonic development over time. Timbral space and depth was introduced by using audio effects plugins such as ChromaVerb, a highly versatile algorithmic reverb plugin that created a vast emulated space in the mix and reduced the dry signal in the output to create a softer, more ethereal effect. The score was mastered using iZotope's Ozone and was partnered with original abstract video footage edited and produced in Adobe Premier Pro.
Lost At Sea
Fallen Embark
This recording explores minimalist compositional ideas, introducing a complex contrapuntal texture produced using Sculpture and composed of slow harmonic changes through broken chords and melodic cells. Gradual changes in texture and dynamics are achieved through audio workstation automation of dynamic and timbral effects, emphasising the use of sustained sounds throughout the piece. Frequent melodic transformation creates a tonal ambiguity throughout the recording to emphasise a steady but firm pace. The bass line acts as a deep drone, with the colours of its harmonics being emphasised gradually using automated filters.
This recording explores ambient compositional ideas, encompassing sonic characteristics such as timbre and texture with gradual development using filter sweeps and LFO’s to induce calm and create space. A deceptively simple style of music, ambient is less about the melody, rhythm, or compositional structure and more about the atmosphere and the timbre. A contrast in texture and timbre is achieved using automation of panning, volume, EQ and effects parameters over long periods of time. Multiple instruments alternate and blend together to create a complex soundscape punctuated by subtle noises such as subdued tones and abstract recordings.
PROGRAMMING
Working with Max MSP
Much of my audio experience involves Max MSP, a visual programming language for music and multimedia, capable of manipulating real-time digital audio signals; the ultimate software for experimentation and invention. I use Max to create interactive software capable of audio and MIDI processing for creative and analytic use.
This program utilises a range of Max 7 objects that allow the user to break down and influence an aleatoric composition process, creating an algorithmic composition engine capable of formulating under specific genres, processing live performance effects and redirecting its output signal to other programs.
The program offers the user a variety of controls and parameters to influence the aleatoric composition process. The user is able to control the composition of a drum kit and three synthesizers, influencing the genre of the composition, the rate at which they compose, the key and scale of the composition and more. Since the patch is MIDI based, and utilises the operating system’s in-built AU DLS Synthesizer, the patch is primarily self-contained and ready to use in an instant.
Algorithmic Composition Engine
This program has been created to generate and analyse audio from a number of sources. The program utilises a range of Max objects that provide various functions to create a stereo audio analyser app, providing the user with a range of sound sources, a selection of audio effects and a set of visual displays of the sound in various forms. The program can generate audio waves to produce and visually demonstrate harmonics, load sample files for playback analysis and process live audio effects with presets, such as a stereo delay.
Stereo Audio Analyser
The analysers features fall in to three groups; audio source, audio effect and audio analysis. The interface has been designed to allocate the patchers features in to these groups, encouraging an ease of use within the patcher. The user is provided with a minimal but functional display, prioritising the controls over the control values to help the patch to be easy to navigate.
This program was produced to replicate the sound of the Nintendo Entertainment System by interpreting the component parts found in the RP2A03, an 8-bit sound clip manufactured by Ricoh for the NES. It is a functional Max synthesizer replicating the tonal qualities of the RP2A03 and duplicating the limitations that composers were faced with when composing with the RP2A03, such as monophonic channel oscillators and limited tonal capabilities.
In order to develop a user friendly panel for the software synthesizer, the key controls were identified, such as the octave shift, the envelope generator and the sample buttons. Once identified, they were organized in to groups based on timbral outcome. Each group is divided in to controls that change an individual sound, similar to the layout of the RP2A03. By using panels and comment objects, a suitable interface was designed and arranged in the Max presentation view for use as a playable live instrument.
A small series of compositions were produced using the program in order to gain a first hand experience in working with the limitations of the sound chip, furthering an understanding of the hardware restrictions that composers were faced with in the 80s when programming sound and music for the NES, such as using only 5 monotone audio channels for composing. The creative aim of this task was to produce a series of recordings for use with a classic action arcade game for the NES.
NES Software Synthesizer
The program was also used to create the music for a video game project during the Ubisoft Gaming School workshop. This collaboration involved creating the original music for a game titled Corruptus, a retro inspired title with themes of binary corruption. The project was praised with awards from the workshop for Best Sound & Music and Best Game of 2015.
Working with FMOD
FMOD is a proprietary sound effects engine and authoring tool for video games and applications; an ultimate tool in creating immersive and interactive sonic components for game audio. I enjoy exploring each and every way FMOD can be used to bring diverse atmosphere and complex audio to interactive projects, from creating unique sonic environments in virtual 3D spaces to adding tonal variety to interactive sounds. I consider FMOD to be a quintessential tool in all interactive projects I have worked on, allowing me to truly explore implementing audio features and foley in virtual spaces.
This is an example of an original composition implemented in FMOD to interact with the playable character. It presents five stages of musical intensity followed by a concluding sixth stage. The intensity of the music is programmed to correlate with the health of the player; as the health decreases, the intensity of the music increases in seamless stages to capture the severity of danger the player faces by having low health. Once the character's health is depleted, the concluding stage plays, indicating the end of the virtual journey.
SCORE
An avid film lover, I truly appreciate composing music for film. Musical score is a passion I exercise by conveying melodic emotion and emphasising visual cues with timbral features to compliment what I see on-screen. I use film score as a means to express my musical ideas in the presented scene by portraying a characters personality and behaviour whilst capturing the atmospheric impression of an environment.
Looper (2012)
For this score, I used Sculpture to create psychic supernatural sounds, accompanied with classical string sections and timpani hits to create a powerful sense of fear and tension throughout the scene. Suspended notes and soft drones emphasise the sudden loss of time and unfamiliarity that the characters face, whilst delicate string accompaniments relay the approaching fear of unnatural behaviour.
Sculpture was the perfect software synthesiser for composing a rigid and stressful sound, as it generates audio by simulating the physical properties of a vibrating string. This approach to tone generation, called component modelling, enables the creation of a virtual model of an acoustic instrument, such as a violin or a cello. The score initially introduces Sculpture in a natural and familiar tone, but as the scene progresses, the synthesiser is modulated unnaturally to disunite the viewer from the familiarity of the environment, alienating the empowered character from the others in the scene.
For this score, I also used Sculpture to create unnatural tones and effects, producing an unsettling and discomforting environment. Rather than empower the score with sound, periods of silence would be used to emphasise the immediate presence of what cannot be seen. The use of sudden silence also helps the viewer understand the unpredictable arrival and immediate disapperance of paranormal forces, creating an intense sonic contrast throug the score to compliment the erratic and unstable behaviour of the scene.
In this score, I used Logic's EXS24, a powerful sampling tool with varied controls and a vast library of instruments. The EXS24 library brings depth and dynamics to the soundtrack, creating a calm and natural score with variation in pace and dynamics that compliments the behaviour of the characters. The use of virtual organic instruments indicates that the character is recalling the given scene as cherished memories, whilst a cheerful compositional arrangement affirms a sense of bliss as the story unfolds.
LIVESTREAMING
A trained musician, I delight in all forms musical performance, with specialties in electronic production. On a regular basis my musical theory is exercised in physical form on any hardware I can get my hands on, programming melodies and harmonies in to sequencers and fine tuning sonic parameters on synthesizers to create endless musical outcomes. Performing live is a journey of exploration I adore taking part in.
To capture and broadcast my live production, I use Ableton Live to process audio signal for basic mixing and production mastering. I also use Streamlabs to capture the audio from Ableton and produce accompanying video footage with visual media components for broadcast online. This process allows me to demonstrate live performance and showcase musical ideas in a live video format for viewers to engage in.