This issue, let’s explore sounds and ideas that break with convention, from classic examples of gear misuse or manipulation to wild sound design and creative sequencing

WE LIVE IN an age of music making where it can be very easy to stick to conventions. Vast sample libraries, plugin presets and ready tutorials mean that, if you want to make a track in a certain style, it’s never too hard to access the resources you need. We’re not here to complain about that though; convenience is great. As much as some ‘traditionalists’ might tell you that presets are cheating and Splice is the devil incarnate, there’s nothing wrong with modern music tools. Making music should be easy and accessible.

The problem, however, is that when the sounds and tools you need are readily accessible, it can avoid the need for creative workarounds. We’re talking about the ‘hacks’ and acts of misuse that have resulted in great sonic innovations. Musicians using that TB-303 because it was cheap and readily available, for example, only to discover its weird sequencer and filter design was capable of a whole new type of bass sound. Or producers splicing and warping tape before the days of simple sampling and audio editing.

To combat this, sometimes it’s worth setting aside some time to simply get weird. Experiment, mess around, do the ‘wrong’ things or see how far you can push your existing gear. This issue, we’re here to do exactly that – exploring ways you can go beyond conventional approaches, in terms of sound design, sequencing and processing. We’re also taking inspiration from a handful of artists incorporating unique, abstract and creative ideas into their processes.

PIERRE SCHAEFFER Musique concrète pioneer Schaeffer’s idea of a ‘sound object’ revolutionised how we perceive and create music

Laszlo Ruszka / INA via Getty Images

Experimental sound design: it’s all about context

When it comes to taking an ‘experimental’ or creative approach to sound design, the key is to forget our learned notions about what a certain sound ‘is’ and the role it is supposed to play within your music. We tend to compartmentalise sounds into categories. A short, snappy, atonal sound is percussion; tuned low frequency tones are ‘bass’ notes; sustained tones are pads or drones; and so on. In reality, it’s only the final role a sound plays within a musical composition that determines its categorisation, and through editing, effects or simply placing a sound somewhere unexpected we can turn a certain category of sound into something completely different.

The idea of shifting a sound from one context to another is nothing new. Since the earliest days of broadcast and radio, the likes of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop, foley artists and sound recordists have been developing techniques to simulate recognisable sounds using abstract techniques – turning the pang of metal sheeting into a crash of thunder, or using resonant filters to conjure the bleeps of robots.