“Music,” “Sound Design,” and “Musical Sound Design”
“When we started out, we just wanted to make strange noises.”
—Mark Mothersbaugh, Devo
My connection to music-making began early, rooted in self-directed explorations with our home stereo system at age seven or eight. Using a Panasonic all-in-one console (radio, turntable, cassette), I would record songs off the radio, attempting clean edits, anticipating the moment, following a commercial break, when the music would start again. If I did not like the song, I'd stop, rewind and re-cue.
A turning point came when I became interested not just in the songs, but in the cassette tape artifacts, or glitches, caused by the mechanical limits of the cassette recorder, and the unintended sound collages created by recording over tape. Being slightly late on the record button produced pitch and speed ramping; pressing the controls partway introduced more extended distortions—what is commonly called tape modulation or warble.
These interactions revealed a range of effects—uneven speed, layering, bleed—sometimes described as print-through, ghosting, or sonic shadowing. While I developed some control, the results remained inherently unpredictable. These experiments were compelling enough that I pursued them even when told not to, often repurposing my father’s tapes and continuing in secret.
Steeped in classic rock through my older brothers, I later recognized similar techniques in the Beatles and Pink Floyd. By my mid-twenties, I discovered the deeper lineage of musique concrète which predates these artists by a couple of decades.
Inspirational Quotes on the problem of music:
“These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country…”
—John Philip Sousa
“Geez, Andrew, you’d really have something there if you just added a little music.”
—Producer, Steve Daffner
“Yeah, but who cares?”
—Producer, Mark Bingham
Original music and sound recording archive:
(Renaissance of intimacy …12 tracks / mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/renaissance-of-intimacy
Fanfare For the Compromised Man (…7 tracks / mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/fanfare-for-the-compromised-man
Within Feedback (…16 tracks / mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/withinfeedback
Industrial Witchcraft (… 10 tracks / working mixes/ not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/industrial-witchcraft
Laundry room Session (… 11 tracks / working mixes/ not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/laundry-room-session
Cloud Confucian (… 23 tracks / including some excerpted, working mixes/ not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/cloudconfucian
Wasteland Skirmish (…37 tracks / mostly excerpted, working mixes,/ not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/wasteland-skirmish
War or Sex Scene (Your Pick!) (… 36 tracks / mostly excerpted, working mixes, not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/war-or-sex-scene-your-pick/
The Wedge (… 14 tracks / All excerpted, working mixes, not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/the-wedge
One Vast Quarry (… 12 tracks / Noise Rock, not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/one-vast-quarry
Rug Hour is #1 (… 10 tracks / Multi- lingual digital Dada- Funk)
https://www.processartifact.com/rug-hour-is-1
Pushing All The Buttons At Once (… 9 tracks / The Lost Noise- Rock Album, not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/pushing-all-the-buttons-at-once
After Clock (… 13 tracks / not mastered) soundtracks)
https://www.processartifact.com/afterclock
Bamboo Brigade (… 5 tracks / not mastered) soundtracks)
https://www.processartifact.com/bamboo-brigade
Phillip St. (… 10 tracks / by Stephen G. Smith, produced & arranged by Andrew, not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/phillip-st
Diatom Club (… 8 tracks / by Nate Tabor and Andrew Smith, not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/diatom-club
Hooligan Hoop (… 7 tracks / Hyper- Wank Glitch Techno/ Vol. 32, not mastered)
https://www.processartifact.com/hooligan-hoop
Additional:
Evil Nurse Sheila!
Music Boxing
Click Dings
Incredible Sons Of Scarface
Accounting for Analogous Glints
Constance Street Studio