For this assignment, we were given a track of 4 clicks and, using a program called radiaL, we needed to create 3 dance loops. radiaL is kind of a live DJing computer program- you load the loops onto circular “discs,” and then you control/add effects to the loops to create different sounds and rhythms. So, I loaded the click track into four different channels and messed around with pitch, tones, filters, etc. The toughest part about radiaL, which I guess is also a cool part, is that it isn’t a sequencer software like Logic where you can splice up samples, loop them, effect them, and then basically just play through whatever you edited. Because radiaL records live, you need to mess with your tracks as you’re recording. To do this, I used the MIDI keyboard as a controller, mapping the different keys to mute and unmute tracks, restart tracks, affect filters, etc. For dance music, I have some trouble getting away from the idea of a constant beat, so there’s no really crazy rhythms here, except maybe for a little bit in the second beat. Anyways.

This is the original click track:

Here is the first beat I made. It uses the original click track in four different loops, layered over each other, effected, and muted at different times.

The second one also was four tracks. One is slowed way down, and since the clicks are really a compressed sample with inconsistent tone quality, it helps create that kind of weirder rhythm in the middle. Can you dance to this? I don’t know.

This final one had three tracks and took the longest to record because I had to keep controlling the track that sounds like a bass drum and I screwed it up over and over.

And that’s it. radiaL is a pretty cool program, but I doubt I will use it much in the future not only because live recording is somewhat tiresome when you’re trying to get it right, but also because it’s really glitchy. Sometimes things just stop working and you need to restart it. Also, the version we’re using has all kinds of unlicensed effects that screw up the recording occasionally. In fact, the radiaL in one of our music labs was just a free trial that expired. Top notch.