Braden Diotte

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“Contained in a tiny concrete room on the roof of the UCSD Geisel Library, the UCSD carillon (more commonly known as “the bells” that ring out the hour across the UCSD campus) is actually an amplified electric instrument that produces its characteristic bell-like sound by striking nearly 100 tuned metal rods with electromagnetic solenoids. The vibrating chimes are amplified millions of times, and broadcast across the entire campus with the help of six large public address speakers that grace the library’s roof. The title of this piece “Music for Libraries” stems from the incorporation of the physical room into the musical equation, as well as the ironic method used to agitate sound from a library carillon: using extremely short (88ms) pre-recorded high-volume bursts of the carillon’s own sound to sympathetically resonate the entire set of carillon chimes, hence never physically touching them. Then, using a method inspired by the work of composer Alvin Lucier, the sounds of the resonating chimes are fed back into the room alongside the continuing “short bursts”, reinforcing the resonances of the carillon instrument, but also allowing the natural resonances of the room to influence the evolving signal. Via the unique convenience of the performer’s space being physically buffered from the audience’s space (through the pick-ups of the carillon instrument), the composition takes on two faces: one extremely loud and percussive “source composition” that is used to generate a second, more sonically-rich and ambient, “resultant” piece of music.”
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Other Works:
“In his solo compositional debut, SIX RECURSIONS, Braden Diotte (a founding and current member of contemporary psych-rock band Tarantula Hawk) implements six FM radios, each tuned to different frequencies, in conjunction with computers and custom-assembled looping software. Short clips of random radio broadcasts are sampled directly from the airwaves in real-time, then looped upon themselves to create sound collages that are rhythmically and sonically unique to that very instant, sometimes creating complex rhythmic structures, other times creating gentle ambient passages. The six channels of looped output are then sculpted, equalized and effected “on the fly” by the performer, who first hears the source material at the very same instant as the audience. Each of the 6 six-minute movements, while identically structured (with respect to the control commands and timeline), will often sound completely distinct of one another because the textures of any given performance of Six Recursions fall subject to timing, location and era: one performance will be different than one started only a few seconds later; one performance will be different than one in a different geographic region; one performance will be different than one in a different year, decade, or century, challenging (if not transcending) the usual cultural and generational barriers.”
"With his second composition for radios, titled ONE(OVER)TIME, experimental electronic composer Braden Diotte uses a single four-second sample (captured randomly in real-time from a single radio) to serve as the textural source-material for the entire 20 minute composition. The unique algorithm explores the phenomenon the composer calls “pitching”, exploiting the notion that with any two (or more) “time-stretched” audio samples (of identical source material), there exists a corresponding point in all that is of identical pitch and textural construct. By stretching the four-second sample to a length of 20 minutes, the slowed-down audio sample becomes the musical and timbral flow, while the computer-based composition mediates the rhythmic and polyphonic elements of the piece. The multi-channel outputs are then sculpted improvisationally by the performer, which (in conjunction with the random sampling of the airwaves) guarantees that despite the involvement of computers in the performance, no two performances will ever be exactly alike; more so, it is possible for two performances to be completely different."
Born and raised in Los Angeles, but a resident of San Diego since 1998, Braden Diotte’s unique approach to electronic music utilizes computer software to sample and manipulate the sonic environment that exists around us. His electronic compositions, while structured at the core, are ultimately an experiment in improvised electronic music. Extracting textures from radio broadcasts, open microphones, feedback, etc., the compositions strive to create music through pattern, regardless of source. Braden Diotte studies Electronic Music and Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego, and is a member of the rock band Tarantula Hawk.
Braden Diotte - Six Recursions - 5.3.2007

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Braden Diotte - ONE(OVER)TIME - 3.27.2008
Braden, Diotte, Braden Diotte, Music, Sound, San Diego, Southern California, California, America, USA, West Coast, Experimental Musician, Music, Electronic Musician, Composer, Computer Music, Experimental Music, Electronic, Experimental, Electronica, Noise, 21st Century, Twenty-First Century, UCSD, Tarantula Hawk, Sound Art, Improvisational, Avant-Garde, Electro Acoustic, Electroacoustic, Six Recursions, One Over Time, ONE(OVER)TIME, Ambient, Drone, First Composition for Radios, Second Composition for Radios, www.bradendiotte.com, www.sixrecursions.com, www.myspace.com/bradendiotte, www.tarantulahawk.org, www.myspace.com/tarantulahawk, Council of Seven Lights, 1N2012,