Spectrogram as Sheet Music: Husky's Птицы (2020)

[This is an assignment for Source Study, Paleography and Editorial Practices 2021]

In my quest to understand the best ways to analyze Russian Hip-Hop, understanding the network and inner-workings of the musical fabric as it unfolds in time, I cannot help but think that much of the dilemma revolves around the non-notational nature of the genre, and the inability to systematically reduce the musical material to a two-dimensional constitution. Nevertheless, using Sonic Visualizer and its Spectrogram function (along with its tempo graph function which, unfortunately, does involve a margin of error in its processes) at least one theoretical way to delineate the musical textures as play can be achieved. If it's the most effect manner of analysis is up for debate but many interesting things can be seen when using the Spectrogram functionality, everything from texture to timbre to sonic density.

Due to the theoretical nature of this attempt at analysis I have created headers and points therein instead of a one narratival structure, as it was easier to mark observations that way. Pictures of the Spectrogram are provided at the bottom of this post if you're interested in seeing them. In the first photo, five points are circled and I explain what they show below.

Melody, Ostinato, Vocal Line

D Bb D Bb A G# D

[C# A C# A G# G C#]

• 4 measure phrasal construction

• In the track, the pitch of the notes is somewhat destabilized (dirtied with wave-form editing) and this then offsets a feeling of tonality or observable modality

• He uses a insatiable tonality between the two options listed, to the point where I am not quite sure which is being used and a clear idea of tonality is eschewed

C to C#

• slow minor second

• He hugs the ostinato into the track’s genetics, placing it forward at the beginning before shifting it backwards

C then spoken/sung

• The vocal line remains more or less a single note which then oscillated with spoken-qua-sung lyrics which have a musicality to it, although not yet singing

Textural Constitution

• One of the biggest things that is detectable through Spectrograph reading is the density of the texture, and the forms that are being created through the interplay of layers and elements at work which create the general form.

• You are able to detect motivic functionalities of certain instrumentations or digitally-constructed affects being used which would be able to be kinesthetically felt but perhaps not understood from an objective standpoint.

Sheet Music Functionality

• Although there are significant draw-backs to using the spectrograph for musical analysis as opposed to more traditional notation-based manners of composition, the graphic nature could perhaps help serve a similar function

Timbral Consistency

• The acoustic ways in which the instruments and the various musical parts perform present themselves in the spectrogram, and by deducing the timbral patterning of the voices involved a fuller view of the texture is revealed

Instrumental Delineation

• Not having sheet music, one is left to figure out which instruments or synthetic operators are at work from the purely oral stand-point. However, with the spectrogram one can see the influence of the instrumentation and then be able to tie that to a specific source which then can illuminate what is causing the specific sounds and timbres.

Psychological Instigators

• Related to the instrumental and textural makeup, when dealing with electronic-based music genres much of the texture can go unheard from a conscious perspective but felt from a lower, less consciously-awareness. By using the spectrogram, although one is not given the exact causes of certain feelings a greater understanding of what is causing the music to gestate a certain feeling in the mind of the listener can be understood and studied.

One Problem

• Due to the inconclusiveness of what is and is not visualized by the spectrogram, along with the tempo map being only marginally helpful (susceptible to human error), deriving an aid that can be helpful for notation of the music if notation is not used in the first place is ineffective and time-consuming as no clues or visualizations are given. This does entirely depend on the person, as musical notation is possible with only the sonic material.

In the first photo where there are five circles present, all which signify three aspects of the musical material. The first large circle on the left corresponds (roughly) to the main melody which first sounds in the song. Although not being the main notes (I think), they are the overtones to the melody which helps to pinpoint the rhythmic structure of the melody. The second smaller circle is the beginning of the minor second ostinato that circulates throughout the entire track, although taking on different affects when placed in either the foreground or background of the track. Like I had said, those psychological modifiers that lie outside our realm of thought can be (in a way) seen using the Spectrogram. The smaller two circles signify sound effects placed on the high points of the first instance of melody in the introduction of the song. Notice how, in the first iteration, the form of the disturbance is set and in the second iteration, that same form is then repeated three times. It's interesting to note that it takes the shape of a circle with a line through it, and how this shape (and its pitch) is conveyed through sound. The final large circle to the right marks the beginning of the vocal line once Husky begins the main chorus. Notice the density of the vocal texture!

I hope you enjoy this brief (and very incomplete) usage of Sonic Visualizer in the rap genre!