![[Column] Ambient Drone / Textural Drone](/../assets/images/column-ambient-drone-textural-drone.webp)
Introduction: The musical principle of drones
Text: mmr｜Theme: About drones that expand music from temporal art to spatial art
Drone is a musical principle that uses sustained sound to transform our sense of time, spatial awareness, and auditory concentration. It is unique in that it uses pitch, overtones, timbre, and duration as structural units as an alternative to melody and harmonic progression. In the history of Western music, early examples include the bolden of the bagpipe, the pedal point of the organ, and the sustained bass notes of religious music.
Since the late 20th century, with the development of recording technology and electronic acoustics, the drone has moved from being a mere accompaniment element to the main structure of an entire piece. Through this process, Ambient Drone was born, followed by Textural Drone, which emphasizes tonal changes and layering of physical texture.
Chapter 1 Background of the establishment of Ambient Drone
1-1. Minimalism and sustained sounds
Minimal music of the 1960s introduced repetition and duration as structural principles. La Monte Young’s long-duration drone works focused on harmonic interference and spatial resonance rather than pitch differences, forming the theoretical basis for later ambient drones.
1-2. Electronic acoustics and studio technology
Tape loops, variable speed playback, and feedback circuits provided a means to artificially generate and control sustained sounds. This has made it possible to sustain sound for a long time, exceeding the physical limitations of the performer.
1-3. Connection with ambient concepts
Since the 1970s, ambient music has presented a form of listening that assumes coexistence with the environment. Ambient Drone is positioned in this context as an acoustic device that does not attract too much attention, but has a highly controlled internal structure.
Chapter 2 Extension to Textural Drone
2-1. The concept of texture
Textural Drone is characterized by a structure in which multiple tonal layers change slightly over time, rather than a single sustained pitch. Texture here is the sum total of overtone distribution, noise components, spatial localization, and dynamics fluctuations.
2-2. Layering techniques
The overlaying of multiple tracks transforms the music from a linear structure to a surface structure. Each layer has an independent period and modulation speed, producing asynchronous fluctuations as a whole.
Chapter 3 Positioning of Stars of the Lid
3-1. Work characteristics
Stars of the Lid uses strings, brass, and electronic sounds, and is characterized by an extremely slow development. In their works, clear melodic progressions and rhythms are eliminated, and the main structure is the stay of harmony and the breathing of tones.
3-2. Recording and mixing
By suppressing high frequencies, preserving reverberation components for long periods of time, and stabilizing low frequencies, the sound image dissolves into space without becoming foregrounded. This is an example of a technological realization of ““diluting the presence’’ of Textural Drones.
3-3. Time structure
Stars of the Lid”s songs are often designed to take several minutes before a change is perceived. This is a structural choice to draw the listener”s perception of time into the music.
Chapter 4 Robert Rich’s role
4-1. Physiological approach
Based on his interest in sleep research and brain wave states, Robert Rich created works using drones over long periods of time. His music treats the listening environment and physical response as inseparable elements.
4-2. Tone design
Synthesizers, sample processing, and the integration of natural sounds form textures that blur the boundaries between man-made and natural. The slow modulation of overtones serves to visualize the passage of time.
4-3. Live performance and installation
Robert Rich’s activities are not limited to concert formats, but also include installation-like developments based on spatial sound. This is an example of expanding the use of Ambient Drone.
Chapter 5 Acoustic technical analysis
5-1. Frequency band and infrastructure design
5-1. Frequency band
In Ambient Drone / Textural Drone, the mid-low range is the base, and the high range is used sparingly. This makes it possible to listen for long periods of time while suppressing auditory fatigue.
5-2. Dynamics control
Sudden volume changes are avoided and fine amplitude fluctuations are used. This design allows the music to function as an environment rather than an event.
5-3. Spatial processing
Sound source localization is obscured by long reverb time and diffusion processing. By suppressing early reflections and emphasizing late reverberations, sound is perceived as a field rather than a point. This is different from hall reproduction in classical recording, and its purpose is to create a space that does not exist.
5-4. Design of differential changes
Changes in Textural Drone are designed at a level that is not immediately noticeable to the listener. By extremely slowing down the LFO, minimizing the opening/closing width of the filter, and limiting random modulation, the sound appears to be stationary, but is constantly in motion internally.
5-5. Relationship between noise and overtones
The noise component is not an impurity, but rather serves as a medium to make the overtone structure perceivable. In Stars of the Lid, the scrapes and breaths of string instruments obscure the contours of the harmonies, while in Robert Rich, environmental samples dissolve the contours of artificial sounds.
Sound source localization is obscured by long reverb time and diffusion processing. As a result, sound is perceived as a texture of the entire space rather than a direction.
Chapter 6 Visualization of the acoustic world through videos and illustrations
6-1. Diagram of layer structure
6-2. Schematic diagram of time passage
Chapter 7 Chronology: Development of Ambient Drone / Textural Drone
1960s
- The emergence of minimal works centered on sustained sounds
1970s
- Popularization of long-duration drones using tape technology and electronic acoustics
1980s
- Increase in drone works in ambient context
1990s
- Establishment of Textural Drone-like method
- Stars of the Lid, Robert Rich’s activities
Since 2000s
- Expansion of application to installations and video works
Final chapter: Stillness as structure
Ambient Drone / Textural Drone expands music from temporal art to spatial art. Stars of the Lid”s extreme slowness and Robert Rich”s connection to physicality show that the genre is not just a style, but a redesign of the listening experience itself.
