quote:You’ve seen it trumpeted in newspaper and magazine headlines, analyzed by new psychological studies, embodied in recent news stories, and even reflected in our very own comment threads: “Anger” dominates the national mood, and especially here in the dog’s-ass end of summer, people seem to be more pissed off than ever. What the savage beast needs is a little soothing music—and who better to provide it than the child who shall lead them, that Botticelli-with-bangs who paints with all the colors of the wind known as Justin Bieber? And while we normally resort to mordant sarcasm when we talk about Bieber (another side effect of our abiding anger!), this time we actually sort of mean it: Someone figured out how to turn his “U Smile”—a tune that normally only contributes to those feelings of rage—into a soothing, ambient, 35-minute epic by borrowing a trick from Hans Zimmer and slowing it down 800 percent. Suddenly the otherwise innocuous piano ballad becomes a soaring, Sigur Rós-meets-Brian Eno-meets-Vangelis bliss-out.
Well, this is surprising. In a very ambient, soothing way. Didn't know Biebz had it in him.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Brilliant.
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
Awesome.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Hated it almost as much as I hated the original.
But neat, nonetheless.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
you aren't doing ambient right. go stare at the clouds and get all existential about life and the universe and
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Justin Beiber is the greatest new ambient artist
Wait... Is it April Fools or something?
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
Not surprisingly, Sigur Ros sped up 800%does not sound like Justin Beiber. One. And another.
[ August 19, 2010, 11:13 AM: Message edited by: The White Whale ]
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: you aren't doing ambient right. go stare at the clouds and get all existential about life and the universe and
No. I've got stuff to do.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
800% (8x), not 800x... [/nitpick]
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
Haha, whoopsie.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
I don't know if I'm weird (well, ok, so I do know) but both of those songs made me seriously anxious. Not relaxing at all.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Somehow, knowing this is a slowed-down teen pop song makes me laugh while I listen to it. I can't help it.
I've never heard the actual song.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
quote:Me and a friend have inside jokes about Justin Bieber, and I thought it would be an interesting idea to slow it down. When you slow down a video by 800 or 1,000 percent, every detail is seen — you see exactly how stuff breaks or people sneeze. I decided to take that and apply it to this Justin Bieber song. It has a nice melody, and I was pretty sure it would yield a decent [result]. The result was amazing, totally unlike anything I’ve ever heard — and I listen to a lot of stuff. It’s mind-blowing.
I shared it on Reddit, and it got popular on the site. I was watching it on SoundCloud go from 50 to 100 [listens], to 1,000, to 5,000. I was joking that it would be funny if it hit 10,000. By the time I woke up, it was over 100,000. It was everywhere.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Scott R:
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: you aren't doing ambient right. go stare at the clouds and get all existential about life and the universe and
No. I've got stuff to do.
and imagine you are watching something in a planetarium or an exhibit about whales or a sequel to the cremaster cycle or
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
I'm finding usmileambient.mp3 surprisingly enjoyable.
Posted by Anthonie (Member # 884) on :
Wouldn't practically ANYTHING slowed down by 800% sound just about identical to this?
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Just for fun I sped up usmileambient to see what I could come up with.
At 650%, I got U Smile by Justin Beiber.
Now I have to disinfect my computer! Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by DSH: Just for fun I sped up usmileambient to see what I could come up with.
At 650%, I got U Smile by Justin Beiber.
You don't say.
Posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer (Member # 10416) on :
Heh. I have been composing digital music for a couple of years, and have recently been trying to find ways to get the computer to modify tunes on the fly, so that if the piece is playing in a video game, it could adjust to the setting or events in the game (a similar technique can be found in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy). Just last week, one of my discoveries was that you could fundamentally alter the piece just by changing the tempo, though in my experimentation, some pieces adjust to the speed change better than others (for what it's worth, I slowed my music no more than 400%).
It's really interesting how music can inspire emotion, and how changing little parameters can evoke completely different emotions.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)