Like my classmates, I found PD Extended difficult to use; I had a desire to study MIDI and other sonfication programs prior to this experience, and I still do, but not as much. I realized that making digital music is not necessarily an easy task, and I have developed more respect for those who make and practice digital music.
Instead of working with PD extended, I turned to Audacity, which is a program I have worked with before (but not to this degree). I used an image of a normal prion from an UCSF article (http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2001/08/4709/ucsf-study-finds-two-old-drugs-may-help-fight-prion-diseases) and imported it multiple times, one track on top of the other, and so on. I layered the tracks on top of each other and made only a single edit on each track to demonstrate prion’s simple complexity. The first import had no edits. Subsequent imports, however, had different effects applied to them.
This exercise, combined with the one done in class, has made me appreciate the process of making music. I have realized that music can be created for a variety of reasons – as a product of emotion, to serve as a diary, and even to communicate science! While it is easy to understand the amino acid composition of the prion protein, there are so many things that need to be researched further and are up for debate. I hope that the complication was demonstrated in this piece.
An aside: I was watching a medical drama on the weekend. A patient with an exposed brain (and blood and fluids) was wheeled into the ER, and he was believed to have vCJD. Two intern doctors immediately rushed to take care of the patient, with two other intern doctors hesitating to go inside. While one of the doctors was squirting something into the patient’s brain to stop the hemorrhage, the fluids and blood got on the doctor, and her co-worker stopped her and gave the viewers an explanation on what vCJD is and how it is caused and transmitted (by prions). The higher-up doctors came in and provided more explanations (such as how it is hard to get rid of). It was cool to see what we learned in class be reflected in popular media.