Tundra Ghosts
TundraGhosts is the solo electronic music project of composer and educator Stephen B. Ward.
In addition to the links below you can also find out about a collaborative project, The Quest for Authenticity, now available on CD. More info is here.
Links to selected TundraGhosts Videos on YouTube:
Sample-Based & Found Sound Pieces:
- Northern Lights (12/6/24) In the fall, I send my students out to whack stuff with drum sticks, mallets and hands to record a set of "found sounds" samples. Then they have to use only sounds from their collective set of samples to create drums, percussion, and tonal instruments for basslines, melodies and chords. This piece is my own exploration of the sample set. All sounds we recorded by my students.
- Wicked (11/29/23) A sample-based project in which all sounds are samples of my voice.
Moog Labyrinth Pieces:
- Bull in a China Shop (1/17/25) Two Moog Labyrinth etudes were edited together in Ableton Live to shape a structural form for the piece; then, drums and percussion were added. The video elements are a combination of videos from Sleepy Circuits' Hypno, and Sound Study's VidPix, all processed in real-time by Vizzie objects in Max-for Live to make them responsive to the musical gestures.
- Escape from New York Techno Remix (11/17/24) That began an a Labyrinth etude that explores shifting between a percussive drum pattern and that same pattern, without pitch envelopes, as a tonal pattern. The Remix version adds a breathless drum kit & drones set to a Matrix-themed video of traveling up the West Side Highway, Henry Hudson Parkway, and the Sam Mill Parkway.
- The Fire God (11/26/24) This langorous, slinky, ambient vibe was another fun little etude on the Moog Labyrinth, augmented here with Ableton's Spectral Time, as well as long delay and reverberation. You can watch an entire playlist of Labyrinth compositions and etudes
Live Performances:
- Formation, Transformation, and Deformation (Live set, 4/17/19) In 2019, I organized an Electronic Music concert at Mercy College (now Mercy University) featuring TundraGhosts, the late Fran Manzella performing as sym.bi.otism, and Steve H performing on modular synthesizers. Each performer performed a solo set, and the concert concluded with a fifteen-minute improvised jam! It was the first live performance on modular as TundraGhosts. The full concert can be viewed at Mercy University Music.
- Morning Jam & Afternoon Tea (Live performances recorded at BOCES on 1/26/24) I serve on the Craft Committee, an advisory board, for the Sound Recording Program at BOCES of Southern Westchester, in which high-schoolers attend one of two halfday programs in Valhalla, NY, during their junior and/or senior years. One a year, I bring my modular system there to give a lesson on synthesis and signal flow. These performances were recorded live during a visit.
- Pulsations (Live performance at Mercy College, 12/14/21) I was inspired by a guest performance by Jordana Talsky, and other artists who use looper pedals in live performance such as Tiffany Christopher and Mylar Melodies. This piece was constructed to be performed using a looper pedal, but this performance is running from Ableton Live, with a live solo on the Dave Smith MoPho.
- TundraGhosts @ Hall Pavillion (Live performance, 5/9/24) The University where I teach constructed a 4000-square foot outdoor pavilion. I was honored to play the inaugural performance during the pavilion's dedication ceremony.
Ambient Music Pieces:
- How Green Your Fields (6/6/23) A relaxing ambient jam created by recording five tracks of the MakeNoise Ø-COAST synthesizer, looping generatively.
- The Need for Seed (10/25/24) THis ambient piece was created using only the "Analog" synthesizer in Ableton Live. In addition, I used a Zoom H3-VR Recorder to capture wild birds at the feeder in binaural stereo—which sounds stunning over headphones! October is the best month for fall color, and I used Vizzie video processing modules in Max-for-Live to amplify and hype those colors even more.
- Prairie Song 2022 An Ambient composition about Sunflowers, Wheat, and Conflict. Here, Reason's Thor is used for sound design.
Ableton Live Pieces:
- Can't Breathe (6/7/23) An Acid House inspired jam with a slideshow of contemporary photos showing the environmental effects of wildfire smoke.
- Continuo (11/27/24) A film score in search of a film. All sounds were created using Ableton Live's so-called "Analog" Synthesizer plug-in.
- Currents (11/20/22) One of my favorite recent ambient compositions, with an ambiguous chord progression using non-functional harmony, and with an abstract, water-themed video.
- 130 Degrees (11/14/21) Earth, Air, Fire, Water. It all just keeps getting hotter, doesn't it?
- Lost on Endor 2020 (5/1/20) During the pandemic, I took a piece (working title "Maureen") that I had been kicking around for a while and formalized its structure. In this video, I overdubbed the Dave Smith Instruments' MoPho as a live performance in the home studio.
- Noise in the Study (1/23/22) A short etude that explores using only noise (With) filters) to create all sounds. A slide show of 1960s architectural renderings matches the sense of nostalgia the music evokes.
- Praia del Foro (11/27/22) For this piece, I was inspired by the Electro-Samba work of Everything But the Girl. "Praia del Foro" is the name of a real beach in Rio de Janiero.
Reason Pieces:
- Mister Busy (5/27/23) An Acid House-inspired bassline that explores the vowel sounds of Reason's Formant filter in Thor.