For our mixes, we decided to change the level of indeterminacy of the final mix not by changing the algorithm for mixing the songs, but by changing the original compositional choice of what songs we were going to play, with increasing levels of chance for each mix. For the first mix, we all chose the same song, for the second we all chose songs in prescribed tempo ranges, and for the third each person chose a song of their own choosing without the other’s knowledge. For the first, there is a low level of change and low level of indeterminacy. For the second there is a slightly higher level of chance, as we could pick any song within that tempo range, and a slightly higher but still low level of indeterminacy. For the third there was the highest level of indeterminacy, as it was more random for the final group mix, and a slightly higher level of chance than the first mix, as there were no prescribed tempo ranges, but still pretty low as it was our own choice. There was additional entropy in our recording sessions due to ambient noise from people and echo from CFA where we were sitting and recording, along with a laptop issue which affected one of the recordings.
Amal Sahay
