I’m currently in Amsterdam for the last day of a 2 1/2 week residency at STEIM. It has been an amazing trip. The residency is part of an exchange program with STEIM and the CalArts Experimental Sound Practices program. Each year I bring three or four graduate students to STEIM to work on projects. This year we decided to work together on one project which was to create a 30 minute performance as an ensemble. We gave a lecture / concert at STEIM on Wednesday, October 14th which went very well. In preparation for the concert we worked pretty much non-stop in the studio for a week. In addition, the steim instrument builder, Byungjun Kwon, completely rebuilt my wireless glove instrument called Stupid Thing. In addition to updating the electronics he added accelerometer sensors to the gloves for more performance control options. Pictures, audio, and video coming as soon as I received the DVDs! For now enjoy this photo from the Vondel Park:
Attached is a PDF that contains all the parts necessary for building a hydrophone. The parts on the list are from the following companies:
• Digikey
• Pacific Radio and Electronics
• Do It Best Hardware Center (I go to the one on York Blvd in Highland Park)
One thing to note. There are two type of cables listed for your reference. One is standard microphone cable and the other is a slightly smaller gauge coax video cable. You can use either one.
I will be giving a two-part workshop on Hydrophones at the Machine Project Gallery in Echo Park. You can sign up here:
Sunday, August 16th: Part 1 2pm to 4PM
We’ll have hydrophone kits for your enjoyment. Minimal soldering experience required and plus we’ll help you. While constructing our hydrophones we’ll talk about field recording and more specifically about the properties of sound underwater and how hydrophones work. Once you’ve built your hydrophone take it home for a week and make a bunch of recordings.
Sunday, August 23rd: Part 2 1PM to 4PM
Bring your hydrophone, your trusty field recorder (we’ll be able to supply a few to borrow if you don’t have one), and any recordings you have made. Right off the bat we’ll all head to the lake to record what lurks beneath the surface. Then we’ll trek back to Machine and have a listening party. The real fun of making field recordings with a group is listening to everyone’s recordings.
I’ve curated three concerts for the Sea and Space Explorations gallery in Highland Park. The concerts are part of the gallery’s annual Summer Resort events.
Thursdays, 8-10pm, $3 suggested donation
The Resort Sound Series Skronk-a-rama
Aug 13 - Mellownoisedrona , performances by: Scott Cazan; Casey Anderson & John Hastings; & Lewis Keller
Aug 20 - Sea & Space Shanty’s, performances by: Julia Holter; Missincinnati (Jessica Catron, Corey Fogel, and Jeremy Drake); & Laura Steenberge
Aug 27 - Solos, Duets, and Groups, performances by: Albert Ortega; Mark Trayle; STEIM Ensemble (Casey Anderson, David Casey, Clay Chaplin, and Aniela Perry)
I added a permanent page for a trio I’m in called TAG. Its listed under the Collaborations heading.
TAG - Transcultural Alliance Group (2008 - 2009)
TAG is Clay Chaplin, Aaron Drake, and Lewis Keller. They make live improvised skronk music together using a combination of sound making sources including laptops, percussion, guitar, voice, record players, hacked electronics, pedals, etc . . The name of the group is a play on a call for works that we all received one day. The festival was looking for “transcultural groups” and so we decided to call ourselves TAG.
Recordings
This is our only recording. We performed live in the recording studio one afternoon in January of 2009.
Listen to Noise-Drone-Skronk [34:24 ] [ 320 kbps mp3 ]
Check out this reverb from 112dB. My friend and colleague Martijn Zwartjes wrote the code for this one. Its a nice sounding inexpensive reverb.
If you haven’t already checked them out the SoundHack Delay Trio plugins are really fun to work with and are free to download. Go here to download them. I’ve been using them along with the SoundHack Spectral Shapers for a series of text music pieces.
The +pitchdelay plugin seems to work just like, but even better than, an old-school Delta Lab Effectron delay unit seen here:
I will be giving a two-part workshop discussing the aesthetics and practice of field recording. The first session will cover the possibilities and history of the genre through listening examples and discussion. We’ll also cover how to make field recordings with information on microphones, field recorders, and techniques for improving your sound. You will have access to a field recorder which you can use to create a recording of your own. Session two will be a listening and discussion session where everyone presents their field recording.
Session one will be on Sunday, April 5th from 2-5pm.
Session two will be on Saturday, April 11th from 4-6pm.
More info: here
Sound Devices recorder at Hermit Falls
Hey and welcome to the new website. I’ve finally taken the time to update the ole beast! Hope you like it. There’s still a bunch of stuff to fix but enough is ready to let it be live. Here’s a completely random picture from Venice Beach for your enjoyment:
That's a pretty good rate!
This is a test of the “smart” QT movie embed script. I want to see how heinous it will be to include this in a WP post. hopefully it should work just fine. Below is a preliminary production video from the development of my piece Rememories . The footage was shot at a high shutter speed and then slowed down.