Where the wild things are –
Month: October 2021
Sound Art In Japan
This article is text by Ryo lkeshiro ond Atou Tonoko about how sound art is viewed and percieved in the Japanese context. We are told about how sound is a very important part of Japanese culture, we are also shown historical sound art pieces by various sound artists from the years 1949 to 2013. Sound art is still relatively a new term in Japan.
Jikken Kōbō was an artist collective founded in Japan in 1951 and was disbanded in 1957, the group consisted of 14 members, they were artists, musicians, choreographers and poets who were self taught. Their leader Shuzo Takiguchi played a pivotal role in introducing Dada and Surrealism to Japan through connections to Andre Breton and Marcel Duchamp. They were described and being like Bauhaus but without the buidlings.
Gutai Art Association were another Japanese Avant-Garde artist group founded in the Hanshin region In 1954. In their early work they created a series of striking works anticipating later happenings, performance and conceptual art. “In which the artist rolled half naked in a pile of mud, remains the most celebrated event associated with the group.”
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/g/gutai
Fluxus was a movement in art put forward by George Maciunas in 1963. The leaders of Fluxus consisted of George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, La Monte Young, etc. Fluxus’s work was profoundly influenced the nature of art production since the 1960s. The work had no single unifying style but adopted the DIY mindset.
“Purge the world of bourgeois sickness, ‘intellectual,’ professional & commercialized culture, PURGE the world of dead art, imitation, artificial art, abstract art, illusionistic art, mathematical art, — PURGE THE WORLD OF ‘EUROPANISM’!” – Maciunas
Glossary-
Wabi-Sabi – “beauty of irregularity.” Muneyoshi Yanagi “The notion of wabi-sabi may be seen as the aesthetic grounding of the Japanese reinterpretation of Buddhism, reflecting plainfless and simplicity, aged and solitary states.”
Pro Tools Lesson 2
1.Name some of the folders and files that ProTools creates as part of the session hierarchy. Where is the session file (. ptx) stored?
Sample files, session files, clip groups and also videos if you render them. The session file is stored in pro tools session and can be saved to wherever you decide.
2.What is the WaveCache.wtm file used for? What happens if the WaveCache file gets deleted or goes missing?
It’s used to show the waveform which can help Pro Tools to open faster. If the file goes missing pro tools can recalculate where it is or you can update its location.
3. Where are audio files stored in the session hierarchy?
They are saved into the audio files folder.
4.Where are Pro Tool’s is MIDI files normally stored?
in the session
5. Which components should you turn on first when powering up a Pro Tools system? Which component should you turn on last?
External hard drives. Audio monitoring system. Check inputs and outputs on system preferences and Pro Tools sound engine settings.
6. What type of processing does the hardware buffer size affect? What type of processing does it not affect?
Native plug-in processing. DSP Processing. It affects purely audio.
7. What kinds of commands can be found under the ProTools View menu? How does the view menu differ from the window menu?
You can hide or show the windows, tracks, and track data . You can arrange the way the way the windows on display look.
8.What kind of commands can be found under the ProTools Options menu? How does the options menu differ from the setup menu?
It lets you select several editing, recording, monitoring, playback, and display options and the setup menu allows you to configure functions or operations that involve multiple settings.
9. Which main Pro Tools window displays audio waveforms and can be used to work directly with audio, MIDI, and video files on tracks?
The edit window
10. Which ProTools window provides access to Pan controls and Volume faders for each track?
The mix window
Pro Tools 101 lesson 1
Questions-
1. Name and describe five types of production tasks that ProTools can be used for.
Audio Processing,
2. What’s the frequency range of human hearing?
20hz to 20kz
3. What does the frequency of a sound wave affect in terms of how we perceive the sound? How is frequency measured?
The frequency of the sound pressure variations that reaches our ears creates our perception of the pitch of the sound. We measure this frequency in cycles per second (CPS), also commonly denoted as Hertz (Hz). These two terms are synonymous—15,000 CPS is the same as 15,000 Hz. Multiples of 1,000 Hz are often denoted as kilohertz (kHz). Therefore, 15,000 Hz is also written as 15 kHz.
Frequency is measured by in hertz and is the rate of which current changes direction per second, it
4. What does the amplitude of the sound wave affect? How is amplitude measured?
5. How does the sample rate of a system relate to the frequency of audio it can capture? What is the name of the law that specifies the relationship between sample rate and audio frequency?
6. How does the bit depth relate to the dynamic range of audio it can capture. How can you estimate the dynamic range of a system?
7. What are some common digital connections available on Pro Tools audio interfaces? What type of connector jack does each use?
8. Name some audio interfaces that are compatible with standard Pro Tools software.
Any interface compatible with core audio for Mac or ASIO for Windows
9. Name some Avid audio interfaces that are compatible with Pro Tools | Ultimate software.
Supports multichannel outputs.
Making a contact mic
To make the contact mic we used 35mm Piezo discs and attached them with a soldering iron to a 6.35mm jack, using the 6.35mm jack was very helpful as it could be connected to a field recorder or to an interface easily without using an adapter. The process was relatively easy and I was scared at first to use a soldering iron as I haven’t before and thought I would solder too much by accident but this wasn’t an issue. I really enjoyed making the microphone and it has lead me to start getting into building guitar pedals and eurorack modules as I now know how to solder and have been reluctant to in the past.
Week 4: Sound Arts in The British Context
This text is an interview between Adam Parkinson and David Toop recorded in 2015 at the London Metropolitan University.
“What I’m trying out at this stage of my life life is new formats, or new settings maybe’ or formats and settings that have been tried before but then been forgotten or pushed aside because established formats have such a powerful hold on our thinking’ I’m frustrated by [” ‘]all the familiar routines that frame practice and discourse [“‘] what I want to do is modest, small scale, quiet, and uncertain – just a slight shift of conditions [“‘] a big thing but small, a conversation that can be quiet but loud’.”
“But sound art to me is problematic for a number of reasons. One, because it is so closely associated with a particular world and a particular economy – the art world – and there are all sorts of reasons why that’s difficult.”
Toop finds the term “sound art” problematic as he finds it too closely related to the art world and how it revolves around money. I find this
“They are more concerned with the unfinished or in-between, that which is difficult to articulate or impossible to exhibit; each one will involve offerings of different kinds, opportunities to listen, to watch, to speak, to be silent.”
Glossary–
Aesthetics – a persons idea on what is beautiful
Cedrik Fermont 14/10/21
student of nnette Vande Gorne
he likes to make music based on his surroundings,
lack of political engagement in electro acoustic music,
Sound Walk 8th of October
We started the sound walk off at Forest Hill station (my local station) and while we waited for the whole class to arrive we started the walk by going into the stations under passage. We were given eye masks so that we were only focusing on sound. Personally the sounds in the under passage were my favourite of the whole trip. The sounds started off pretty ambient and were mostly just footsteps and the jangling of people keys/money in their pockets. Occasionally you could hear the train announcer saying “This is the London Overground service to Highbury and Islington” and you could hear the cars passing by both sides. Then instantly the whole tunnel was filled with reverb and a steady pounding four to the floor at around 90bpm kick like sound which was the train passing overhead. I then heard a few women speaking amongst themselves and asking what we were doing under the tunnel, that was followed by the sound of an ambulance’s siren to the east of me. Occasionally I could hear coughing from the public and the light breeze of wind against my ears, I could also hear the crackiling of plastic as a member of public opened something while passing.
We then went around the corner to stand on the side of the train tracks, we stood against the wall nd put our eyes masks on. The first sounds I heard were the chirping of birds and the sound of a hose/carwash coming from infront of me. This was then followed by he sound of a train passing fast by me which sounded more like a whirring and like an aeroplane taking off. There were also trains that went by slower which occasionally had a clicking electrical hiss which is the sound that sometimes comes out of a trains wheels. On the side of the tracks you could also hear the announcements a lot louder and clearer. Opposite the sidewalk were a few workers that were doing sawing and shouting which was pretty loud.
After we headed to Horniman Museam where we would begin to experiment with walking with the blindfolds with a partner.
I found this one hard as I was being lead downhill and kept feeling like I was tripping over stuff.