Regional Arts Australia National Conference – Framework part 1 from RAA National Conference 2012 on Vimeo.

Regional Arts Australia National Conference 2012 – Framework part 2 from RAA National Conference 2012 on Vimeo.

The new year is bringing on lots of new exciting projects, including my participation in Weekly Beats 2012.

Basically, you have to write a ‘song’ each week (any genre/instrumentation) for the entirety of 2012.

I’ve always been attracted to situations/projects/strategies that impose conditions and limitations on the creative process.  People like Brian Eno and David Byrne as well as the Fluxus crew readily spring to mind when I think about where this all started for me.

Weekly Beats seems like a pretty crazy idea and seems a little risky given the busier than usual schedule that I’ll be maintaining for most of 2012, but hey..nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess.  Ideally, I’d like to use this as a way of getting some momentum happening in the following areas:

- Developing studio approaches (esp. mixing/mastering)
- Refining compositional approaches.
- Garden Ruin (songwriting)
- Max/MSP programming.
- Aruduino experiments.
- Other stuff.

I think that the tide has begun to turn lately though. I’ve got lots of ideas at the moment that I don’t think can be realised any other way. So into the dark, beguiling terrain of Arduino and Max/MSP I venture once again.

First stop: let’s use some circuitry to communicate with Arduino and control parameters of scaled cycle~ objects in Max/MSP. It’s basic and crude, but it’s a start.

I’m currently writing a detailed overview of a new work that is gradually approaching completion.   The Roil  is to be exhibited from April to May 2012 at the SASA Gallery as part of a group exhibition, Objectified.  The finished work will be a sound installation incorporating mixed media, up to 50 loudspeakers and six channels of audio.  It’s unlike anything I’ve made before, and has been an ambitious undertaking in terms of its concept, construction and composition.

The concept of the group exhibition deals with the idea of ‘transitional memory’ and I’ve decided to examine visual and aural memories of my childhood, located specifically around an area of beach south of my hometown (Normanville, South Australia) that I visited frequently as a child and return to occasionally, most recently in July this year.

I’ll hold off on giving a technical description for the time being because the work isn’t entirely complete and I need to spend a bit more time with the concept.  Along with the completed work, I’m planning to use my current writing as the foundation for a small book that will be available in hard copy and as an electronic file to coincide with the exhibition.  A companion audio release is also being developed for release around the same time.

After three days of intensive workshopping on the WIRED LAB farm, the WIRED LAB Open Day on Saturday allowed our group to have a day off then reconvene later in the evening with WIRED LAB artists and members of the community. During the morning I enjoyed having a bit of time to myself and took some time exploring the streets of inner Cootamundra, finding some beautiful period houses, roosting Cockatoos in a church bell tower and leafy wide roads. It had rained for most of the early morning and was very humid with occasional drizzle, which didn’t bode well for the planned Open Day site of the WIRED LAB farm. So an alternative was set up.

What an alternative it was! The Muttama Hall provided a lovely venue for live performances whilst on the surrounding grounds a couple of tents had been erected for installations: one by renowned UK sound recordist Chris Watson and the other, which was a group listening station with deckchairs and headphones featuring wire compositions by David Burraston and Gary Bradbury. A delicious selection of food was provided for dinner and a well stocked bar kept things nicely lubricated before a programme of live performances in the hall got underway.

Muttama Hall.

After a warm welcome from an indigenous representative, a recording of Alan Lamb’s The Last Anzac wire composition was played, which set the scene nicely. David Haines and Joyce Hinterding then took the stage with customised circular antennas and performed an interesting set which explored the peripheral electro-magnetic frequencies on stage and around the hall. It was a great performance that was quite theatrical, and at times a bit amusing.

David Haines & Joyce Hinterding

Alan Lamb then performed with his Great Bow. A wire had been erected across the middle of the hall with polystyrene boxes (as loudspeakers/transducers) positioned on both sides of the wire. A vertical column with a nylon string was erected and connected to the middle of the wire and Alan invited the audience to turn our seats to face him as he performed. It was a brilliant performance. Over the last three days of the workshop Alan had demonstrated his mastery of the instrument, and this performance was no exception. Alan explored the harmonic structure of the wire with a series of sweeping and cyclical strokes of the Great Bow – drawing the bow across the vertical wire, which in turn caused the wire to vibrate symphatically. Some of the harmonic response and rich droning textures he generated were astounding. The acoustics of the hall came into play nicely too. Alex Cuffe, who I was sitting next to, told me that I had a big grin on my face by the end of the performance. I must have enjoyed it, then.

David Burraston.

Following an interval, David Burraston performed an interesting set consisting of chaotic and cellular automata instruments which explored chaotic theory and ideas concerning rain propagation in relation to the wires. The final performance by Alan Lamb, David Burraston, William Barton and Delmae Barton was something very special. Alan and David were seated on one side of the stage with a computer and mixer, whilst William and Delmae were seated on the other side of the stage with their Didgeredoos. The performance began with a wire composition by Alan and David which examined various states of the wire – exploring a variety of dynamics, harmonic textures, transients and inherent sonic artefacts of the wire. Around ten minutes in, William Barton played a few notes on his Didgeredoo, punctuating Alan and David’s sonic texture with short tones and occasional phonetic sounds. The performance concluded with Delmae Barton singing into her Didgereroo whilst making slow gestures with her right hand. The vocal effect and melody was unlike anything I had heard before and it was absolutely stunning – the ending left me with a few tears and was met with rapturous applause from the auidence. A wonderful way to conclude the night!

From left to right: Delmae Barton, William Barton, David Burraston & Alan Lamb.

* * *

Whew.  What a week it was!  I’m very honoured to have been involved with the WIRED LAB over the last few days.  My thanks to Sarah, David and Alan for their wonderful work during the workshop and putting together an amazing Open Day experience.

A shout out as well to my fellow participants who made the past week all the more enjoyable!

Another bright and sunny morning in Cootamundra. Prior to heading up to the farm we’d been advised that the wires had been ‘singing’ in the gully earlier and that conditions were very favourable for this trend to continue. However, by the time we’d walked up to the gully the wind had dropped to a peaceful calm prevailing over the valley with just the sound of distant birds and buzzing flies. As most the group had silenced themselves on the prospect of hearing something coming from the wires, it was a good opportunity to do some attentive listening. David had set of one of the monitoring/recording stations close to where some of us were sitting and we took some time listening in on the wire. Though (I am reasonably certain) I heard some very brief ‘singing’, all one heard through the headphones was a beautiful spacious drone with the occasional click and crackle of a nearby electric fence.

After lunch we spent the rest of the workshop discussing more ideas and strategies relating to the arranging and mixing of wire compositions. I was particularly interested in the idea of concepts in wire composition and asked David and Alan whether a conceptual approach factored into the process of planning, recording and composing with the wires. Whilst not ruling out this approach entirely, David and Alan’s mutual consensus was that a logical progression (i.e. following the music) was a preferred approach to conceptual frameworks. Alan suggested that his composition for film was an appropriate example of using a conceptual framework (as well as following an existing narrative and structure.)

Towards the end of the day we tested out a loudspeaker/polystyrene combo that functioned as a customised driver for the wires. On the Test Wire (which is located near the farmhouse) we put the driver and the wire to work – playing instruments through the driver, thus exciting the wire and generating an effect similar to a huge spring reverb and harmoniser. As I’d hoped, someone suggested that a feedback system be set up so that wire would essentially, feedback into itself. It was bloody marvelous…the richness and variation of the tone when it fell in and out of phase made a number of us rapturous and egged Dave on to take the amplifier and loudspeaker to their physical limit. The final pouring of feedback and its subsequent decay will last for awhile in my memory. Beautiful. If the heat generated by the loudspeaker and amplifier post-performance were any indication, you can imagine how loud things got. A perfect way to finish up the three-day workshop!

Glorious feedback.

Saturday will bring a close to proceedings with the Wired Lab Open Day.

More images below.

A very sunny day in Cootamundra! By the time we drove out to the farm the wind was considerably weaker to that of the day before, which boded well for the wires, myself and my fellow participants. (I woke up in the morning with a face feeling like it had been sandblasted, and a tube of moisteriser was promptly purchased from the local chemist down the road.)

We spent the first half of the workshop interacting with the wires and split into two groups – one group exploring the various pickups used to receive the wires’ vibrations and signals and the other group playing the wires by positioning polystyrene boxes along points of the gully wire (as basic transducers/loudspeakers) and using the nylon bow, voices and customised instruments to generate sounds conditioned by the physicality of the wire as well as the wires’ own sympathetic vibrations and harmonics. Some of us had our personal recording devices on hand and at one point I trekked over to the other side of the gully wire and captured some incredible distant voices and resonances from the polystyrene box positioned there. Unfortunately, as favourable as the conditions were at times, the actual ‘singing’ of the wires still eluded us.

The second half of the workshop consisted of listening to recordings that had been made from the specially positioned pickups on the three wires. David and Alan discussed some strategies and techniques that are important to composing and mixing with the wires. I found this session particularly interesting, and a (slight) diversion later in the day dealing with the difference between randomness and chaos was most welcome!

Today we drove out to the WIRED LAB farm for the first day of the masterclass and intensive workshop. After a round of introductions we headed up the road to the gully to see three of the installed wires. The wind was particularly fierce in the afternoon, and this was felt as we stood at the top of the gully with a stunning panorama of the distant Snowy Mountains and Mount Kosciuszko.

David Burruston and Alan Lamb went over the specifics of each of the wires and we spent some time at each of them, interacting, listening and recording. Alan pointed out that the weather conditions (lots of wind) weren’t conducive to the wires ‘singing’ and that we would have to see how the wind fares tomorrow (i.e. less turbulent and strong, more consistent.) Still, it was fascinating to observe some of the wires potential in action – especially the bowing of the wire, which resulted in some incredible overtones and phasing effects.

Some images below.