Project 5: Circuit Bending

This week we are going to hack a simple sound making device to create unique and original sounds to be performed in a group on Friday. This will not be our only equipment as we also will create our own piezo mics that can convert any contact with the disk into voltage and then sound. This gives us great opportunity to find everyday objects and use them for our presentation. What will be challenging is working together as a team to not overwhelm the other members sounds when playing at the same time. We will have to communicate by sound to each other so we can know when to fade in and out appropriate sounds. From what has been discussed with us I think that we are being tasked upon finding out if we can perform pieces of music through the communication of sound and create a collaborative piece without it sounding too out of place.

The inside of my sound toy

I have seen in a lot of production videos for games and movies that show how creative they can get when trying to produce sounds that are too difficult to produce naturally. It would seem that sounds are possible of imitation and deception that creates an imagery for us to explore, the piezo mics I think can open up what it means to create sound by giving an 'only  touch' base to its creation.   

The sound chip hacked using a potentiometer

I think that there are a lot of sounds that have been hacked before but we have not recognised that they are sound hacks. A lot of boy racers like to modify there exhaust to get a gruntier noise to make it sound as if their engine is more powerful. A club DJ I would also consider a hacker, mixing different songs together as well as repeating verses to intrigue and entertain the audience. They all have their different areas of use but overall I get that they are mainly being hacked to stimulate and indulge humans. This shows that the hacks are more for entertainment purposes and is more about what the creator is trying to express. I could go as far as saying that they are producing a means of art.

Project 5: Method & Sound

After we collaborated all our noises together we removed all the ones that were not valuable or irrelevant for what we wanted for our sound, things such as people talking or vehicles moving etc. as they were not part of the disturbing sounds we wanted. We decided as a group that because it would be hard for us to work on the same piece we each took the noises and made our own versions, this would include a build up of sound as to help represent and exemplify how artificial and annoying these sounds can have when taken out of context. we made sure that they all were around the 2 minute mark and had them layered on top of each other. This gave it a more unique feeling because it had each of our own interpretation of what is irritating. I thought this would work quite well because from past experiences, having sounds overlapped on top of each other become more irritable as they compile, like how when more and more colours are mixed together they get closer to black.

The graphic score

Area where I recorded my graphic score

Something that we could of improved on was preparing for what we were using to present our audio with. The speakers was able to completely change our audio from what we thought it sounded in the headphones. If we planned for this then we could have adjusted the sound so it worked the way we wanted it to with the speakers.

The sound can be heard here

Journal notes:

- The track called 4:33 i thought was hollow, I understand what John Cage was trying to do but do not think it was not something he created himself. I see it as more of the audience that is making the music rather than him. What he did, anyone could do. Its just he had enough fame to do it. I see the work itself as interesting as going to an art exhibition full of blank walls. Now if I was to see the audiences reaction then I would be interested.

Project 5: Aural terrains

This project is a bit different to the others, it seems to be set in weekly tasks rather than the usual tutorial week followed by our main project. This is a subject I have not had much familiarity with and will be interesting to see how I develop around these ideas. I have never really looked at sounds as being more than just a noise to help us to recognise its place of origin and something to represents the physical nature of the sound. It will be different trying to make something ambiguous from everyday noise.

Sound proof room for taking out any background noise

We have been set into groups and will have the week to present our work to the class. We have chosen to record creative sounds first around the city and find what relations and contrasts we can get from them to determine what type of meaning we want to present behind the sounds. To get a wide variety we went to places with hard and soft sounds that were both mechanical and natural. We went to places like libraries and arcade places to get the sounds that could be heard as disturbing when taken out of context and difficult to determine where it comes from. We also went to parks to find artificial noises created by man to mimic nature and satisfy us, but to give the audience an understanding that it sounds forced and not natural compared to the real versions of the sound.

The mic for the soundproof room

Some of the comments from my journal about the events that took place:

-I was interested in what was said when going to the anechoic chambers about how to isolate sound using different material and ways of restricting it because I am looking forward to when we will be sufficient enough to afford sound proof rooms in the house.

-The chambers I thought to be what could be an important use for sound effects and music making. I would like to test them and see what sort of effects I can get.

-The sound walk was interesting. There was a lot of noises that are forgotten about and turn into background noise. Once I was able to concentrate on a sound it was surprising how much of an effect it had on my mood.