Project 5: Presentation and Contribution

After completing a few tests on Friday we were fairly sure it would work on the day of presentation. Since the Audio Foundation was only open Tuesday to Friday 12pm-4pm it gave us roughly around 5 hours of installing the rest of the wires and testing them. I thought that this would be more than enough time to complete the installation but did not want to start having to rush things and screw up a wire connection. To make sure we minimised how much had to be done on the day we put all samples and distortions onto one program with keys assigned so they were ready to be played as well as label all wires to be put into the keyhack. After testing all wires and plugging in the keyboard hack the program was able to work smoothly and did not glitch from the keys being pressed multiple times in such a short period. Without any major problems we could start practicing with the two pipes and seeing if we could get a good duration to pour the water for without the sound being too long or short. An unlikely material that proved useful was the wine bottles, they not only made it easy to pour and a good height on the stairs to collect the water, but also contained an appropriate amount of water to be poured, if done substantially, to last for up to 4 minutes. This means the length of one sound installation will be at the quantity of a full wine bottle of water.

I thought the demonstration went well, the audience were able to be at different points on the staircase watching as the water went down and hear the sounds as it rose from the speaker at the bottom. We were lucky to be able to use another groups speaker since it was louder and more efficient to use one big one instead of putting three at different levels of the staircase.

Here is the sound from the Installation and a video of it in action.

Contribution

Well as each performance went by I would like to think I inputted at least as much as my members did. I would say I helped with constructing ideas and developing them into more depth and looked for ways that helped our team to create sound worth listening to. For the first week I think how we formed our sounds gave everyone a major part to contribute. We all listened to the noises and used them in our own ways which could be attached and synced together. The second project I thought my biggest contribution was the range of tools I used so I could respond to what others were playing instead of just choosing between playing and not playing, I think my response to my the rest of the group as they played really helped and gave a better clarity than what it might have been if we all just kept going. For the experimental instruments I thought my choice in materials and creation of instrument made me stand out from the rest. I saw what my type of instruments my group were making so I went for something very different allowing us to delve into a deeper choice of sounds composing together.

The final and biggest aural project was more working together and trading roles on who did what. We all helped set up as well as practice testing sounds using Ableton LIve. The samples consisted of noises I could find around my apartment that gave the impression, or were, of electricity at work. I thought what gave our group a final finished installation was our determination and commitment to see it work. When working with electronics it is very difficult to know if there is a connection problem especially if there are multiple 5 meter wires. This is why we had to have a lot of patience and making sure we were thorough with testing each wires connection. Things we could have addressed a bit more was how each person was participating within the project. We all volunteered to work on something and to keep up with what was happening but we did not structure on what we had to do or focus on why we were really doing it. If we communicated as a group how we were to go about visualising the installation it could have made it easier to branch out what aspects needed to be partaked in first to make it more efficient of everyone's time.


Graphic Score

Emile Drescher was lucky enough to be the musician to play my graphic score that was made made a few weeks earlier. He played with his own instrument he made and tried to make it sound like what I was listening to at the time I recorded the graphic score.

Emile

Graphic Score Played



Representative sounds

Here is 3 sounds that I thought really related to my work in the projects:

Squeaky
Circuit Bending Performance
Swallowing