I performed with the software in Cardiff last Friday for the first time. There was good feedback about the frequency movement and visual representation The evening went well with a diverse range of performers. There is a video on our Open Ear Channel http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=SoOZJ0_lDsQ This isn’t the best representation of the piece so Ill post another one soon. For Open Ear Related stuff http://openear.wordpress.com
After many long hours, the software’s first beta is complete.
“PrifArc56 is a realtime audiovisual compositional environment which allows you to manipulate audio within the visual domain, much in the same way as a image editing application. Audio is captured into a virtual canvas where it can be subject to a number of visual based effect processes. The software allows the performer to select frequency orientated selections of the editing environment and place them on one of four output channels, with the position of the brush on the canvas determining the both the visual and audio position across a two dimensional plane. The region selected produces immediate audiovisual feedback; each gestural movement of the brush therefore has a perceptible outcome that can be observed by both the performer and the audience”
Im coming to the end of my research project (see projects tab) and feel its time to start thinking about something new. I have quite a few creative ideas and of course a new compositional tool, so Im thinking of an album length selection of tracks incorporating the following ideals:
\Raw and Visceral
\No synth lines or obvious patch sounds, melody to be fractious and intertwined with the surrounding sounds
\Heavy use of the human voice as the source for many of the sounds
\No IDM style skittery beats, its been done to death now!
\Non referential if entirely possible
First fruits of this is the new track “Morality Cycles” which can be played on the media player on the sounds screen.
I started testing the audio side of the software last weekend, to see how it fared during performance. The sound manipulation is working well. The visual side of things keeps changing, I have been using a lot of open gl to render the audio information, its coming to a point where I need to decide what meets the criteria of my research. Some early example screenshots.
The Open Ear event was a success. Unfortunately Matt had to pull out of the evening but otherwise there were excellent performances from Joe Banks/Disinformation and Ampersand. I played an improvisation piece in the interlude between Joe and Ampersand, it was a useful exercise as it suggested pointers on the things to improve with the software. The next event planned is in March 11. Garrett Lynch is curating the next event entitled “Cinema” hopefully all being well “Semiconductor” will be playing. Ive got a lot of work to do to get my software ready for next event!
For more information about Open Ear related stuff go to:
openear.wordpress.com
Myself and Matt Wright were on the Dominic King show last Wednesday on Radio Kent. The interview was more about the new Sonic Arts programme that Matt will soon be running rather than Open Ear, though this does get a mention. I created a sound art piece especially for the show using the some of Matt’s speech.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2008/01/30/sonic_art_feature.shtml
We that are Open Ear host another event on Tuesday 5th February entitled “Noise” . Its my turn for curation this time round and I have invited Ampersand and Disinformation to play for us. Ampersand are no strangers to Open Ear having had one of their multimedia DVD’s played at last years “PrifArc” Event, this will be the first time however that they play live for us. Disinformation is the pseudonym of the artist Joe Banks who along with Strange Attractor performed the piece “National Grid” using live mains electricity.
I hope to perform with a preliminary version of my audio-visual software, though many of the features are not currently operational. I am hoping to have most of the quirks fixed by the “Cinema” Event in March along with the new visual front end.
http://www.Openear.wordpress.com