September 9, 2016

8.30 am: Accounting for contentment. I’m not in:

  • a war zone;
  • peril;
  • prison;
  • poverty or debt;
  • pain or distress;
  • bad health;
  • a depressed state;
  • a personal crisis;
  • a hopeless situation;
  • isolation;
  • despair;
  • grief or shock;
  • a destructive or an abusive relationship;
  • an unfulfilling occupation or a dead-end job;
  • a creative impasse;
  • a bad place.

Therefore, I should be be grateful for, celebrate, and use well, my liberty and advantage.

9.00 am: I rechecked the stereo signal pathway from the mixer to the PA speakers and subwoofer before beginning a series of simple modulations of an oscillating pulse, and to explore the effectiveness of the main rack’s EQ unit. It’s easy to produce intriguing sounds, but very difficult to construct useable ones. Sounds, like colours, allure. One must resist their obvious and superficial attraction. Finally, I processed the source through a sequencer to produce a rather compulsive rhythm (reminiscent of the work Brian Eno produced for his album Another Green World (1975)). At the same time, I tested the direct USB > DAW recording facility on the mixer. It appears that the interface software has not kept pace with the Mac IOS. Is this facility now doomed to redundancy?:

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Before a lunchtime research meeting, I set up an analogue connection between the mixer and my A/D interface on the main production desk and endeavoured to optimise quality.

I had a sound-research ‘committee meeting’ with my colleague Dr Roberts, over a small bowl of soup at Tree House. On the agenda were the forthcoming NOISE PROJECTion symposium, several loosely conceived collaborations which we intend to undertake at the School in conjunction with the Art/Sound module, and an open-ended discussion about the perils and pitfalls of buying and using too much equipment.

2.00 pm: In the studio I commenced close listening of recordings of the modulated oscillations made  to the computer, either mediately (through the mixer) or directly (from the effector) (TestRhythm (09 09 16)):

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A failed piece of equipment required my attention. Mercifully, it’s still under warranty. I’ll dispatched it to my faithful and reliable supplier on Tuesday.

Evening. I attempted — intuitively and provisionally — to denote and associate terms, methods, and processes suggestive of the crossover between visual and sonic practices, as they pertain to my own work. This is, as well, as an endeavour to define what the sound work is and also, crucially, what it’s not. Establishing and maintaining a focus and objective in relation to the work demands a great deal of the maker. Do what you must do, rather than what you can do, or what you’d like to do:

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