I felt as though I have made a large contribution to all our assignments that we have been presented with. In the first assignment I was first to come up with the structure of how we would go about putting together the final samples. I thought it would be a great idea to turn industrial sounds into the sounds of nature to show that the environment we create as people is different in so many ways but at the same time can sound quite similar to elements of nature.For example the idea of nails falling to the ground as individual rain drops. All these elements In my section of the audio I took advantage of the microphones volume control to use Britomart trains as the sounds of waves crashing upon a beach. It sounded exactly how I wanted to to. The audience even made note that it was a soothing sound that made them feel relaxed and at ease.
In the second assignment I really decided to try and go outside the box. We each assigned ourselves roles in the group, and I was focusing on mainly the piezoelectric microphone. I decided to bring in an array of tools four our performance including a brass shell, hair clippers, and a handmade adjustable rubber band instrument. All of which I attached a microphone to in order to record their vibrations and relay it to the audience. However, i think the most important prop I brought in was my sub. I found that the vibrations and the magnetism from the sub generated the most important sound to our presentation. It really gave it another level of depth. The best thing about it was that it was found by pure accident just before the performance.
On the third assignment I felt as though the project was not intended for group work, everyone went off on their own to create their instruments. Once again, I felt as though my instrument made our performance stand out from the clutter rubber bands and balloon horns. I created an enlarged flute/didgeridoo. My instrument was extremely hard to hear but when placed up against a microphone it created a very interesting sound that differed from most other peoples instruments. I waved the instrument towards the mic and also away from it to enhance the droning sound where the audio was getting closer and further away from the audience. Overall, I felt as though once again I had pushed my musical boundaries.
On the final project I came up with the idea to use keyboard hacks and water for the conductivity. I was looking for a way to get away from using boring cliche switches and sensors and really incorporate something new. In the final project I found the recording on the water sound from a drain in Myers park. I purchased all the piping, and also helped build the prototype experiments that our group conducted. Marty and I also tested the tubing in the WT building down the stairwell to made sure we had proper water flow. It was also a huge task to install the wires and piping on the stairs which took quite a few days of hard work. I placed the keyboard hacks down the piping with the help of a pair of scissors, compass and roll of tape. This was an extremely arduous task because if the holes were too big water would leak out. Not only that but if the wires were too close the water would build up and conduct continuously which we did not want. If they were too far apart or not centered there would be no conductivity at all. While Matt and Lucy had the unfortunate job of assorting the 16 wires into the keyboard hack I was in charge of the sound effects added to the water sound. Using ableton I linked numerous effects together and assigned them to specific keys. This took a few days because the CPU kept overloading as we were adding too much sound over the top of each other. I simplified it down and added Marty's samples on top and by the presentation day it was sounding exactly how I had imagined it only better.
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