We knew the water would flow down the tube rather fast if it was at a continuous downward angle so we decided to take 25meters of the pipe and run it down the stairwell of the WT building next door to us. Apart from getting a few strange looks from passers by we managed to conduct a very important prototype because it told us approximately how long it would take for the water to flow from one end of the pipe to the other. Unfortunately, we realised that it would take about 30 seconds to travel down the entire pipe. Since we wanted to have 2 pipes on our project to allow the audience to play the instrument this meant we would have to cut that time in half as well. 15 seconds was not a lot of time. Hence we decided to spiral the pipe down the vertical section of the railing (top to bottom to ensure proper water flow) and then have the pipe going straight towards the top of the next vertical section. This decreased the angle of the pipe and slowed the water down a great deal giving us a lot more time in between each keyboard hack. This also created an amazing accident. We found that with the decrease in angle, it was a solid portion of water flowing down the tube. It flowed in bits and pieces. Which meant that the keyboard hacks would randomly turn on and off with small and large droplets of water that followed the main stream. This was perfect because it meant that the sound would never sound the same every time and generated a sense of 'randomness.'
Originally we all wanted to have water features incorporated into the design using perspex plastic, but we soon came to the conclusion that incorporating these on the stairs would be next to impossible. And with all honesty, it would not have been unnecessary in conceying our idea to the audience (as awesome as it would have looked). We also had no idea on how we would go about placing the tubing on the stairwell, we took EVERYTHING into consideration including the ceiling. If we were to do this then we would have to construct a board that would be able to support the weight on the pipes and suspend them above the audience. However, I anticipated that there would be a few drops of water falling from the tubes due to the holes of the keyboard hack. Not only was that a major con, but we also felt it neccessary that the audience be in close contact with the pipe and actually be able to see how it all worked. If we were to spiral the tubes down the railing it also gave off the idea that as people decend down the stairs, they are decending into a zone where the normalities of the outside world do not apply. We measured out the lengths and finally had a concrete idea to work off. It was only uphill from here on (or so I thought).
On the first day of conceptual development I came up with the idea that we could use water as a conductive method to interact with a set of keyboard hacks, the idea originally came from my research where I discovered a sound installation where a fungi dropped spores through a laser which caused a sound to play. I thought that we could use the same feature, but instead of spores we could use droplets of water that hit keyboard hacks to cause conductivity and sounds to occur. Together our group sifted slowly through ideas and eventually we came up with a plan to design a system of keyboard hacks placed down different tubes. Water would flow down and trigger keyboard hacks which would feed into ableton live.
After some experimentation and prototyping to eliminate the hurdles we thought we would face we discovered that water itself from the tap was not conductive. This however did not set us back, after a quick Google we discovered that impurities in water were what gave it its conductive property. Thus, we added salt to the water. After running it through our prototype (a 1m long pipe with 1 keyboard hack) we were successful. But we also encountered another problem. And that was the fact that if the wires were too close then the water would get caught on the wires and it would keep printing out the same key over and over. Because of this, we knew we would have to be extremely careful on how we placed the wires down the pipe. They would have to be spaced out enough to conduct for a short period of time but not too close to create a build up on water.
Today on our 4th week into our music paper, we have been introduced to our project. However I was extremely confused as to what we were asked to do. All we have been told is that we need to perform either a performance or an installation in front of the audio foundation. I wish we were given specifics of what exactly is being asked of us, but I guess it could be a positive aspect as we are FINALLY free to dig deep into our creative side which in previous exercises was blocked from us.
We were also greeted with a guest speaker today who really gave me and insight as to how sound art could be applied and used into society. I loved her ideas of incorporating sound into areas that you would never expect to be used. The bridge that had looping sounds of creepy children whispering in the middle of the woods really impressed me. Although I thought she could have expanded on the idea by using interaction instead of just looping sounds. I'm sure it would scare countless people! By the end of the lecture I had a rough idea of what exactly an installment is. I now need to go home and brainstorm ideas for how my group can think outside the box!
On the third week were were introduced to a new temporary lecturer by the name of ________. Immediately i knew that this man knew exactly what he was talking about and from the get go provided a huge range of advice and skills that would definitively come in handy. We learnt about the foundations of what lies behind sound/music such as the uses for membranes, resonance, and how to create simple methods of amplification using things as cooking woks. We were also shown quite a few different videos on YouTube of people who had ingeniously gone about creating their own music using patchwork construction. Most interesting of these videos for me was the video which involved a man who utilized something we can all relate to from our childhoods, the tin can telephone which created a very interesting echo effect that to this day I still have not manage to understand. He had knowledge in almost every field of music all the way down to Shaolin monk throat singing. Truthfully, at the start of the week when we were shown the makeshift instruments I really just couldn't take it seriously, but by the end of the week I realized that sound is such a strange anomaly that can be explored much further than whats on TV and embedded in mainstream society. It is a subsonic realm that many are not familiar with. By having the opportunity to create my own instrument, or rather I should say MANY instruments. I realized that it is a tool that is easily molded into many different varieties and forms. I went through countless ideas ranging from a motorized wheel among many other designs but I found myself always in a desperate attempt to copy an instrument that has already been made and used before. I was always focusing on drums, or something I could hit to create pitch. However after 4 days of deliberation I decided to mix 2 instruments together including a flute and a didgeridoo to bring to life something different from the rest of the horns and balloon sounds. I wanted to create a acoustic device using my fingers and was aiming for a high pitched echo-like sound. In part i did create my intention, however I must also state this this did not entirely go to plan. In fact, i create a whole new noise. The reason being is that the placement of the 'reed' was extremely hard to nail. The sound produced was very eery but gloomy and soothing, on the downside it was very quiet so I had no idea how it would sound on the mic. During our groups jam in front of the class I was amazing to hear the sound of my instrument amplified in such a way. It truly was amazing and nothing I had ever heard before in my life. And to think that I produced this music brought about a feeling of accomplishment. Overall the exercise was fun, however since we were all creating our own instruments I felt the groups to be unnecessarily as we were off on our own most of the time either constructing or researching. However I was happy with our performance. (video to come)
On the second week of experimenting with sound we were introduced to a new device called the Piezoelectric microphone (aka the contact microphone). This device, as intricate as it sounds, was truly a simple device that delivered astonishing results. Instead of measuring direct sound like we had done on the previous exercise it allowed us to experiment with vibrations on both large and small scales. At first I thought it would be easy to create interesting sounds using this device, however I soon discovered that it required a certain degree of creativity. I was focusing on surface textures where as I should have been thinking outside the box. The night before the presentation for this exercise I was getting a haircut and all of a sudden i realised that the hair clippers themselves were a great idea for using the contact microphone. It generated the exact sound I was wanting, a slow and melodic drone that I thought would compliment our group production. From there I began to experiment with rubber bands and even went as far as to create my own adjustable instrument that could change tune by twisting a 'crucifix' like structure to change the tension of the rubber band to deliver high or low pitch bass.
In regards to our circuit bending, our group all miraculously purchased the same electronic toys which was a real pain because we struggled to generate unique sounds. We worked out that by adjusting the resistor and capacitor on the circuit, we were able to change the pitch and speed of the sound produced into something more usable. This was great exercise for me because I come from an electrical engineering background at Auckland University. It was all about equations and formulas. This was the first time I was actually able to play around with the circuits themselves and break free from the constraints of mathematics. I never realised that such simplistic circuits from toys could generate such interesting sounds. We managed to turn our toys shallow, polyphonic-like sound into something out of this world and robotic.
The 'Jam' on Friday where we combined all our created tunes and melodies together was truly very interesting indeed. We never practiced before hand, and literally had no idea how it would all sound. It required a lot of improvisation and team work to generate a sound which was bearable to listen to. The amazing thing was that our group actually produced something which generated a lot of positive feedback. Not only that but during the production I discovered things which I never had noticed before which definitively worked in favor of our demonstration. I realized that the magnet of the hair clippers was interfering with the sub that I brought to uni and it created a very strange droning sound which really drew all our 'instruments together.' I brought in about 4 instruments, used 2 of them and created another on the spot. It proves to me that performance truly is a skill of adaptation. And this to me is one of the most important lessons I gained from this weeks exercise.
Our first exercise to become familiar was to create our own sound art. At first our group had absolutely no idea what we were doing so we set out into the city and recorded random sounds that we thought would go well together. Our original idea was to record to types of sound. One type would be used to convey the idea of nature and the other as construction. These 2 sounds contrasted to create the idea that human construction is taking over natural environments. However as we talked more with Zoe we realized that perhaps we were going about the assignment in the wrong manner. What set me on track was Zoe's quote: "Its not about the paintbrush, its about the paint." It made me realize that we needed to think outside the box. After roaming the streets I brought up the idea that perhaps we could go to the AUT workshop and experiment with machinery and other textures there. We experimented with many unique sounds such as nails falling to the ground, air vents and many other alternative sounds. The next day in class I was struggling to think up an idea that would fit with our original sounds. After listening to the sounds we recorded, closing my eyes and thinking, I thought up a whole new idea. It came from the sound of dropping nails and other debris to the ground. It resembled that of rain falling to the ground, gradually escalating to a downpour. I thought to myself that we could use the sounds we recorded and assemble them in a way so that they appeared like the natural sounds that we are so familiar with. Eg the train we recorded sounded like waves washing up onto the beach, the fan sounded like the wind blowing along the coast, and sand paper that sounded like actual sound moving along the beach. All in all, it strikes the idea that perhaps our environment has its similarities to that of nature. Although our surroundings may look entirely different the sounds that we are exposed to on a daily basis do resemble that of natures intention.
We knew the water would flow down the tube rather fast if it was at a continuous downward angle so we decided to take 25meters of the pipe and run it down the stairwell of the WT building next door to us. Apart from getting a few strange looks from passers by we managed to conduct a very important prototype because it told us approximately how long it would take for the water to flow from one end of the pipe to the other. Unfortunately, we realised that it would take about 30 seconds to travel down the entire pipe. Since we wanted to have 2 pipes on our project to allow the audience to play the instrument this meant we would have to cut that time in half as well. 15 seconds was not a lot of time. Hence we decided to spiral the pipe down the vertical section of the railing (top to bottom to ensure proper water flow) and then have the pipe going straight towards the top of the next vertical section. This decreased the angle of the pipe and slowed the water down a great deal giving us a lot more time in between each keyboard hack. This also created an amazing accident. We found that with the decrease in angle, it was a solid portion of water flowing down the tube. It flowed in bits and pieces. Which meant that the keyboard hacks would randomly turn on and off with small and large droplets of water that followed the main stream. This was perfect because it meant that the sound would never sound the same every time and generated a sense of 'randomness.'
