An exercise in reduction

I thought I'd post this as it's something a bit different from the usual sound-orientated stuff that dominates this blog. The series of photos detail the process of an extra-curricular activity from the Milkcrate session over the weekend. A tactile distraction of sorts for a long 24 hours.

I had brought along a metal sheet as a means of generating some interesting sounds for the session, though after awhile (and several coffees) it became its own autonomous art object. Earlier I had scratched it with rocks and pencils to get certain sounds and marked out interesting harmonic regions with whiteboard markers. By the early hours of the morning it had been scribbled with random nonsense, and by dawn only traces of chaotic gestures were visible in the scratch marks and the barely visible pencil scrapings.

I like the idea of reductionism, it is an approach that I apply to my work ethic during a Milkcrate session: building up detail and stripping it away. A visual parallel to sonic gestures.


1) Some scratches, pencil markings and whiteboard marker shapes


2) Nonsensical rhetoric and additional details


3a) Whiteboard marker markings scrubbed away: final result


3b) Close-up of final result

Milkcrate 18

I am currently engaged in the 18th Milkcrate session. You can monitor progress and results here.

Tyndall Assembly Concert 3: 30-08-07

The 2007 Tyndall Assembly concert series continues next Thursday night with presentations by Poppi Doser, Milkcrate and a performance by Darren Curtis. For more details go to www.tyndallassembly.com and www.tyndallassemblyblog.blogspot.com

[24.3.07] Milkcrate 14 - Six Appeal

I am currently partaking in Milkcrate 14 in Brighton, South Australia. There are some more pics at the Soniferous Amphx.

Much more at Tales From The Crate

[29.3.07] Some audio tracks can be found at the Milkcrate site here. Mine is called "Flock of Starlings." I will post my other contributions over the next couple of weeks.

[15.2.07] Rocks audio problems fixed

The hosting problems regarding the pebble music audio has been temporarily fixed. The main problem is with Geocities in general, whom I've received free hosting from for the past five years. However, as this blog and the external pages are extending into the breach of (shock horror) 21st century media such as downloadable audio, I will have to purchase a sizable domain before too long.

Rocks, Mouth and Delay #1 > all files are roughly 1MB in size.-*

To read a brief description about the piece scroll down to the Rocks, Mouth and Delay post, or click here.

• Part one audio
  
• Part two audio
  
• Part three audio
  

Also, regarding the Milkcrate audio (see previous post), these audio files may have now been moved by the the site administrator and may be unavailable at present. When I find some time over the next couple of days I will attempt to post these on the Geocities server, though due to space constraints these audio files will have to be kept to 30 second excerpts.

[5-6.2.07] Milkcrate 13 + audio

It's 4:15am and we're not even halfway yet...

That's right, I'm doing my first 24 hour Milkcrate session in over a year at Seb and Lauren's around the corner from where I live. I won't tire you with the details of the sessions (click the above link if you're curious), but I thought I'd run over some observations that I've had so far regarding the creative process.

For the first time in a session I'm not using a computer to edit soundfiles. This is a deliberate choice as I've wanted to see how the creative process would be affected if I started taking away accurate visual representations of sound (such as wave form editors.) Because I'm only using a minidisc player and my old 4-track tape machine (as well as a digital delay stompbox), I've found that the change has been quite dramatic, resulting in a more linier process. It's my impression that the visual cues that I've removed from my usual process (though useful in many ways) are interruptions, presenting any number of options, directions and tangents to shoot off in. I'm thinking of this from the perspective of branch growth - I would much rather a simple branch structure as opposed to something sprouting out in all directions. This economical approach encourages a discipline of sorts - since this process is bound by the limited capabilities and inherent flaws of the technology, I'm required to concentrate more on how I wan't something to sound before I start work on it, rather than nitpicking it as I go (I find the latter is a destructive and petty way of going about things.)

Anyway, enough Eno-esque babble, I'm going to make another coffee and get back to before a brief nap as the sun comes up.

You can listen to three of my tracks so far from the Milkcrate ftp server (click links below.)

BTW, if the audio sounds a bit murky/crackly/poppy, that's all part of the old skool aesthetic - ya dig dawgs? ;)

Signals in a Snowstorm (2.5 MB)
Radio In Fog (With Strangers) (4.4 MB)
Swarm (4.5 MB)