Friday 30th November
I spent today editing the field recordings and performance recordings. I now have six pieces edited to one-minute tracks, which I will add to the still photographs next week. The space recreated by the binaural recordings is so accurate that I have to keep turning around to see if someone has come into the room. The loops recorded from the Wednesday performances are great; I’m really pleased with them as tracks, not just as documentation of a demonstration. The one the students (Dew and Nina) did is brilliant; clunky but really interesting. It is obvious that it is by someone else, despite the same objects being used, because the choice of rhythms and speed is something I don’t usually explore. I am looking forward to a group improvisation in January to see what we all come up with.
Monday 26th November
Today was spent exploring the campus. I am looking for areas of the college with interesting acoustics, either for future recordings or installations, or for a sound map. I will be drawing a plan of the site according to sound quality and relative location rather than physical buildings. Psycho-geography and psycho-acoustics in one… I have started making notes about noisy radiators, but the best discovery of the day is a white stairwell. All the surfaces are hard and reflective which produces the most fantastic resonance, especially from male voice frequencies. It layers and extends the sound so that conversations sound like Gregorian chants.
Wednesday 28th November
I have just finished giving two presentations to students about my work in relation to public performance. See www.myspace.com/babygrandbabygrand for some of my musical pieces, and www.flickr.com/photos/hollyrumble for two images of an installation I did using birds feeding to generate sound. My public work is about using objects to produce sound, and the relationship between the visual and the aural perception. I have found that it is important that the audience can see what I am doing, or are aware of the sources. I do enjoy making acousmatic works, but currently I have been considering the visual side of live performance: what is the audience going to be looking at when they hear the sounds? Should I go to one extreme and perform behind a curtain (or in the dark) like the Wizard of Oz, or should I display my objects like a physics experiment?
Thursday 29th November
I did a few binaural recordings at some of the locations I noted on Monday. I will be assembling a series of static location images with these field recordings, as a visual experiment to see whether the audio affects the ‘visual interest’ of the photograph. There are some particularly tuneful doors in one corridor which I might play around with when the students have gone one night…
The afternoon was different, because I joined in with the previous artist in residence’s etching workshop. So much fun! I can see why printing can be addictive. I drew some owls…
