‘sonic scratch cycles’ is the working title for a collaborative sound and drawing project between myself and EKU (Evelyn Müürsepp). The project is based on an ongoing series of collaborative site-specific actions recorded in different locations. Each location has its own spatial and material properties which are ‘translated’ into sounds and drawings. Each action is timed and lasts as long as it takes me to make one rotation around Evelyn, who sits in the center and draws what she hears. She wears a binaural microphone setup and listens through headphones as I improvise with activating the surroundings.

This track is the companion recording to the drawing above which was done at a bridge crossing a local river.

‘sonic scratch cycles’ was first presented as an installation as part of a group exhibition at Kibla in Maribor Slovenia. The drawings were presented in the circular hanging structure with two speakers providing the binaural soundtrack. The viewer/listener takes the role of of the ‘actors’ or ‘translators’ who preserved and presented the evidence of their actions.

Images and a recording from the opening performance at Kibla on August 26th, 2011.

Report from the New Maps of Time sound workshop Torun Poland.

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘New Maps of Time’ is a project and workshop about mapping architectural structures and urban spaces using sound as a means to analyze and express actions within a space. This edition of the workshop focuses on the notion of personal narratives. Rather than work with a group read the full project description…

This workshop concentrated on collaborating with local guides who would show me around the town in an attempt to discover unique spaces, sonic effects and playable objects. In the end I worked with 5 guides who were very helpful and engaged in the process of exploring the city through sound.

click the map above to listen to the sounds on Radio Aporee Maps

This is an unedited binaural recording of the mechanical room controlling the ventilation system of the Center of Contemporary Art. We were allowed to access the space and I could do this short walk through the different ‘zones’ of the basement. Toward the end of the workshop we made a blindfolded ‘soundwalk’ through the building to get and idea of how the ventilation system adds to the sonic environment.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Workshop organized by Krzysztof Gutfrański, and hosted by the Center for Contemporary Art Torun, from April 4th-9th 2011. Special thanks to Krzysztof Gutfrański and the helpful people at CSW for arranging this workshop.

‘revenant : zeltini’ 01:05:07

unfathomless 05 CD

site-specific session with: Eamon Sprod (Tarab), Max Shentelevs, John Grzinich, Kaspars Kalninsh and Felicity Mangan

recorded November 15, 2008 at Zeltini, Latvia

mixed the following months from 4 synchronized binaural recordings (or ‘multi-naural’ as I refer to it).

‘revenant‘ is an ongoing project with open membership that focuses on site-specific acoustic actions. All sounds originate from materials found in-situ, and from interactions with the space itself.

Zelitini is a former Soviet military base located in the forests of Northeastern Latvia which is now abandoned. This particular base housed missiles from the Soviet nuclear arsenal that needed to be stored in large horizontal bunkers. On this visit we arrived rather late and found that most of the bunkers had been locked up. As it grew dark and cold we decided to set up in the last open bunker to record as we new it would be our only chance to collaborate in this unique space.

Reviews

An ongoing project with open membership, that is what Revenant is about. On their second (?) CD, we find John Grzinich again, but with four new members, Maksims Shentelevs, Eamon Sprod, Kaspars Kalninsh and Felicity Mangan. The five of them went to Zeltini, a former Soviet army base in Latvia and they looked for some stuff to create music with, as this is another angle of Revenant. Find material on the site, and play that as it were instruments, using the space as its concert space or studio. Again we are not told how this was recorded or edited, but for about fifty plus minutes we hear these five persons moving through the bunker space, toying around with the various objects they found in this space, like glass, stones and metal. This is done in a musical manner, through means of improvisation. Not a random scattering of debris, but listening and interacting with each other and creating music with non-musical objects. There are overtones to be found here, which are hard to place (wind? somebody blowing a pipe?), which add a nice textural tone to the proceedings. Maybe like the previous one, this is the natural element that is being used here. I am not entirely sure. The only reference I could think of is the recent work of Jeph Jerman – closely miked acoustic objects being played, but then in the large resonating bunker in Latvia. Not the most easy listening one around, but surely some great music has been captured here. (Frans de Waard on Vital Weekly)

Revenant (I can’t help but think of some especially powerful and frightening figures from Doom) on this occasion, November 2008 in Latvia, consisted of Maksims Shentelevs, Eamon Sprod, John Grzinich, kaspars Kalninsh and Felicity Mangan (though Grzinich writes: “‘revenant’ is an ongoing project with open membership”). No instrumentation is mentioned and, further, there’s a notation on the sleeve stating, “Final piece edited from 4 synchronized binaural recordings”.
Perhaps it’s the cover imagery, maybe the former-SSR setting, but it’s quite tempting to hear this dark, brooding music as inhabiting a Stalker-like environment. There’s an oppressiveness, a dank aspect wherein one thinks of cold, clammy surfaces, algae-covered wall, ancient heavy machinery. The two overriding sounds areas are a blurred, metallic kind of drone, as though there’s a sputtering engine at work somewhere down the dark corridor and the clanking of light metal objects, linked like chains, skittering across the foreground. Small rhythms emerge: soft-mallet taps with a vaguely gamelan feel, as though at least one of the devices lying around still functions. Some faint voices then, rather surprisingly, a jew’s harp, strumming away in a loose rhythm, verging on a melodic fragment, a hapless fellow traveler in the sewers. This continues for the final 10+ minutes of the work, some increasingly violent clatter alongside, until the sounds skid to a conclusion among the chirps of mechanical beetles and sloshing water.
The work is almost static, in a sense, minor events drifting in and out of focus; again, one thinks of the lengthy water-covered floor shot of Tarkovsky, though the focus here isn’t quite so sharp. (Brian Olewnick on Just Outside)

Revenant is an open-membership project carried on by a number of specialists of location recording, in this occasion the quintet of Maksims Shentelevs, Eamon Sprod, John Grzinich, Kaspars Kalninsh and Felicity Mangan. The environment inspiring this release is an abandoned Soviet military base in a Latvian forest, comprising large horizontal bunkers where missiles were once stored. One of them – the only that hasn’t been shut yet – was used for a semi-transcendental experience in which the participants spread around the place in almost total darkness, “feeling my way through the space by hand and by ear” as noted by Sprod. As always in this sort of venture, we have to divide things. On a side, the value of the product as a document of a unique event, obviously higher for those who lived it. On the other, audiences at home trying to find elements of interest in something that risks sounding as a thousand of products of comparable origin. In this case, the professionalism of the people involved and their ability of determining the building’s responsiveness and its inherent musicality made the difference and – although I wouldn’t say that the album is really special – a good part of the resounding materials is sufficiently evocative to justify the need of spinning the disc several times to look for additional details and psychological hints. At any rate, let me be very explicit: in this house, stretched frequency auras and baffling resonances will forever be preferred to rustling noises and “scrape, rattle ‘n’ roll” incidents, of which there’s no shortage here. (Massimo Ricci on Touching Extremes)

B/W, 57 minutes
PAL HD, 16:9

filmed/recorded: 2006-2009
edited: 2009

concept, camera, editing: John Grzinich

additional sound: Patrick Mcginley

collaborative recordings made with: Patrick McGinley, Jim Haynes, Toomas Thetloff, Maksims Shentelevs, Kaspars Kalninsh, Eamon Sprod, Hitoshi Kojo, Evelyn Müürsepp

equipment and support: MoKS – Center for Art and Social Practice, Mooste Estonia.

Sound Aspects of Material Elements reveals how our sense of hearing can use non-linguistic signals to communicate, interpret and build relations to the world around us. Using sound as the primary signifier, the film shows a specific approach to the artistic use of sound, covering a 3 year period of the authors personal research and collaborations with a number of close colleagues. The film documents in-situ processes of exploration and sonification of the landscape along with the numerous objects and structures found there.

All the sound recordings emphasize how the combinations of certain materials (metal, wood, glass) with natural elements (water, wind fire), take on alchemical characteristics as we listen in. We experience aeolian metal wires in the wind, structures affected by fire, water, snow and the casual effects of human interventions in insect worlds. The sonic outcomes can be subtle and sometimes below our common perception so a variety of experimental recording techniques were employed. Contact microphones are placed on surfaces shifting our attention toward the internal resonances of the materials themselves while mini microphones reveal spaces normally inaccessible by our ears. What we hear is what we see, yet is sometimes translated through amplified means.

With its minimal editing style and durational shots, Sound Aspects of Material Elements shifts our attention toward and extended view of time and place, of the ever changing micro-processes that hint to eternal growth and decay inherent to cycles of nature itself. The possibilities to intercept, shape, disrupt, recombine and capture the elements through creative experiments is what this film attempts to illustrate in the interest that it may inspire the viewer to listen in new way.

premiere screening April 17th, 2010 : CUFF – Calgary Underground Film Festival

additional screenings: galeria entropia Poland, Pacific Northwest College of Art USA (5.10), Altes Finanzamt Berlin (9.10), Estonian National Museum (11.10), Haus Der Kulturen der Welt Berlin for the Über Lebenskunst Festival (8.11) Audio Kino by SoundFjord, London (10.11) Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Scotland (10.11)

DVD release info coming soon…

On a recent visit to Istanbul I recorded several ‘soundwalks’ through the cityscape. The recordings were made with a discreet pair of self-made binaural mics (panasonic wm-61a capsules) on a Sony PCM-D50. What becomes clear is that moving through space (as opposed to a stationary recording position) reveals just how diverse the spaces are in Istanbul). These walks were done as a casual pace, occasionally pausing to highlight particular sounds.

Galata Bridge and market tunnel

Spice Bazaar

Santral Istanbul, former power station ambience

Sounds of the Istanbul Biennial

New Maps of Time
sound workshop Praha / Kladno Czech Republic
‘New Maps of Time’ is a project and workshop about mapping architectural and urban spaces using sound as a means to express actions within a space. read more…

Workshop Dates: 9-13th October 2009

Festival Dates: 10-16th October
in collaboration with FAMU, Skolska28, Open EYE project, Four Days in Motion festival, Biennial Vesitges of Industry

online: Radio Aporee Maps | Prague Favourite sounds

Site-specific sound actions:

Museum of former Sewage Plant – Piece for 10 underground channels: mp3 file

Passage way in central Prague – Komedie Pasaz action with multiple mics: mp3 file

Stromovka Park in Prague – Clapping action with multiple mics: mp3 file

Video gallery on Vimeo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While visiting Riga this past weekend we were able to gain access (officially) to the old power station in Riga. The power station, which generated heat for the city, ceased operations in 2003 and is slowly undergoing a process of transformation, yet the building and many old artifacts remain. There are plans to convert the structure into the Contemporary Art Museum of Latvia. This was the third visit to the site, the first two were during the Riga Sound Locations workshop. The recordings are from live actions in the space, particularly the “great hall” with its huge empty water tank as a central feature.

Some recordings in the space:

Riga power station binaural sound walk mp3 file

Riga power station internal water tank drones mp3 file

When dealing with recorded sound, technology plays an essential role in nearly every step of the process. While I focus a great deal of attention on acoustic sound, the capturing, editing, processing, compressing and sharing of those sounds, all relies on and is affected by, technology. This is a very general intro and overview to some basic recording technology that I use. The methods used here are definitely not scientific by any means. With a bit of searching you can find more in depth reviews as well as well researched technical analysis of these devices. What’s shown here is just to give an impression. All this equipment is reasonably affordable and can help beginners get a start on working with sound as well as keep artists like myself busy. The main point I feel is accessibility and ease of use.

The two digital recording devices used are an Edirol R-09 and a Sony PCM-D50. The Edirol unit I’ve had for almost 2 years and I can say its a handy little unit that works well for most occasions. One of the main reasons I bought it was to be able to use rechargeable AA batteries so I wouldn’t have to worry about running low on power if I kept extra batteries handy. Its well worth it for the quality and flexibility it offers. The main drawbacks are durability and a weak preamp for mics. The device is pretty much made of plastic. While nothing has broken so far, I’m constantly concerned about how long it will last. As for the preamp it just doesn’t ever seem to have enough power and is a bit too noisy. For this reason I bought a FEL Battery Preamp, a great device for boosting any any signal to line level, including contact mics (to bypass the mic input). I think the revised R-09HR model made by Edirol has improved some of these issues.

The Sony PCM-D50 is still new for me, but immediately I can say it feels much more sturdy than the Edirol and has better quality built-in microphones. This of course makes it slightly larger and more heavy if you’re concerned about portability. For external microphones I’ve used a selection of cheap to mid-level to compare (and also because it’s what I have around). I started with the mics built into the recording units themselves. These are good for general use but you will definitely need to have a few different kinds of mics around for recording specific types of sounds or sound environments. Here’s the breakdown:

• Audio-Technica AT822 – well made single point X/Y stereo mic, good for general use and capturing close sound sources.

• Sound Professionals SP-BMC-12 mini-binaural mics with Audio-Technica capsules (discontinued?). I’ve had these mics for over a year and have enjoyed using them. The problem you will notice is that they are not very well matched. The left mic is louder than the right one.

• Homemade binaural microphones with Panasonic WM-61A capsules. There is a lot of info on the internet regarding these capsules. In short, they are one of the best deals in audio recording, with their open sound and flat response. These binaurals cost me about 7 euros in arts and sound as good as anything you can find up to 150 euros.

The sound clips below are divided into 15 second segments and are repeated twice, once to compare recorders and once to compare microphones. Again this is not done in any scientific manner. I just placed the mics about 1 meter away from the sound source. In this case it was a fire for the oven that heats our house. The high pitched noise is a refrigerator on the other side of the room.

Recorder | mics:

Sony PCM-D50 | built-in mics, Panasonic binaurals, Sound Professionals, Audio Technica AT822 (15 seconds each): Sony PCM-D50

Edirol R-09 | built-in mics, Panasonic binaurals, Sound Professionals, Audio Technica AT822 (15 seconds each): Edirol R-09

Edirol R-09 with FEL preamp | built-in mics, Panasonic binaurals, Sound Professionals, Audio Technica AT822 (15 seconds each). note: I think the battery in the preamp was low giving weaker levels than normal: Edirol R-09 with FEL preamp

Mics | recorder:

Built-in microphones | Sony PCM-D50, Edirol R-09 (15 seconds each): Built-in microphones

Panasonic binaurals | Sony PCM-D50, Edirol R-09, Edirol R-09 with FEL Preamp (15 seconds each): Panasonic binaurals

Sound Professionals SP-BMC-12 | Sony PCM-D50, Edirol R-09, Edirol R-09 with FEL Preamp (15 seconds each): Sound Professionals SP-BMC-12

Audio-Technica AT822 | Sony PCM-D50, Edirol R-09, Edirol R-09 with FEL Preamp (15 seconds each): Audio-Technica AT822

notes: Plug-in power was used on the Sony and Edirol recorder sn all cases. It is possible to change the direction of the built-in mics on the Sony from a 90 degree X/Y pattern to a wide 120 degree L/R pattern. For this test I kept the mics in the X/Y position. All MP3 files are compressed at 160kbps. In the second part I will use recordings of more ambient/environmental sounds.

Towards the end of our intentional gathering, two trips were made into the nearby state forest. Each time we walked until we were attracted to a particular place then settled in and set up. These in-situ ‘performances’ were made with objects brought by each person and materials found at the locations. The “goal” if there was any, was to explore the interactions between ourselves and the space around us, using sound. As there were various recording configurations made, different perspectives of the events were captured. This is an acoustically subjective approach similar to that of each of the ‘players’, I quite like, which raises the question, who or what is the “audience”? The recordings below are direct from my binaural microphone setup. Perhaps the most elaborate recording configuration was made by Eric Cordier during the second excursion, who set up multiple microphones and a battery powered mixing desk, to listen in on different angles to the complexity of events unfolding in the trees.

Perruel forest session 1 : with Thomas Tilly, Patrick McGinley, Maksims Shentelevs, Paulo Raposo, Johanna Lonka and myself (5:38): Perruel forest session 1

Perruel forest session 2 : with Eric Cordier, Patrick McGinley, Maksims Shentelevs, Johanna Lonka and myself (4:32): Perruel forest session 2

An urban research group in Tartu was looking at the phenomenon of urban exploration. I suggested to make a small trip somewhere in the city. Out of a few interesting possibilities we decided on the former meat factory, a site full of urban legends, as it is fairly central and easily accessible. This meat factory stopped production some time in the early 1990s but the evidence of their production is still visible everywhere. On the third floor there are literally rooms filled with piles of bones from what appeared to be sheep. The rest of the building is mostly trashed. It seems to be a popular to practice graffiti and make fires. The highlight was the view from the roof and being able to make a few sound recordings with the group.

One important idea for me is to not only explore these types of hidden or abandoned spaces, but to instigate some creative activity while visiting. While abandoned spaces may not be valuable for the society, they offer creative potential for the individual, who often forgets how much the everyday social codes, laws and regulations of the urban environment confines their mode of living. Once these boundaries or removed, even the very experience of navigating and sensing the urban space must be reconsidered, opening potentials for more creative exploration (however short or ephemeral). These two recordings give some idea on how working with sound can allow one to interact with the material objects and forms of the space. The first case was more of a simple walking action on the broken glass while the second was more of an improvisation with all the available materials throughout the space.

former meat factory – walking action (3:20) Tartu, Estonia: urban expoliration01

former meat factory – sound action (7:28) Tartu, Estonia: urban exploration02

Special thanks to Sven and the others from Linnaseminar for this trip. Also, Tanel Saimre from Tartu has a nice page of binaural recordings made around Tartu. He has a recording of the same sound action but from another angle (his head!). Tanel Siamre recording

UPDATE: Nov. 5th 2008 – the former meat factory has been demolished. Someone said they wanted to convert it into apartments or something, but I think it needs to be torn down before anything new is built there (see the last photo in the gallery).