KunstRadio Commission: Booroomba Rocks Technical

:: Equipment for Booroomba Rocks recording, (minus Quarke the cat) ::

The above is a photo of equipment I took for the Booroomba Rocks recordings, with the addition of leads and minus the cat. The microphones include the new addition to my artillery, the DPA 4023 - matched pair. Items worth pointing out include the Mipro MA101 - a battery powered portable PA, the iPod, the microphone wind jammers and wind socks and the rugged Crumpler Karachi Outpost bag that it all fits in (bar the stand and boompole). The Mipro MA101 is also a new addition that I had not tried out before. Previously I have used battery powered speakers such as the RCF Move100. As light as these are  - they are still incredibly impractical to lug across bushwalking terrain... The Mipro is the same weight and size of a large torch and gets plenty of volume. My biggest complaint would be that despite the advertise frequency response of 60Hz - 15KHz +/- 3db, anything under 90Hz was predictably weakened/not really there. The mids and highs however, were very crisp and LOUD.

The conceptual idea (from a technical approach) was to take the work I had composed using only source material from Uli Kuehn's 'ROBOT', and play it back into this selected space/place (as per it's purpose for creation) in order to record the sonic outcome.

The recordings I did at Booroomba consisted of two stereo paired microphones (four channels in total). The first pair was my tried and true DPA 4060 (omnidirectional), positioned well above headheight, to catch the general surrounds and sound difusion. The second pair was the new DPA 4023's, in ORTF formation, closely positioned to the Mipro to directly catch the playback of the piece in realtime.

:: Recording position ::

:: Recording configuration ::

It was extremely important to me to capture the playback of the composition in it's surroundings as it occurred and likewise, to capture the surroundings as they reacted and conversed with the sounds of the composition. Even I, the most easily pleased listener when it comes to enjoying and discovering the rhythms in everyday sonic occurrences - natural or otherwise - was almost startled by how perfectly,  moments of shift and drama between nature and composition unfolded within the resultant recordings. 

Aspects that I failed miserably in included the positioning of the microphones (a crucial element - I know..). Because of the lack of time and poor weather conditions, equipment positioning was less than ideal. Nerves and rush on setup meant that I pretty much almost just shoved the gear somewhere out of the weather and free of fauna. The PA should have been further away from the 4060 atmosphere microphones, allowing them to capture more subtle diffusions of the playback composition without drowning out the sounds of their surrounding nature. I also wish I had had the time to base the setup right in amongst the trees and shrubs so as to catch the sounds of the rain falling and dripping over them.

Final mistake (another crucial beginners error) was that I did not have adequate wind protection for the DPA 4023's. The recordings suffered terribly for it with not only the grating sound of wind battering a microphone, but also severely limiting just how much time I was able to record (minus the excessive wind). I'd say I know what my next needed piece of equipment will be. Time to start saving (again)......

KunstRadio Commission: Booroomba Rocks experience

:: Booroomba Rocks, Feb 2013 ::

Last weekend was spent heading to Booroomba Rocks to complete the field recording for the final piece in the KunstRadio commissions. The day ended up being a surreal experience to say the least - with an uncanny amount of participation from Lady Luck at points where it really should have all turned pear-shaped.... As Luck would have it, there was not a soul to be seen at the lookout. I discovered this was not only because of the approaching storm but also due to a festival. Locals and tourists alike headed to Canberra city for the annual Multicultural festival leaving the nature-loving curious to experience their bush surroundings in an eerie stillness, disturbed only by their own trudging of footsteps. 

The storm was a concern. I was nearly hit by lightening once - the world froze in a white light, there was an almighty crack/black and then the world started up again much the same except my hair was smoking/smelt strange and adrenalin was making my legs shake as I ran down the hill. While I was determined to record what I could of the storm, I knew it was unwise to be standing on top of a mountain next to a metal rod while it passed. Distant thunder started while Len and I packed our bags for the walk at the base of the mountain. We made the decision to continue the climb.

           

I had forgotten the way the bush goes quiet before a storm. The birds stop calling and sometimes - even the crickets cease... It felt ominous - like a preparation of what was to come - a 'battening down of the hatches' for the impending blows. I can't remember it ever being so quiet and here I was, expecting to record sounds. We reached the top, I began scouting for a slightly sheltered space, time became shorter and I realised that there was only a matter of minutes before nature's show would begin. Setup became a bit frantic with the swelling quiet consuming the space of time. As luck would have it, I managed to gather the beginning of the storm as it passed us by - barely clipping us with it's edges - leaving us safe from the lightening and as an awestruck audience on eye level with the clouds as we watched the elements play their part around us. We weren't completely protected - the rain still came and I stopped recording when it turned to hail. The microphones got questionably soaked (I will try them out to make sure they are OK) - but we were extremely lucky. My legs still shook as we headed back down the hill.

Thankyou to Lennart Katzwinkel for his beautiful photos and general calming influence on the day (and every other day).

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australian Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

Equipment used in these recordings included microphones purchased through the support of the Australian Council. For more details please see HERE.

KunstRadio Commission cont'd

 I have come through the other side with the final piece for the KunstRadio commissions - this would be the composition whose source material is the recordings of Uli Kuehn's works, as completed at KunstRadio at the end of September last year. This piece stumped me for quite a while. Uli's live improvisation on his 'Robot' was the recording that I focussed on and I could not shake the feeling that it was already complete. After time away from the sounds I began again in Jan 2013 and this time, had success..... This composition will be interesting to contrast against the first ('The Broken Return'), in that while the first composition used source material consisting of field recordings of Andreas Trobollowitsch's piece, 'Minigit' as installed at the Moozak festival in Vienna, 2012, this second composition follows a similar process but somewhat reversed. I created a composition using the sounds of Uli's work, for the intent of finding a suitable environment in the ACT, to play this piece back in, and record a field recording of the sonic result. I have finalised the initial composition and now, it is just a matter of finding the correct time and place, to unleash the sounds into.

The image above was taken when I went looking for environments for the sounds. I spent half a day driving out of the ACT city and listening to it's rural edges. There was talk of a storm at the time of leaving home to start the drive and by the time I reached areas that began to interest me, the clouds were well and truly brewing. Perhaps I will end up recording this piece in the rain - I think I would like to - however, the downpours I have experienced in Canberra do not qualify as light enough so as to not damage my microphones. Any equipment left exposed would be well and truly drenched and I do not want to record with a 'blocked' sky. If I am to record outdoors (as is my wish) the the sound must be able to travel unrestricted.

So far I have looked at areas heading towards Brindabella, on the NSW border. I'm still unsure as to where I will end up but I am waiting for the hot weather to start again so as the cicadas and crickets start their songs. Till then, like the storm, I am waiting......

KUNSTRADIO ORF ö1: Tattered Kaylor program

This Sunday the 11th of November at 23:03pm in Vienna, Austria (CET), KunstRadio - the radio for sound art and experimental music on channel ö1(ORF/Austrian Public Broadcasting Corporation) will be broadcasting their program that focuses on my work as Tattered Kaylor. 

For those within Austria details are...

Date: Sunday 11th of November

Time: 23:03 - 23:59

Frequency: Tune into channel ö1 on 92.0 FM

For those outside of Austria you can hear the live stream HERE.

For those worldwide who cannot make the broadcast or live stream time you are able to listen to the program at any time as uploaded HERE.

*Please note, this program upload will only be available for a limited number of days.

For those in Sydney Australia the live stream times will be.... 

Date: Monday 12th of November

Time: 09:03 - 09:59am

Frequency: Live stream from HERE

See more information on the Kunstradio website HERE and HERE

Aspects that are covered within the program include the work I commenced at Kunstradio during my residency there and completed specifically for their radio program, the work I presented for the Moozak Festival in September this year, the release, 'Selected Realities' and interviews with both myself and one of the creators behind the Moozak Label, Clemens Hausch. 

Kunst Radio: Artist Residency

The last three days spent in Vienna were dedicated to a residency in the studios of Austria's broadcasting company, 'ORF', working on material for the 25 year old radio program, 'Kunst Radio'. Program editor, Elisabeth Zimmermann, seeks out and develops Kunst Radio programs, ensuring they focus on sound art and experimental radio pieces. I was extremely grateful to Clemens Hausch from Moozak, for organising the simpatico between myself and Kunst Radio and to Elisabeth, for so generously making available the studio resources and her interest in my work. 

It is an interesting concept - that of creating sound works that are to be invited into the intimate spaces of their listeners. Unlike a live performance or an installation, the listener will be allowing the sounds to fill their undisclosed locations, joining them in their current course of life, enhancing the present experience that is already in motion - its place preset by the listener themselves. There is no social demand on the experience-ee in that they are not required to attend a place or a time to witness such an event, nor engage in polite social chatter or be quiet as the sounds begin. They are master of the listening experience and can tailor it to suit their happenstance and not vise versa. 

It seemed natural that I would ask artists from the Moozak festival if they would be interested in me recording their sounds to use as source material for my own compositions for the Kunst Radio program.  I have not recorded another artists installations before as source material and I have to admit, I was a little nervous at how to commence the process. I felt it was important that I made clear to each artist that I would be recording their sounds, with full credit given to their original works as the source material but, that I myself, would be creating my own work anew from the sounds that I would capture!

I selected two artists whose sounds are quite different yet I feel compliment each other. The final compositions, (at this point in time) will consist of four pieces - two for each artists works. Each artist's work will be represented by a relatively, 'Untouched' recording of their installations - presenting their works as true to life as possible and also, my own composition, created through using these recordings as source material, to process/construct and spatialize as possible. Kunst Radio has the facilities to playback 5.1 surround pieces on air (folded down to stereo) and so my compositions will be in surround.

The first artist whose work I recorded is, Andreas Trobollowitsch with his piece titled, 'Minigit'. He describes the installation as follows,

:: Andreas Trobollowitsch, 'Minigit' @ Moozak Festival, 2012 ::

'Spatial sound installation for four acoustic guitars on the wall.

Four converted ventilators that use cello-bow hair instead of propellors set the strongs into oscillation.

Soundscapes arise through the soft, smooth pickings of the guitar strings by the circling cellobow hair, the permanently modifying overtone layers are reminiscent of an electronically generated sound aesthetic'

The recording of this work was kept quite simple and true to space in that I recorded it while it was installed at the Moozak Festival. The recordings themselves turned out very well in that they blend the musical tones of the installation with the sound of the environment beautifully. You can hear the voices of the attendees and audio snippets of other installations behind the closer recordings of, 'Minigit'. I paid particular attention to the mechanical rattlings and scrapings of the fan rotation mechanism used to spin the cellobow hair that strikes the guitar's strings. These details turned out surprisingly well, with the microphones picking up such delicate sounds whilst also capturing the general room ambience.

Microphones: DPA 4060 (Matched pair).

Configuration: Stereo omni

Positioning: Stereo pairs were placed in each gap between guitars for 2min recording of each space as well as a general room recording with Mics positioned 1meter  - central - infront of the installation.

The second artist is Uli Kuehn with his two installations, FEEDBACK MACHINE and ROBOT. I am not 100% sure that these are the correct titles of the pieces but will talk to Uli and find out....

The recording of Uli's work was done at the Studio's of ORF which enabled me to grab more 'sound proof' recordings. I'm still not sure if this is a positive or a negative as I found the room sounds so appealing in the 'Minigit' recordings nevertheless - I am happy with the outcomes.

:: Uli Kuehn, ROBOT (innards) @ Moozak Festival, 2012 ::

ROBOT consists of Uli's own circuit creation utilising four oscillating square sound waves as controlled and layered by four rotating pots installed on the front of an old 'Mego" brand toy robot (hence, why I'm referring to it as ROBOT). The circuitry schematics are developed and created by Uli himself and the layering of sounds that are made possible by his device are millions. They all contain that feel of old analog 8 bit (pleasing) whine and sounded considerably dense when played back through speakers. The most delicate tweak of any of the four turning pots can alter the outputting tone dramatically, affecting its timbre, volume and texture.

Recording format: Line out (microphones not necessary)

Configuration: Mono

:: Recording of Uli's FEEDBACK MACHINE in process at the studios for Kunst Radio. Image by Uli Kuehn ::

FEEDBACK MACHINE consists of a small microphone placed on the end of a rising and falling lever (built out of Lego). This mic faces a small computer speaker that is outputting the microphone feed, creating a feedback loop when the microphone is close enough to the speaker. Using settings in arduino, the lever rises when the feedback level drops (bringing the mic closer to the speaker - feeding the loop) and falls once the feedback volume has escalated to a certain level, creating a musical seesaw sound, delicate yet still piercing in its sinetone-esk feedback output. This piece not only generated the tonal output of the feedback loop but also, the intriguing clicks and scrapes of the small lever mechanism as it dutifully responded to its commands. Studio sound guru and technician Martin Leitner captured the trivial sonic details using his astoundingly completely waterproof Aaton Cantar and Schoeps microphones.

Microphones: Schoeps (matched pair)

Configuration: Stereo cardioid
Positioning: One microphone was focussed on the feedback sounds generated by the speaker and the other, on the mechanical sounds of the lever. For Martin's mechanism-only recordings, both microphones were focussed on different aspects of the level.

Keep tuned for more details as the work unfolds. The next step will be to take the sounds back to Australia and work on them in my own studio after commencing the process at ORF. 

Many thanks to Martin Leitner for his generous creative input and assistance, to Uli Kuehn and Andreas Trobollowitsch  for their inspirational works and contribution of sounds, to Clemens Hausch for the discovery and alignment of such an opportunity with Kunst Radio and of course - to Elisabeth Zimmermann, for her genuine interest and commitment to the genres of sound art and experimental music - bringing them into the homes and intimate spaces of her listeners in Austria.