Browse Items (868 total)

• Neurosonics I

  ambisonic spatialization of sounds from firing neurons
  
  Neurosonics I is the first outgrowth of a collaboration I did with neuroscience graduate student Tahra Eissa, supported by the Arts|Science Initiative at the Logan Center for the Arts. Tahra’s lab runs experiments that study the electrical behavior of cultured rat neurons, and uses these data in the study of epilepsy. All of the sounds in the piece bear some relationship to the neuron activity: the pulses of raw noise that murmur at the opening are direct sonifications, while the unstable vibrating sounds use the neuron activity to manipulate filtering and some spectral frequencies. There are also drum sounds: Tahra plays percussion with the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, and she had previously noticed a relationship between certain drumming patterns and the electrical activity in the experiments. So I recorded her playing a handful of these patterns on her darabukka. All of these sounds float together in three-dimensional space, eventually combining into a maelstrom of activity. Neurosonics does not directly describe the epileptic experience, but I do have a personal connection to it, as I was diagnosed with a mild form of the condition 11 years ago.

• Reveal

  
  
  Deconstructing an instrument is a revelation, because it unsettles the myth, causing a change in the listeners’ perception. The guitar is the source for all the sounds presented in this piece, which emphasizes the ones that have been hidden by the instrument’s technique and repertory, or unnoticed due to their low volume.
  
  The recorded part of this piece reveals guitar sounds that normally are not clearly audible in a concert room. The computer enables processing the recordings, in order to enhance or highlight parts of the spectrum, timbres, and percussive elements.
  
  The breakage may result in a complete dysfunctional instrument, when the main resources for producing sounds are prevented by this organized malfunction.
  
  Reveal is a noun and a verb, and the piece expresses both meanings, because it reveals the rich universe of resources denied by the traditional technique and provides a new possible listening to a guitar, when the listener might achieve a whole new comprehension of the instrument—the piece brings to light a sub-known universe of sounds that was present, but not understood.

• Tacna Three

  6-MINUTE PIECE FOR VIOLA, LIVE ELECTRONICS, AND GLOVE CONTROLLER

• Verdacht

  12-minute piece for viola, live electronics, and glove controller.
  
  Verdacht situates the viola in a “suspicious” context, bookended by a chaotic punk-aesthetic, extended with a glove made specifically for it, also acting as an autonomous controller here. Fully notated, with space for rhythmic and melodic improvisation in a fixed order of scenes. Contextual sounds are produced on the fly from live samples looped or frozen with extreme panning – again, a suspicious context for the instrument, stylistically approached in this piece maniacally but traditionally.

• Séquence et Vitesse

  Interactive audio and visuals

• excision no. 1

• Random Access

  The title Random Access reflects the process used with random access memory (RAM) in computer hardware, where all incoming data can be stored and small chunks of data can be retrieved regardless of the order in which it was stored. Similarly, in Random Access all of the input from the live saxophonist is stored in the computer’s RAM. As the piece progresses, short samples of the performer are retrieved and reordered to create new contrapuntal lines. The piece begins with a simple duet between the live saxophone and the reordered material, but gradually evolves to large orchestra of sampled saxophones. While the title may imply that the retrieval process is random, it is anything but random; the input from the saxophone is precisely scripted and all electronic sounds created live.

• Unstrung

  Acousmatic Work
  
  As a guitarist, I spend what seems like an inordinate amount of time changing strings. Unlike those found on a bowed string instrument, guitar strings are relatively brittle and need to be changed often. While spending countless hours going through the familiar ritual, I became interested in the sound world created through the act of clipping and removing strings from a guitar. These sounds were both alien and somehow instantly recognizable, the product of an instrument being manipulated in a way that is seldom seen in a performance setting. In part, this opposition is created by the dual nature of the act itself, being both destructive and violent in the removal of the strings, as well as promising renewed creation with the installation of new ones. “Unstrung” utilizes recordings of a steel string acoustic guitar to explore all manner of unexpected and peculiar sounds created through the process of changing strings.

• A Natural Perspective

  Dance Collaboration

• Bind Up My Wounds

  Acousmatic Work
  
  Bind Up My Wounds, for fixed media, is an adaption of a piece originally written for an interactive dance collaboration. The work is centered around a monologue taken from Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” in which the main character, King Richard, reflects on the various acts he has committed to achieve his throne. Using this text, the work attempts to create a narrative that examines the human conscience, and one’s own awareness of it. The monologue is split into several sections, meant to depict both Richard’s consciousness as well as the external pressures and commentaries that drive his actions.