A Composite

^ This is the Antikythera Mechanism ^

So what is it? The first Computer. An anomaly in the history and discovery of computing mechanisms.. pretty neat! (uber nerdy)

My most recent sound project (a full composition) is based on this big guy. The bodies I created in the piece represent two major gears, their sound, the ocean, and the Mythological gods the Greek's associated with time and the earth: Saros, Gear Teeth, Panhellenic Games, Parapegma, Venus, and Lunar Deities. Helios (Apollo in Roman Mythology) plays a role in the strong sounds and the menacing dissonance since he violent and mighty in lore. There's a harsh quality to the contrastingly ambient character of the second track (representing the Panhellenic games) layered in, which is also attributed to Helio. This is because as Ovid told, with every arrow he had Helios slayed the giant python that was terrorizing humans after the great flood, and he thus created the Panhellenic games (including the Olympics) to commemorate his victory for the rest of time.

Deep Sea Compute

HELLO, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

Again for this Sound Project, I took this robotic automated-voice; maybe one you'd hear over a loudspeaker or from the Department of Love in 1984. Then I constructed the sentence, "Hello, what is your name?" from the consonants, vowels, and pauses from the Original File that said, "In the past you have been most helpful. I look forward to your continued cooperation."

REMADE SOUND

For this I took my Original Sound File (Called 'In the Past..') and manipulated the track by playing with the wave file to get 5 totally new sounds. I used parts of his speech for sourcing, and played with affects like convolution in order to re-multiply the track's wave-number combos (binary code). Do not marvel; I just clicked the DSP effect's button and the computer did it. I really suck at math.

#1

Computer Grasshopper

#2

Far Off Train

#3

Nuclear Reactors

#4

Shrink-ray

#5

Steamboat

VOCAL PART 2

This is a mix of Dalton's rant. It's a theory about his own speech. And that's the theory..

THEORY "THH"

#1

VOCAL PART 1

For this recording I interviewed my brother. He ranted and raved about cigarettes and Quantum physics on a good decibel. If you smoke or contemplate reality, you might find some intrigue in listening to this. However I could not decide on which to use because both are long-winded in their own ways (they are rants after all).

CIG RANT:
#1

QUANTUM RANT:
#2

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UNNAMED SOUND

Not allowed to use any sound emanated from the East side (including Riverwest and the West bank of the Milwaukee River) I hopped on the 21 and went on a short ride to a neighborhood a bit different than my own. Yes it holds true that Milwaukee is extremely segregated, and annoyingly other East-siders frowned upon my plan of drifting down MLK to do my recording. Granted I wouldn't walk anywhere alone when the sun starts to set in Milwaukee, I knew for a fact that on a sunny beautiful day when kids were out to play and grandpas and grandmas everywhere were rocking on their porch chairs, that everything would be just fine. (In addition I'm also prone to thinking that I'm gallant enough for any situation at times, or careless to my possible negative fates). And indeed the walk was worth my time!
I think folks were maybe unused to seeing a white girl by herself with a goofy smile, microphones, protruding chords, a jersey, and a slow stride on that particular street.. but then again we're in Mil; maybe it wasn't odd at all. I kept walking. Each person I encountered was welcoming, curious, and generally awesome. An old man asked me for a cigarette for a dollar and no less, and chatted with me about my studies, saying goodbye with a "take care nah young lady". A little guy rolled up on his scooter and asked me to watch it for him while he got some bubble gum from the Fast N' Friendly Market. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was "practicing listening to sounds around us instead of just hearing it". I walked through the neighborhoods by MLK and even the thuggest of thugs flashed a golden smile and nodded kindly. If this trip taught me anything it's to love your brothers and your sisters everywhere; we are all capable of as much good and evil as each other; capable of having the same afflictions, vices, pining, weaknesses and strength. I guess I leave this experience encourage mixing yourself into other parts of town, and to continue to give strangers a warm smile when you can.
However educational the recording session was, the recordings themselves didn't work out so nicely. Caught up in the moment, I didn't notice that although my mini disc recorder was on and working, it was not recording properly. I ended up getting literally less than a minute of sound. I have not had the time to go on a four hour adventure like this since, so for my abstractions I had to take what I had and repeat the sound to make a feasible clip.

ABSTRACTION:
#1

ABSTRACTION:
#2

MLK:
#3

I ended up with a broader view of others but a poor recording. It's the sound of my journey I suppose, and I wouldn't trade a better recording for the gem of an afternoon that I experienced anyways; not a chance.

FIELD RECORDING: DRIFT (DERIVE)

For Once, I'm An Un-Beguiled Flâneur on the Eastside. A three and a half hour journey on the east side of Milwaukee to find some things of interest to the ears:

#1
Vent and gas pipes on brick wall outside of the Y-Not x3 Bar
Corner of Farwell and Kenilworth Pl.
Duration: 22s

#2
Insect-like buzzing of 2 florescent bulb-sign for shops
East Farwell by Oriental Theater and Kenilworth Building
Duration: 26s

AN EXAMPLE OF A BORE:
#3
Higher-pitched engine wheezing at stop light, a man's jargon; An urban-scape
Traffic off of North Ave (corner of North and Prospect)


JUST FOUR PHUN:
#4
Water trickling: A seemingly abandoned park storage space and bathroom house still had running water inside.. notice the "inside" aspect making it number 4 for breaking the rule.

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For my drift strategy, I thought about spontaneity but my first idea was a dud. I thought maybe I could bring my ipod and depending on the song's title- determine my path. But the whole point of the drift is to be a listener, observer, and part of your environment. An ipod would totally get in the way of the drift.. real stupid idea. So I thought about it more and figured that since my mind is a perpetual jukebox, well heck my not use that in this exercise. So I decided that after every sound and/or direction of interest I would let a song drift in my head instead of push it away, and depending on the title would turn accordingly. If the song's title (or what I thought was the title) started with a vowel, I would turn all or somewhat to the left. If the song's title started with a consonant, I would turn all or somewhat to the right. If I was off in the la-la land of drift sounds I would simply stay there and follow what sounds I could gather and the inklings I could conjure up. The change in the song itself that I thought up is not any complicated, willed, or disruptive process though; the shift in song being prompted by the ending of the last one possibly, but more likely a tangent of feeling, melody, or an influence from the landscape sounds around me entering my mics and then my ears during my drift.

I still do not really like the mediocre sounds I gathered but have had very little time to do another drift, and when I did have more time I used it to do things I needed to do like sleep. However the skills we learned from this and the tools made available to us for this drift are appreciated, and I plan on doing this for my own interest from now on.

I think that in hearing all the sounds around us, one really gets the privilege of feeling apart of the world around us without having to actually think about your individual place in it; but rather enjoy its ever-turning ways.

FOUND SOUND

Happy February (I wish MKE was looking like that photo), behold is my Found Sound Project ..
(minus some KEY low bassy sounds throughout and an IMPORTANT repetition of jingling keys and deep bassy very-quiet rhythm at the end):

- CLICK HERE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS (#1)
(I am a dip and downloaded the old geezer 1.2.6 version instead of Beta 1.3.11, so the .AIFF and .WAV are one and the same according to Audacity).

Seeing as I thought we were specifically to choose a topic provided, I chose the one I had previously been pondering on as of late. No, I am not a pessimist in the least, but I am sardonic at times and I DO think too much about things that seem to come of little consequence. As of late I have been thinking about people almost relentlessly, probably because there are so many and I feel like I can understand some piece of them, yet am puzzled by others incapability to at least try to do the same. Intolerance, fear, misunderstanding, the inability or unwillingness to learn, and unconscious action lead to war, violence, hate, and hardship. The world is and always seems like it will be like the waves of the ocean, rising and falling between acceptance and intolerance, war and peace, the comfort of one another as humans and the distaste for one another, speaking and listening, understanding and confusion. This is my problem with the world; that we never seem to learn from our past (at least not fully). My Found Sound project merely tries to convey the constant rise and fall, oppression and upheaval, and finally the never-failing finale of the murmur and hummm of humanity; that pattern of civilization; the steady buzz and fade-out of our always breathing, always living, always repeating actions and reactions.

Too bad there's sounds missing in my posted track..