Author: Daniel Marin Morejon

The Gravity Bender

As I’ve shown slightly on the 3D Workshop post, the name for my Drone Machine device project is Gravity Bender. This idea of giving the instrument a name just came up when designing the front panel, an I thought that it would fit nicely within the design. The principles of synthesis used on this device, based on additive and AM synthesis, modulate the waves one to another and that makes me think on bending shapes or “bending the gravity”, therefore my choice of this name for my creation.

The idea of creating an instrument from scratch really fascinated me as a possible project for the unit Expanded Studio Practice for 21st Century Sound Artists, and I also thought that it would be a good idea to use the instrument to compose some sounds for film score, in order to combine my assignment with the Sound for Screen unit as well.

The Bela Board was the perfect tool to carry this task and, as shown before, I had the Pure Data patch that I wanted to use for the Drone Machine, the enclosure designed at the 3D Workshop and the electronic components needed for the construction, so I was ready to build it. After some research, I managed to adapt my original PD patch to the Bela Board requirement and the patch looked like this:

Then, I started to connect some jumpers to the Bread Boards and attached the potentiometer, having created the first prototype for the Gravity Bender.

And it sounded like this:

Bela Board

The Bela board is the main platform for study on this unit, this is the hardware that will translate our Pure Data patches ideas into reality, and it will implement these interactive audio applications into hardware devices. Bela is and open-form embedded computing platform which supports C++, Pure Data, Super Solider and Csound code in order to work. It was created by the Augmented Instruments Lab at Queen Mary Univeristy of London.

This device is equipped with customisable 16 digital in/out, 8 analog in/out and Audio input and output. In this case we’ll be using the Bela Mini, a new simplified version, with a smaller design and easier to implement within our projects. Bela Board can control sensors, lights and leds and a wide range of electronic applications.

3D Workshop: Laser cutting

For my Drone Machine project with the 21st Century Studio Practice unit, I had to visit the 3D Workshop at LCC in order to make a wood enclosure for my device. This wood case consist on a wooden box which will be closed on a “puzzle style” cutting; and this needs to be done with a Laser Cutter. There are many designs online in terms of wooden boxes for laser cutting, but finally I found a website called MakerCase where you can make your custom design which will fit within your preferences.

The rest of the design has to be done on Adobe Illustrator, and lately this archive will be opened on the cutting machine’s own software (Ruby) where it will be finally cut. These archive have to saved on RGB colour, and this is because the different colours will perform different actions inside the laser cutter; for example blue for external cut, red for internal cut, and black for engraving. This was my final design seen from AI.

Then I just needed to book a slot at the 3D Workshop for the laser cutter and run the software. I also had to buy on the eStore from UAL and Plywood surface, from where I’ll be able to cut the pieces of my wood case. The files are then loaded in Ruby, and after setting up some preferences, the machine is ready to cut. The wood board also need to be settled with tape to the machine (Wood is a natural material and the surface could be a bit bent), I closed the top lid and the Laser cutter started the procedure. The 3D workshop was a really good experience that I’d definitely recommend, the stuff was always helpful and training was provided.

Week 6: Music for Screen

In relation with this sixth lesson on the unit of Sound for Screen, I’d like to share here my main film composers for inspiration and my reference for my upcoming project for the Specialising and Exhibiting assignment. These composers are mainly famous for having composed film score exclusively from electronic devices and synthesisers, and the majority of them are also recognised musical artists, having released solo albums with good acceptance from fans of electronic music, as well as being highly acclaimed for their film compositions.

Vangelis

Vangelis (1943-2022) was a Greek film composer and musician famous for his work with synthesiser on his creations. His most famous works are Chariots of Fire, from which he received various Academy Awards, and other films like the original Blade Runner, a reference on synthesiser music as well as sci-fi musical scores and sound design.

As a musical performer, he started his career playing at rock bands but after moving to Paris he started his solo projects. Later he settled in London were achieved a big commercial success and built his home studio recording facility called Nemo Studios.

Wendy Carlos

Born in Rhode Island, Wendy studied physics and music at Brown University before becoming one of the earliest synthesizer pioneers and music composer. She worked with Stanley Kubrick at Clockwork Orange and The Shinning, and Tron for Walt Disney. She also contributed to the development of different Moog synthesisers, having been one of the most recognised artists playing their instruments.

Tron: Legacy (Daft Punk)

Although they’re mostly known for their work as electronic music producers, Thomas Bangalter and Guy De Homem-Christo (Daft Punk) composed in their work at the remake of Tron a magnificent score which featured a combination of orchestral music with electronic sounds. The film featured the duo on several scenes of the film, making this work a truly reference for electronic music scores fans, as well as being a film extremely attractive both in visual and sound effects.

Week 5: Tutorials and Synth Experimentation

We are on week 5 in the Sound for Screen Unit and we’ll be having 1-2-1 turbo tutorial to see everyone’s individual progress on their projects. I have also been experimenting at the Synth Workbench and I’ve created a little piece of music; this was just an experimentation but it could resemble a little bit with my idea for the score that I’m looking for on my short film sound design. I’ve recorded this improvisation with Tascam Model 12 mixer and preformed the sounds with the modular Eurorack system. Here you will be able to listen to it:

I also booked the space again on the evening and I experimented with different instruments; specially with Soma Lyra 8, Roland TR8 and Korg Arp Odyssey. This session really inspired me and helped me to get familiarised in the studio, here is a little jam that I recorded during the rehearsal.

Guest Lecture Series – Autumn Term

Farah Mulla

This was the first Guest Lecture this year, Farah is a sound artist (As she describes she feels good falling in this category) based in Goa, India. I found her work very immersive, featuring atmospherical sounds and combining digital techniques with installations and scenic arts. I was particularly interested on he installation made with empty water bottles, constructing a “cave”, and when the wind blows from these bottles emanate different sounds and frequencies. Overall, this lecture was very interesting and I enjoyed her way to explain her practice as well.

Amy Cutler

On this lecture we welcomed Amy into the Lecture Theatre at LCC. She has completed a Phd and is currently a teacher at Goldsmiths University. Her sonic work is focused in eerie soundscapes and diy culture, having released recently a cassette album, and it’s available on Bandcamp. Much of her works are inspired on the rain, and she recreates this weather condition with both analog recordings and digital techniques like AI. With a combination of research, creativity and budget equipment, Amy achieves a very interesting way of work, a highly recommendable artist to listen to.

Carrie Giunta

Giunta’s work is highly focused, her dedication for the past decades has been sound effects for cinema and she has worked with several prestigious studios. From her beginning in New York to present time, when she is an associate lecturer for UAL at Central Saint Martins, she has been continuing involved with film productions, leading to achieve a BAFTA price for her work last Casino Royale. Definitely she is a very professional sound designer, and valuable experience for us to understand this kind of career.

Tom Fisher

On this Guest Lecture Series, we had Tom Fisher, a sound specialist capturing nature sounds, underwater and field recordings. His main focus is to capture tinny sound objects as flying bugs or photosynthesis plants breathing. These amazing recordings are often edited to achieve amazing sonic compositions. Recently he has focused his work on recording biological life at local ponds, using hydrophones he is able to record amazing sounds which have been unknown for the wide majority.

Shecene Oretha

This guest lecture was held online as part of the mini series curated by Onyeka Igwe. Shecene is a sound artist based in London who was previously studied Fine Arts and is interested in sculpture. Her interest in working with sound to represent these sculptures has leaded her to exhibit at numerous galleries featuring sound installation, sound sculpture, poetry and visual arts of her own creation. She always carries her sketch book where constantly drawing and taking notes for future exhibitions.

Onyeka Igwe

As a replacement for the guest lecture from Trevor Mathison, who wasn’t able to attend to the online meeting, we had Onyeka, who at the same time missed the first guest lecture this year due to industrial action strikes. Onyeka has showed us two films composed and scored by her. The first one “A so-called archive” is a documentary film featuring an abandoned film-house, featuring amazing filming and sound design. The second one featured some captioning and recorded voices creating an awesome atmosphere. Then she responded to questions on a Q&A session about her work and expertise.

Medium, Message, Materiality

  • Listen: One Sounding Out podcast of interest to you. Map out its composition. Focus upon the qualities of voice, music, effects and ambiences. What editing techniques are used?
  • Read: Explore the textual material introduced to you. Think about a central topic. What has already been written about it? Are there already audio papers on the topic? If not, how might you expand upon the existent text material into the sonic domain.

Episode 54: The sound of Magic

In this podcast the presenter is showing us some musical methods from the medieval period. There are not much sound or musical effects during the speech, however, the podcast is introduced with a song and then a short presentation by another person, different from the main presenter. At the very end we can listen to one of these medieval pieces that the presenter was talking about.

Drobnick – Listening Awry

In this text Jim Drobnick speaks about the importance of the sonic studies and the different characteristics within them, more in particular in the listening practice. For this purpose, he created an anthology; “Aural Cultures”, a collection of essays from different authors whose he describe one by one in the text.

I don’t know if there is an audio paper version of this book, or even a related field, but I’m sure that there are plenty of podcasts and similar recordings speaking about aural and sonic studies. If I had to expand this subject by myself into a sonic creation, I would probably create a podcast where I’d talk about the subject and I would also include some musical or sonic related pieces.

Sound Studies & Aural Cultures – Introduction

  • Record yourself reflecting on today’s session (min 5 mins, max 10 mins). How will you record? Why? Where will you record? Why? What will you say? Why?
  • Record three different environments relating to the points raised in class – might you want to book out a recording kit from ORB?
  • Playback: Play-back these recordings. What do you think about them? Might they be improved?

First lesson summary recording:

I’ve recorded this with a Zoom H5, at my studio in my home. It’s always an experience to record yourself but I’m relatively used to do it. I spoke about what we did in class on the first session, it was good to refresh memory about it.

Next, here are 3 different environments recorded using Zoom H5:

Primary School

Street

Fast-food Restaurant

I enjoyed doing this recordings, I love to play back these sounds that we can listen on our everyday lives. I really like the primary school recording, it clearly defines th e sound of kids screaming on playground with a continuous texture. The street sound is quite good but it could have a better input gain and the third one is also rich in sounds but maybe is missing a more complex mix of chatting voices.

Week 2 – Pure Data

In this second week a the Expanded Studio Practice unit we’ve started using the audio programming visual language called Pure Data. This is a popular software, intuitive to use, and it’s also free of charge; for those reasons is the selected coding application for this unit.

In this first lesson we have been building the most common waves oscillators; sine, sawtooth, square and pulse width. Here is a screenshot with the final layout of the first exercise performed in class.

Personal Creative Praxis

  • Build each of the synthesis techniques and explore other possibilties (e.g. wavetable synthesis)
  • Build the 4 stage sequencer

Here I’m going to add some pictures and videos of the patches that I’ve been creating on my first experiments with Pure Data

Different Oscillators

4 Stage Sequencer

Possible Drone Machine

This patch could be later converted into my device for this unit, a Drone Machine. It features two configurable oscillators; and additive sinters oscillator and an AM oscillator. It also includes a filter and various volume control per oscillator and also a master volume, here I’m attaching a demo of its functioning.