Author: Theo Power

Sound Art in China

Introduction

What we think of as sound art did not start in china till the 1990s. What we think is the westernized version of it. But the form of sound art has been prominent in China for thousands of years.

China has created many interesting acoustic creations such as the echo wall surrounding The Imperial Vault of Heaven. This place is more welcoming known for the wall that surrounds the building. The wall is referred to typically as the ‘Echo Wall’. The way this wall works that is the bricks are laid so it is completely air-tight. This makes wireless communication happen with two people who speak in their normal voices.

Artists

Qiu Zhiiie – Qiu Zhiiie is a contempary Chinese artist. She works with Video, Sound and Photography. Her work explores themes of social fragmentation (people becoming more attached to the digital world creating a divide of the ‘digital world’ and ‘real world’. She also explores themes of self assertion.

Christiaan Virant – Virant spent most of his young life in south China but moved to Beijing sometime in the mid-1990s. Christiaan was a very active member of the underground music scene of Beijing. In the year 1999, he formed a group calledFM3, Who are pioneers of electronic experimental music in China.

He has also worked with Throbbing Gristle. Christiaan is well known for develop his own types of pedals, he co created the Buddha Machine loop device in 2005 and then developed a loop pedal for the aforementioned group throbbing gristle.

Here is an example of his work Christiaan Virant & Zhang Jian: Buddha Machine 1-5 Box Set [@ 432 Hz]

The work is quite calming, it feels like he is mixing both traditional instruments with more modern technology. And it creates quite a soothing and relaxing atmosphere. Very much something I will be further looking into.

Artworks & Hotspots

The Imperial Vault of Heaven (Echo Wall)

The Bionzhong of Morquis Yi of Zen

Christiaan Virant & Zhang Jian: Buddha Machine 1-5 Box Set [@ 432 Hz]

SomsonYoung Im thinking in a room,different from the one you are hearing now (homage to Alvin Lucier),2011.

Conclusion/Future Work

China has a lot to offer in terms of sound art. China is so disconnected from the world we live in, in terms of culture. Sure we have places like Chinatown, but it doesn’t even compare to the monolith that is china. Lots of artists born and raised in china use their work to fight against the communist regime, and also to express themselves. I would love to visit China and learn about how that culture applies its learnings to sound art.

References

Discogs. (n.d.). Christiaan Virant. [online] Available at: https://www.discogs.com/artist/632708-Christiaan-Virant

Tate (n.d.). Qiu Zhijie born 1969. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/qiu-zhijie-10259.

Yao, D. – Sound Art in China: Revolutions Per Minute.

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Pro Tools Questions, Volume 3

  1. What icon is used for the Zoomer tool in the Edit window? How can you use this tool to quickly zoom out, filling the Edit window with the longest track in the session? (See “Zoomer Tool” beginning on page 52.)
  2. Which Edit tool is represented by a hand icon? What is this tool used for? (See “Grabber Tool” beginning on page 54.) 
  3. Which tool is active when the Trim, Selector, and Grabber icons are all selected (highlighted in blue) in the Edit window toolbar? (See “Smart Tool” beginning on page 55.)
  4. What are the four Edit modes in Pro Tools? How can you switch between them? (See “Edit Modes” beginning on page 56.)
  5. Why should you use caution when editing synchronized material in Shuffle mode? When is Shuffle mode useful?
  6. How does editing a clip in Slip mode affect the timing of other clips on the track? (See “Slip Mode” beginning on page 56.) 
  7. When is it helpful to work in Spot mode? When it is helpful to work in Grid mode? (See “Spot Mode” and “Grid Mode” beginning on page 57.) 
  8. What are some ways to set the Main Time Scale in Pro Tools? (See “Main Time Scale” beginning on page 59.)
  9. What are the two types of Rulers available in Pro Tools? What is the difference between them? (See “Ruler Display Options” beginning on page 60.) 
  10. What are some ways to hide Rulers that you do not need displayed in a session? (See “Hiding Rulers” beginning on page 61.)
  11. Which Pro Tools windows provide access to MIDI controls, such as Wait for Note, Metronome, and MIDI Merge? (See “MIDI Control Features” beginning on page 62.)
  12. What is the purpose of the Metronome button in the MIDI Controls area? What kind of track must be added to a session for the Metronome button to work? (See “Metronome” beginning on page 62.)
  13. What are the two states or modes available for controlling the current session tempo? How can you switch between these modes? (See “Tempo Ruler Enable” beginning on page 63.) 
  14. What is displayed by the Tempo field in the MIDI Controls area? What are some ways to set the session tempo using this field? (See “Tempo Field” beginning on page 64.)

Awnsers

  1. It is a magnifyingng glass, Double click on the zoomer tool
  2. The grabber tool, it is for arranging or positioning clips
  3. The smart tool
  4. Slip, Shuffle, Grid, and Spot
  5. Because it can cause timing issues, It is useful when editing dialog
  6. It does not affect the timing of the other tracks
  7. Spot – When you want to place it in a specific place – Dialog box appears. Grid – When you want it to align to the grid based intervals – helpful when needing precise timing.
  8. View > Main Counter, From the Main Time scale pop up menu(down arrow next to main counter), Click on its name on the ruler.
  9. Time Based and Conductor, Time base measures time in various ways. Conductor contains events that map out locations, changes, and characteristics.
  10. View > rulers to unselect, Alt click on ruler name
  11. Transport window
  12. To provide an audible beat for your musicians, Need a click track
  13. The current tempo based on the cursor location, You can enter the tempo manually or tap the tempo by pressing T or using a MIDI controller

Pro Tools Questions, Volume 2

1.Name some of the folders and files that ProTools creates as part of the session hierarchy. Where is the session file (. ptx) stored? 

2.What is the WaveCache.wtm file used for? What happens if the WaveCache file gets deleted or goes missing? 

3. Where are audio files stored in the session hierarchy? 

4.Where are Pro Tool’s is MIDI files normally stored? 

5. Which components should you turn on first when powering up a Pro Tools system? Which component should you turn on last? 

6. What type of processing does the hardware buffer size affect? What type of processing does it not affect?

7. What kinds of commands can be found under the ProTools View menu? How does the view menu differ from the window menu?

8.What kind of commands can be found under the ProTools Options menu? How does the options menu differ from the setup menu?

9. Which main Pro Tools window displays audio waveforms and can be used to work directly with audio, MIDI, and video files on tracks?

10. Which ProTools window provides access to Pan controls and Volume faders for each track?

Answers

  1. – Audio files, clip groups, session file backups, video files
  2. – WaveCache.wfm file stores all of the waveform display data for the session. If the WaveCache.wfm file gets deleted, Pro Tools will create a new one the next time you open the session.
  3. Each take of the audio recording is stored as a seperate file inside the corresponding session’s Audio Files folder. Pro Tools natively supports audio files in either the AIFF or WAV format. WAV is the default file format for Pro Tools systems.
  4. Midi files are kept and stored in the session, no midi will be stored out of the session. Only in the session. You can export midi though to other sessions. EXPORT > MIDI command. Exported MIDI files can be recognized by their .mid extensions.
  5. Turn on the External Hard drives e.g. SD cards, memory stick. External MIDI interfaces, MIDI controllers, Audio interfaces if they are not bus powered first. Turn off the Audio Monitoring System last.
  6. Native plug-in processing. DSP Processing.The Hardware Buffer Size settings in the Playback Engine dialogue box controls the size of the low-latency buffer. This buffer handles host-based tasks, such as Native plug-in processing, during recording or live input monitoring. Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings reduce monitoring latency when you are recording or monitoring live input. Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings provide more processing power for tracks that are recording or monitoring live input, at the cost of higher monitoring latency. The Hardware Buffer Size setting does not affect DSP processing on hardware-accelerated systems. DSP processing is available on systems with Pro Tools|HDX cards.
  7. Its commands control how Pro Tools windows, tracks, and track data are displayed. View menu commands affect what elements are displayed within Pro Tools windows, tracks and clips. Most View menu commands show or hide parts of the main Pro Tools windows. Selecting a command will display a component part of a window, and deselecting the command will hide it. Though commonly confused, the View menu and the Window menu serve distinctly different functions. Commands in the View menu affect parts of a window or change how the elements within a window are displayed. By contrast, commands in the Window menu show or hide entire windows or arrange the windows on the screen.

Sound Art in the British Context- ITSA

Introduction

“What I’m trying out at this stage in my life is new formats, or new settings maybe’ or formats and settings that have been tried before but then been forgotten or put aside because established formats have such a powerful hold on our thinking’ I’m frustrated by [” ‘] all the familiar routines that frame practice and discourse [“‘] what I want to do is modest, small scale, quiet’ and uncertain – just a slight shift of conditions [“‘] a big thing but small, a conversation that can be quiet but loud‘” – (Toop & Parkson pg 582)

Reflection & Discussion

Some points that Toop brought up I think are rather interesting. Toop prefers to call sound art ‘sound work’. Some people may interpret this as a job, and not ‘art’. I understand those points but also work can be fun, and art is a job… if you want it to be. Toop may want to have the mindset of it being a job. As it may feel more productive for him, as most people do view art as a hobby. Treating it as a job may psychologically trick him into being more productive or something along those lines. Just something to keep in mind as we all view it differently.

Conclusion/Future Work

In conclusion, this article brings up some interesting points that I found interesting to read. Like how Toop prefers to refer to sound art as ‘Sound Work’ as he may not think of art as a job inherently or that when people hear sound art they might just think it’s a hobby. So he might say it to make it more professional sounding, or as he finds it more helpful to think of it as a job. Overall a fascinating piece of writing.

Questions

Sound art was first used in 1983, who coined the term?

Answer

William Hellermann supposedly coined the term for an art exhibition he was holding. Which he called Sound Art. But there is a good chance this term was used before then. But for now, that is supposedly where the term was coined.

Is all expensive art money laundering?

Yes and No. Some people will use this as a way to dodge tax and launder money, but there are people who buy art because they want the piece. With no criminal intent.

References

Licht, A. (2009). Sound Art: Origins, development, and ambiguities. Organized Sound, 14(01), p.3.

‌www.google.com. (n.d.). Etymology – Google Search. [online] Available at: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Etymology.

Parkinson, A. & Toop, D (2015) – Unfinished Business: A Conversation on Sound Art in the United Kingdom.

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Glossary

Orthodox – Systematic way of going about work. Set rules to go by and not going by these would be unorthodox. Sound work inherently is unorthodox.

Problematic – Controversial work that may include issues that make people either uncomfortable to bring up issues that people may disagree with.

Etymology – the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history

Hybrid – A mixture of two or more existing things e.g. electric car, mixing both new and old technology together.

Genre – A classification of a specific style e.g. The horror genre is classified as scary movies, noise music is a genre of music that uses lots of white noise, extreme shifts in pitch, and highly distorted sounds.

Pro Tools Questions, Volume 1

Questions

1. Name and describe five types of production tasks that ProTools can be used for.

2. What’s the frequency range of human hearing? 

3. What does the frequency of a sound wave effect in terms of how we perceive the sound? How is frequency measured? 

4. What does the amplitude of the sound wave affect? How is amplitude measured? 

5. How does the sample rate of a system relate to the frequency of audio it can capture? What is the name of the law that specifies the relationship between sample rate and audio frequency? 

6. How does the bit depth relate to the dynamic range of audio it can capture. How can you estimate the dynamic range of a system? 

7. What are some common digital connections available on Pro Tools audio interfaces? What type of connector jack does each use? 

8. Name some audio interfaces that are compatible with standard Pro Tools software. 

9. Name some Avid audio interfaces that are compatible with Pro Tools | Ultimate software. 

Answers

1. Pro Tools can be used for Midi, Audio, Mixing, Post Production, Mastering and Notation.

2. 20hz – 20,000hz

3. Frequency is expressed in Hz. The wave’s frequency is one hz, which is equal to one cycle per second. The number of cycles completed per second.

4. Amplitude is measured in the loudness of the sound

5. Nyqiust theory is the law that specifies the relationship between sample rate and audio frequency.

6. The greater the bit depth means more amplitude can be captured from a signal. To create a look at the dynamic range of the dynamic range of the system you are using. Take the bit depth and multiply it by 6 to find the range of dBs it can cover.

16bit/44khz (mono)= 5mb per min

16bit/44.1khz (stereo)= 10mb per min

16bit/96khz (mono)= 11mb

24bit/44.1khz, mono = 7.5mb

7.  S/pdif, RCA, XLR, Aes/ebn

8. Any scarlett interface. kmix, universal audio interfaces, behringer. To name a few.

9. MTRX Base unit, HD Native Thunderbolt, HD I/O 16×16 Analog, Omni

Electroacoustic Music

Hi everyone, hope you are well 🙂

I’ve had an interest in electroacoustic music for a couple of years now, but never really delved into it. I found electroacoustic sound from its strong ties to Music Concrète and tape music, which are types of sound I’m very fond of.

I did some research and picked 2 important works of electroacoustic music.

  1. John Cage: Imaginary Landscape no.1 (1939)
  2. Luciano Berio: Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) – (1958-1959)

John Cage – Imaginary Landscape No.1

John Cage’s Imaginary Landscape No.1 is the first of John Cage’s Imaginary Landscape series. This was recorded and released in 1939. The composition is comprised of four performers, two performers controlling two variable speed turntables, playing frequencies records throughout the composition. One performer playing a Chinese cymbal, and one performer playing a muted piano.

This was an eye-opening piece, it’s fascinating to think this was composed in 1939. 81 years ago at the time of writing this. This is a very forward-thinking composition. The use of turntables playing frequency records and using turntables as instruments is something I’ve never heard of.

The piece has a sense of dread that lingers throughout. Whether it is the frequencies going up and down. Or the piano strumming. It feels like something out of David Lynch’s Eraserhead. Something unknown…

Luciano Berio: Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) – (1958-1959)

Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) is a composition composed by Luciano Berio. The piece was created for tape and voice, it was recorded over a span of two years (1958-1959). The voice is the primary source of the sound. The voice is reading an interpretation of ‘Sirens’ from chapter 11 of the novel Ulysses by authors James Joyce by Cathy Berberian. Sirens.

This is a description of the chapter from litcharts

“A cryptic introduction made up of sixty fragments opens this episode, foreshadowing key moments in its plot, introducing its major themes, and presenting its key motifs. This introductory section is full of imagery related to sounds, like “steelyringing,” “trilling,” “jingling,” “warbling,” and “tschink [and] tschunk.” This introduction ends, “Done. / Begin!””

The piece perfectly represents what is written above, and you can see where Luciano was going with this piece.

This composition was fascinating to listen to. With the use of spoken word and vocals being moved around you, similar to a helicopter. It is very disorientating, and how it will go silent, then jump right back up. It can also be quite surprising and unnerving. Which is what I find interesting to explore as an artist. Making people feel uncomfortable by experimenting with different uses of sound I personally find very fascinating and something I will continue to explore in the future.

References

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Luciano Berio : Thema – Omaggio a Joyce. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV_76OZSsqo

LitCharts. (n.d.). LitCharts. [online] Available at: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/ulysses/episode-11-sirens.

John Cage – Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939). (2017). YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-3iLnXV90s.

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