2010-10-02: Our SoundWalk 2010 project page has the pictures and ephemera like our packing list.
Whappened?
Did it all get done? Well, we showed up and FLOOD had a place for us, we performed, and people came. A good time was had by most, if not all, from what we heard. So, yeah, it must have!
FLOOD will be putting together their compendium of 2010 documenta shortly. We’ve wrapped up our contributions to that—cleaning up the video, making PDFs of the score and program, mounting the floor sweepings in an artistic fashion—as well as putting the studio back together and resuming working life.
Our final SoundWalk 2010 performance of “SoNoGram” is posted in its entirety on Vimeo and linked here on its own project page. Jacob has as always documented the situation assiduously on Flickr.
Getting it all together
As the date approached there were things we had and things we still had to secure. Good time to start a list or two:
Stuff we did or tried to do
- Software
- done: upgrade to Reason 5 / Record 1.5
- Visuals
- done: transfer GGB videos to PC
- done: transfer intermission static audio to PC
- done: arrange slide show(s)
- petrol extraction
- GGB assays and video frames
- LA river walks
- bronze sculpture assays
- Performance fodder
- finish score
- done: SoCal script
- done: NoCal script
- done: program schedule
- finish score
- Procure missing supplies
- see below
- Transportation
- done: Dave drove Thursday
- have: Subaru (hope it’s big enough)
- rent: minivan (Sube wasn’t big enough)
- Rebecca flies Friday
- have: tickets
- done: Dave drove Thursday
- Publicity/marketing
- piece description
- done: 40 words or less due to Marco September 27 (emailed Sept 26)
- “Inspired by the Indonesian gamelan ensemble, wikiGong.com publishes sounds of industrial structures as raw material for virtual instruments. ‘So No Gram’ adds live instrumental and verbal gestures to sketch an audio portrait of California.”
- distribute cards
- flyer / handout
- done: review need, schedule
- done: two-sider with program
- done: make copies [make fewer next time]
- email distribution
- done: draft and review initial announcement (sent from wikiGong.com address)
- not done: create list of addressees to track who’s been sent what (CRM!)
- not done: send notice of exact location when available
- LinkedIn
- not done
- FaceBook
- not done: create wikiGong invite
- not done: investigate SoundWalk presence/group
- piece description
Jacob sets up the slide show. Did we mention a half-storefront is pretty tiny?
Things that changed
Jacob discovered a chandelier depot over the Los Angeles River during the summer. We went back to check its current appearance October 1, 2010. Some graffiti gone, some new…. Apparently the chandeliers are selling well: there was only one left!
Stuff we took
[Update Oct 2: OK, OK, it was over the top. Way over the top. Next gig we’ll take less, and know more.]
- Sound gear
- microphones
- have: 4 condenser, 1 dynamic, 2 powered stereo
- music stands
- have: 1 manhasset
- find: folding models around here somewhere [nope]
- mic stands
- have: 3 tripod stands
- loan: 4 more mic stands
- keyboard
- have: Yamaha S-80 w/ stand
- mixing board
- have: 16 x 4 x 2
- audio monitors
- have: 2 powered studio reference mons w/ stands
- have: 2 1kW powered mons w/ stands
- loan: 2 passive 500W mons w/ stands, 8 x 2 PA
- time machine
- have: 4 channels x 5 seconds, equalized
- A/D/A module
- have: MOTU 8 x 2
- audio recorder
- have: Sony PCM-D50 w/ tripod
- cables
- adapters
- headphones
- microphones
- Computing
- mac
- PC
- monitor
- cables
- Visuals
- lights
- have: 5 ea. clamp lamps @ 100-150 W
- have: 2 ea. swing-arm desk lamps @ 60-75 W
- have: 4 ea. drop cords with switch sockets
- have: dual music stand LED lamp
- loan: VGA projector
- video camera
- have: Canon mini-DVR camera with microphone
- bought: Mini-DV cassettes
- cables
- lights
- Support tech
- tables
- loan: blow-molded 3 x 6′ utility table(s) — Thanks, Moe!
- seating
- loan: folding camp chairs
- power cords
- have: 2 ea. 30′ 16/3 green
- have: 2 ea. 50′ 14/3 black
- have: 1 ea. 100′ Home Depot orange
- have: 2 ea. 15A power strips
- have: 3 ea. 3-way 3-prong multiples
- batteries
- did we mention cables?
- tables
Rehearsal 2: August 28-29
All wikiGongistas squeezed into the same room with all the gear for several trial runs of “SoNoGram.” New to the mix:
- Tibetan bell
- Extended textual riffs
- Walk-on performance by Alex Dickinson and his sweet saxophone licks
Much was learned about setting up and configuring the equipment, and the vagaries of mixed and ambient recordings. The piece gained complexity and duration. But what will we do for an encore?
Rehearsal 1: August 15, 2010
Our first real working session for SoNoGram was a technical success and occasional laugh riot. There’s a lot going on here:
- Jacob on Skype on MacBook 02, reading/interpreting text
- His voice, routed to the soundboard as Mic 04
- Rebecca on the carbon-fiber violin, with the Schertler pickup as Mic 03
Plus what’s not visible:
- Yamaha S-80 ostinato as a MIDI pattern generator
- Four 0-5 second “time machine” channels
- MOTU 828mk3 ADA bank
- MacBook 01 running Propellerhead’s Reason/Record with:
- 2 ea. Scream distortion/CV units
- Thor modeled analog synth
- NN19 sampler loaded with Golden Gate Bridge sounds
- Matrix pattern generator
- Subtractor modeled analog synth
True to form, Jacob’s being physically in Long Beach did not interfere much with his performance, and we got some new “river” imagery going in the text (this thanks in part to Rebecca’s comment during our initial brainstorming session after viewing Jacob’s photo with the chandeliers, below; see more on his Flickr page). Of course a direct feed gives better fidelity but using the mic was too Rube Goldberg to pass up, and I didn’t have to reroute anything on the board or the MOTU.
Oh, and we got some interesting sound, too….
