NIME Final Project Proposal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kwJOOEKR625uYSTprs-DGIj1ZDBO7WI5YW9AYU3C0dQ/edit?usp=sharing

 

NIME Final Project Proposal — The End of Eternity

• Perspective and Context

 

Inspiration for Final Project (Ken): Alvin Lucier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIPU2ynqy2Y 

    The texts and listening materials throughout the semester revolve around the development of sound in various expressive forms. From the beginning of the semester, there was an emphasis on sound production as well as the relation between artist, sound, and stage. For example, artists Dewi de Vree & Jeroen Uyttendaele created an instrument that was based upon creating electric connections during the performance to create different variations of sound. Later, the performance and theories were based on minimalism and creating gradual developments of sound to create music rather than creating fluctuating sounds. 

    Alvin Lucier’s I am Sitting in a Room (link above) provided me inspiration in utilizing sound throughout time to create sound resonance to map out a room. This type of repetitive style provided me inspiration in the sense of manipulating sound with feedback and utilizing times of feedback as the primary source of sound change. While the technicality of this piece and the style of articulating sound isn’t precisely difficult, the development of the relation between time and sound was the key takeaway that informed a style I wanted to be presented within my final piece. This also relates to Marshall McLuhan reading regarding acoustic space and visual space distinction and the cultural distinctions of perception of space where it mentions that the Japanese focused more on the space between objects rather than the objects themselves. 

    Other pieces of Alvin Lucier include “Music for Solo Performer” (1965) where he utilizes the installation of electric components in the performance itself and uses hands as conductive apparatus to create the frequency beats. Firstly, from his practice of utilizing live performance installations, it is similar to the prebuilt installation we proposed. While it’s not connected directly, the practice of creating that connection during the performance is something that struck me where I wanted to also create this visual – audio relationship within the final project. Furthermore, his practice seems like a pre-Tanaka electromagnetic wave transmission to create the sound which connects to utilizing different apparatus for a musical production that’s uncommon to play. 

    Why is this important to my final project proposal? I personally believe that while the physical presence of feedback played in I am sitting in a Room may be lackluster, the acoustic presence that the final project incorporates is one that is able to fill the room through the development of sound resonance and sound feedback where possible playback loops may be incorporated within the composition. This creates a dynamic nature within the piece where the physical/visual is secondary to audio. If “Music for Solo Performer” was considered, I think that the relation between performer and sound would be much richer in that the brain waves resonation is much more hidden, but dynamic control of the instrument can create depth within the piece as the sound qualities aren’t standardly created.

 

Inspiration for Final Project (Ken): Eliane Radigue 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwHIsZKrZhM 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RrsiGmLp_E 

    I was also inspired by Eliane Radigue, particularly her audio relation for time, sound, and feedback in her pieces. Rather than succumb to a definitive melody, Eliane Radigue utilizes fluidity of tones that slowly transition to ambient frequencies in which the melody isn’t clear. Due to such a style, it has also become a philosophy of her work as a whole. Even in her own writing, she describes her style of continuous modulation to be “a state of uncertainty, of being and not being” which can be seen in her piece where there is no definitive pattern of sound, but rather a continuous motion without boundaries. 

    This contrasts with the style of Alvin Lucier’s I am Sitting in a Room which is more definitive in terms of sequence but indefinite in terms of sound quality. While the quality of sound from Eliane’s work can change and adapt according to the frequency modulator oscillator that she utilizes. Of course, when she modifies such a device, the change may be subtle but also very noticeable. It is without a doubt that this type of articulation of sound through uncertainty throughout time creates resonating effects. It is what can be described as flux within staticity. 

    Some pieces that inspired me can be seen in the links above which develop a sonospheric atmosphere within the composition, utilizing panning, frequency panning, among other techniques to inscribe such relation. From her Jetsun Mila piece, she utilizes the instability of a frequency to create a moving texture that allows the listener to follow it in a fluid manner. This type of instability is paired with the gradual development of subsequent tones that aren’t too clear to create depth within the piece. 

    Such usage of frequency modulation and synthesizing informs the final project for our piece in the sense that we utilize distinct electric installations which build upon each other to create depth within the noise, but still distinct to create a harmonious pattern. In utilizing depth and variance of sound in our piece according to Radigue’s instrument with multiple controls, we hope to create sound qualities that can exhibit our theme of time manipulation.

 

Inspiration for the Final project (Bruce): Atau Tanaka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ZcsAHVn6A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8CKjmE7zys

    The development of the theme embedded in the weekly reading and listening materials is quite clear. The main theme has adapted from the relationships, conflicts, and coexistence between visions and sounds, to the expressive ability, logic, and further philosophy of the sound. The weekly materials then went on to talk about the minimalism, composition, and stage performance, the relationship between the performer, instrument, and the audience. Now the theme has been the relationship between the computer, the music, and the performer. 

    In this sense, Atau Tanaka was the first artist who gave me some inspiration on the general NIME understanding, as well as how to come up with the final project. He is famous for his use of the muscle electricity sensor to create electronic-like music. I found two videos (attached above) which I think can best describe him and his ideology for NIME performance. 

    In his performances, the sounds and the sounding experience are not that outstanding. DON’T get me wrong. What I was trying to say was that they are not the parts that would refresh your mind when you are listening to his performance. However, the visual part, or to be more specific, the smart and perfect integration of the visual part and the sounds is something that is definitely impressive. He has perfectly solved the long-lasting conflict between the vision and the sound, but he has also done something more. In the course materials, he and his works are also given as examples to illustrate the stage performance and delivery. During the performance, it seems that he isn’t himself anymore, but a part of the performance itself. 

    Tanaka said in an interview that there is a balance between logic and intuition in his art form. When he is performing, I can get the feeling that he is not actually performing the instrument to make it sound. Rather, he is expressing himself using the media of music. In this way, he has successfully made himself a part of the performance. The genius part of the whole process is that there is always a CONNECTION between the audio outcome and the expressive media in the general performance. 

     This part is extremely important in our performance. I said before in my documentation blog that this part was also the key idea in my last semester’s interaction lab final project, and the realization of this idea yielded some good results. This idea, the connection, and the balance between logic and intuition will also be included in my NIME final project, and this idea will mainly influence the analog part, or in other words, the instrument part of our performance. When Ken and I are designing the instrument, we are consistently drawing ideas from this ideology, that it must include the balance, connection to make the performer a harmonious part, but not the dominator, of the performance. The design of the instrument is still at the initial stage and will be discussed later. 

 

Inspiration for the Final project (Bruce):  Steve Reich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgX85tZf1ts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXJWO2FQ16c 

    Well, Steve Reich has already definitely become one of my favorite artists, and one of the reasons is that I have gained a lot of inspiration from him. Minimalism is the main theme of Steve Reich’s artworks, but there is more of it. Honestly speaking, if I were to define minimalism, I would say that Eliane Radigue’s masterpieces are definitely minimalism. 

    However, Reich’s a little bit different. In Reich’s minimalism, I can always find some static beats, sequences, and their variations. On the other hand, I would also get something else when listening to the whole piece. It is a sense of numerousness. When I listen to Radigue’s pieces, I hear the simplicity, get the idea of the simplicity, and enjoy the simplicity. When I listen to Reich’s piece, however, I hear the well-controlled and managed simplicity, get the idea of the minimalism, and enjoy the feeling of the numerousness. It is a strange feeling. 

    I found two videos of Reich’s works that can best describe this kind of feeling. The primary sequences and feelings in his performance rarely change. However, the frequency, amplitude, and filter constantly change. The overall delivery is well-rounded and gives the audience a feeling beyond minimalism. 

    The biggest connection from Reich to the overall course theme is composition. Since his primary components are largely unchanging, his choices and design for these unchanging sequences and beats are rather elaborate and well-controlled. Therefore, this results in the overall harmony of the music process.  

    I firstly wrote another impression Steve Reich gives me by his music, that the note-note details and the overall form are well integrated. In other words, the individual style from the single notes is consistent with the general style delivered by the music process. This is realized by perfect control over every aspect of the piece and as a result, a perfect harmony has been created. This even creates a state that wherever the music starts or ends, it sounds like a whole and harmonious. 

    This ideology will largely influence the design of the Max 8 patch. Max 8 provides many possibilities for music design, and it can easily adjust frequency, amplitude, and filtering effects. The design of the Max 8 patch is still at the initial stage and will be discussed in the following section. 

• Project Description

 

    The name of our project is The End of Eternity.

    Our theme for the final project revolves around the broad concept of time, specifically creating time manipulation through analog control of clock hands, interpreting the sound of time fluctuation, and exploring temporal loops of time. The physical presence of our project will be an 80 cm circular table that’s hacked to include our electronic installations for playing. We will be utilizing bought metal clock hands in the center as a basis to create the connection with the electrical installations that are throughout the piece. 

 

     

    These electronic installations include the frequency modulator, oscillator bus, conductive sniffer, etc. This will be created by buying a premade table that will be deconstructed by utilizing the fabrication lab’s woodworking material. There will be a hole drilled in the middle of the table in which our clock hands will be implanted. On the areas that display the numeral for time, we plan on engraving or painting the time with materials such as conductive paint. We will 3D model, 3D print and laser cut components that hold our electronic installations which will be drilled to the table to ensure a stable connection, in which the wires for such components will hopefully be underneath the table for clean performing with the instrument. As we will be utilizing multiple installations, the electric components will be bought from the electronics market and attached to created containers from 3d printing.

    This instrument will be played by manipulating the direction of the clock hand to connect with different electric installations in which sounds will be fused from various sound combinations. Moreover, Max8 will be utilized to convert some analog readings of the electric installations into fused beats as well as supersonic motion sounds. There may be potential sounds that are created from the distance of clock hands to one another which will be controlled by the two performers. As we will be utilizing both digital and analog modes of musical production, our composition may begin with the digital modes of time expression in which sounds will be distorted through our analog performance means of manipulating sound. From the initial distortion, we plan on creating our interpretation of time fluctuations through extreme movements of the time in which we enter our climax. After time reaches an extreme in terms of interpreted movement, we will slow down the pace of our piece gradually to fabricate the control of time. Afterward, the piece will incorporate slightly rapid movements to escalate the scene of time to a pendulum state where it will conclude with an infinite loop to portray the eternalness of time. Throughout this process of exerting control over time, we want the audience to experience our interpretation of manipulating time as flux. We want to create the impression that the end of eternity, of time, is a state of constant change in which the end is indeterminate.

• Production Schedule

• 04/20: Final Project Proposal Due            

• 04/21: Proposal Feedback / Discussion + Working out the general plan of the purchase of materials

• 04/22-04/29: Analog parts production and installation + Working out the basic sequences and background music needed in Max 8 (Including researching information and exploring Max 8 )

• 04/29: Update on Project

• 04/29-05/06: Working on the synthesis part, paying special attention to the Max 8 patch + analog instrument installation. In this stage, the fabrication process should be done or at least worked out a plan

• 05/06: Review + Work Day

• 05/06-05/13: Keep polishing the Max 8 patch and the analog installations + Completing any kind of leftovers from the last stage. In this stage, the Max 8 patch, and the analog instrument installations need to be done. 

• 05/13: Rehearsal and debugging (In Class) – Final Project Show (~21:00 @ Club Elevator)