Week 3

In Audio Arts this week we spent time learning about the patchbay inside Studio 2. The patchbays that we used are the Behringer PX3000. [1] The ability to be able to switch between normalized and half-normalised connections is something I haven’t seen before. Also, I didn’t know that there were thru connections on patchbays prior to this lecture. The digital mixing desk that we are using is the Yamaha 01v.[2] This digital desk has a lot of features, one strange feature being the track on/off switch. I think this function is equivalent to making a track inactive in Pro Tools but I won’t know until I start using the desk. [3]

In Creative Computing we learnt about sound file formats and the type of information that is stored with different file formats. XML and Music XML are programming languages that are new to me, which is part of the metadata of sound files. We went through a program called Sample Manager, which is used to manage and organize samples. This software can store loops points, markers and regions which will be very useful for me when I start dealing with lots of sound files. [4]

In Forum this week we spent time with David Harris listening to alternative music. One of the pieces was “Gloria” Symphony #3 which was written by Glen Brancka. Overall I found this piece very repetitive. I could hear lots of different sounds emerging from different parts of the stereo space and it was interesting to hear sounds blending in and then fading out. I feel that this piece would have interested me more if it sounded more musical and had some structure. I did get something out of listening to this piece because it presented different techniques of music/sound production. In another piece by Robert Ashley
[5], I noticed some analogue synth sounds like LFOs running through filters, resonance, and maybe FM synthesis, Ring Modulation or a sampler. This piece had a lot of spoken word, robotic sounds, background beeps. [6]

Our guest speaker this week was Gordon Monro.[7] Monro background is in Mathematics, although he had more recently obtained a Masters Degree in Music Composition. He presented a creation of his that used a system to generate music. This is known as “Meta-Synthesis”. He had shapes on a screen where different colours represented different pitches. Red was a low pitch, blue a high pitch and green was in-between red and blue. As the shapes morphed into another the sounds changed accordingly. The mutation rate of changed starts off slow and then slowly builds up to an eventual rapid change. This installation lasts a long time and the sounds produced take a long time to change. I think that one listening to this installation would not notice a change in sound because of the length of the transformation.

Monro also presented an abstract video called “Red Grains”. This abstract video had different patterns that represented synthesized sounds created using granular synthesis. This created was different to the morphing shapes and had different sounds.[8]

[1] Zzounds. 'Behringer PX3000 48-Point Balanced Patchbay', Zzounds.com, http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHPX3000. (Accessed 13/03/2006)

[2] Yamaha. 'Digital Mixers'. Yamaha Corporation of America, http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,,CNTID%253D1483%2526CTID%253D,00.html (Accessed 13/03/2006)

[3] Christian Haines. 'Audio Arts Lecture - Studio 2'. Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 14th March 2006.

[4] Christian Haines. "Creative Computing Lecture - Audio Lab". Lecture presented at the Audio Lab, University of Adelaide, 16th March 2006.

[5] Robert Ashley. 'Robert Ashley', Loverly Catalog by Artist. http://www.lovely.com/bios/ashley.html (Accessed 13/03/2006)

[6] David Harris. "Music Technology Forum Lecture - EMU Space". Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electroninc Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 16th March 2006.

[7] Gordon Monro. 'Gordon Monro Electronic art & music'. Gordon Monro. http://www.gordonmonro.com/ (Accessed 13/03/2006)

[8] Gordon Monro. 'Music Technology Forum Lecture - EMU Space'. Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electroninc Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 16th March 2006.