Week 7 Forum - Gender in Music Technology Part 1

Today we had presenters Ben Probert, Doug Loudon, Amy Sincock and Jake Morris. Ben's discussion was mainly based on the changes in the environment that each gender experiences. I agree with this argument. It make sense that the environment that we are exposed to can shape us as a person and what we are interested in.

Doug talked about the whole hunter and gatherer scenario. I do believe in this theory to some extent. It was a long time ago but the traits that we as humans have now have obviously evolved from an era a long time ago. I'm not sure it's hard to say.

Amy must have been under a lot of pressure being the only girl to present this week. She bravely said that she did music technology because it interested her and her gender had no bearing on her decision. I thought it was good for her to say that rather than complain about whether the world is sexist. I liked her point of view on why women should or shouldn't do music technology.

Jake was last and he commented on previous presenters but expanded on the topic by looking at musical lyrics. He talked about how lyrics by certain composers differ between genders if they are expressing the same point. He also played some Bjork videos, which were great.

Personally I think that if we need to discuss gender in music technology, that in itself shows that there is some division between men and women in this field. I think women are just as skilled as men but it just happens that not as many women are interested in this field than men are.[1]


[1] Ben Probert, Doug Loudon, Amy Sincock and Jake Morris. 'Music Technology Forum Presentation - EMU Space'. Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University Of Adelaide, 12th April 2007

AA2 Week 7 - Piano

This week we had to record a piano. I did a recording with Jake and Will. We used two Neumann U87s inside the piano. We had two Neuman KM-84i mics behind the player (like we had inclass). We also had a U87 as a room mic towards the corner near the window of Studio 1. I have some clips below of myself playing and also Jake playing. Jake did most of the playing.














CLIPS
Me Playing (just Neumann KM-84i mics used low) [1.6MB]

Jake Playing (just Neumann KM-84i mics used high up) [1.1MB]

Jake Playing (just Neumann KM-84i mics used high up) [1.5MB]

Jake Playing (all mics used) [1.2MB]

X Files (all mics used) [769 KB]

Mario (all mics used) [300KB]


[1] David Grice "Audio Arts: Semester 1, Week 7; Keyboard Instruments" Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 24th April 2007.

Week 6 Forum - Collaborations . . . yet again

Our presenters this week were Luke Harrald, David Harris, Poppi Doser and a final note by Stephen Whittington. First up was Luke talking about a short film he did the music for. He used algorithmic composition to create the music. I thought the music sounded really great and I really enjoyed seeing how what we're leaning now in Max/MSP can be applied to film. I would have liked to see the whole film though. Luke talked about intelligent creative machines which is interesting and he also talked about collaboration. He said that ego is not something to bring into collaboration and I totally agree.[1]

[2]

Next was David and he played us a short film that he had composed the music for also. This film was quite different. I wasn't sure what all the paper was meant to mean but it was still interesting to see all the patterns created on the grass. This was more of a visual artistic experience as the music changed with the visual outcome.[3]

[4]

Poppi Doser was next. She played us an animation that she had collaborated with Betty Qian. Poppi did the music and Betty did the 3d animation. I thought that it was really interesting to see the final result from two people who can't even speak the same language. It seemed that the film and music spoke a universal language and each person seem to know where they wanted to go.[5]

[6]

Stephen finished off by discussing more deeply into what collaboration can be. I didn't entirely agree with this definition but I did see the point made. Stephen talked about how a human can collaborate with an instrument. If this is the case then that means every time someone plays an instrument they are collaborating. By saying this, it is impossible not to collaborate. You could also argue that sitting in a room is a collaboration of music because you don’t have to limit yourself to musical instruments. Therefore is every instance in life a musical collaboration?

Overall this collaboration has been an interesting few weeks.[7]

[8]


[1] Luke Harrald. 'Music Technology Forum Collaboration Presentation - EMU Space'.
Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University
of Adelaide, 5th April 2007

[2] University of Adelaide'. EMU. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JNLNQPT3eeQ/RhxxBJnZdoI/AAAAAAAAAC8/97BJOJy5Ie4/s1600-h/pic.jpg (Accessed 14/5/7)

[3] David Harris. 'Music Technology Forum Collaboration Presentation - EMU Space'.
Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University
of Adelaide, 5th April 2007

[4] University of Adelaide'. EMU. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JNLNQPT3eeQ/Rhxxb5nZdqI/AAAAAAAAADM/V6YL0AD-Vsc/s1600-h/david_harris.jpg (Accessed 14/5/7)

[5] Poppi Doser. 'Music Technology Forum Collaboration Presentation - EMU Space'.
Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University
of Adelaide, 5th April 2007

[6] University of Adelaide'. EMU. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JNLNQPT3eeQ/RhxxqZnZdrI/AAAAAAAAADU/J6BO043w3r4/s1600-h/2.31.18.jpg (Accessed 14/5/7)

[7] Stephen Whittington. 'Music Technology Forum Collaboration Presentation - EMU Space'.
Lecture presented in the EMU Space, Electronic Music Unit, University
of Adelaide, 5th April 2007

[8] University of Adelaide'. EMU. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JNLNQPT3eeQ/RhxyJZnZdsI/AAAAAAAAADc/lZKH82DIF-s/s1600-h/stephen_whittington.jpg (Accessed 14/5/7)

AA2 Week 6 - String Instruments

Our task this week was to record a string instrument. I recorded a cellist with Luke, David and Jake. We used five mics including one stereo mic. They were:

AKG C-414 BULS
Rode NT4 (stereo)
Neumann KM-84i
Neumann U87
Neumann U89

The AKG was placed in front of the cello to pick up the body of the sound with many of the low frequencies. The Rode NT4 was placed above the cello as an XY configuration. The Neumann KM-84i was placed above the cello to pick up more of the string sounds and also to replicate the sound the cellist hears.

The Neumann U87 and U89 were used as room mics and we tried switching between the two. I preferred the sound of the U89. [1]









Here are some audio examples:

Cello Mix (Neumann U87 Room Mic) [2.9MB]
Cello Mix (Neumann U89 Room Mic) [3.2MB]
Cello Mix (Neumann KM-84i Mic Only) [2.9MB]
Cello Mix (AKG C-414 Mic Only) [3.2MB]
Cool Sound [892KB]


[1] David Grice "Audio Arts: Semester 1, Week 6; String Instruments" Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 3rd April 2007.