CATSYNTH

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Category: Music

  • The 2007 RPM Challenge

    This week I signed up for the 2007 RPM Challenge to record an album in 28 days during the month of February. Here is a quote from my mission statement as a participating artist:

    It took 2 1/2 years to complete my first album, Aquatic. It was well worth the time and in the end I had a beautiful product of which I am proud. But I would like to see what I can do with just 28 days. I will record some new experimental electronic tracks, maybe with some beats thrown in for good measure. Of course, I have to use at least one cat sound or two.

    I will posting articles on my artist page at the RPM challenge documenting my progress (or lack thereof), and various other thoughts related to process of recording this new album. Of course, all articles will be cross posted here at CatSynth.



  • Dorian Grey's Box: Art Installation at Pajaro Valley Arts Council

    My sound art installation described in previous posts is now on display at the Pajaro Valley Arts Council as part of the current exhibition “The Human Condition: The Artists’ Response.” The exhibition is “an artistic articulation of the connection between
    the individual and world challenges, the exhibit
    brings together artists responding to political and social tensions in today?s world”, and features 22 artists (according to my best count). The pieces in the exhibi are all of great quality when compared to recent gallery exhibits I have visited. Many are overtly political or social, dealing with many of darker subjects in current events and recent history. Some are quite realistic, others more abstract.

    Dorian Grey’s Box, the piece on which I collaborated with local artist Michael Carson, is one of the more abstract in the exhibition. The main element is a large black cube with newspaper clippings in various patterns and sections of redder coloring. Surrounding the main cube are several small wooden “alphabet blocks”, some of which have also been painted black.


    The sound (my contribution to the piece) is on a continuous loop that visitors can hear via headphones. The material is primarily ambient noise, gitches, percussive effects and sounds that only “hint” at speaking voices, arranged in a collage inspired by the sculptural part of the piece.

    ]The exhibition continues through March 4, and I strongly encourage anyone in the greater Bay Area during this time to check it out. It’s great to see such quality contemporary art locally (Santa Cruz-Watsonville-Monterey area).

    I have posted an excerpt from the sound installation on the podcast for those who are interested in the piece but unable to visit in person.










  • Guess the Electronics

    Inspired by a discussion on the Bay Area New Music maling list about electronic-acoustic music as well as different electronic tools/technlogies (e.g., MAX, CSound, etc.), I present the Guess the Electronics game.

    Simply listen to each of the challenges below and leave a comment on how you think each was one created. You can also take a guess as to which examples include acoustic material.

    It's fun for the whole family ?

    challenge 1
    challenge 2
    challenge 3
    challenge 4
    challenge 5




  • E-MU Introduces Beta Mac OS X Drivers For 0202 And 0404 USB 2.0 Interfaces

    I suppose on the eve of MacWorld, I can take a moment to brag about a recent Mac-related accomplishment of mine:

    E-MU® Systems has announced the release of a Beta Macintosh OS X driver (Apple CoreAudio) for its 0202 USB 2.0 audio interface and 0404 USB 2.0 audio/MIDI interface…
    …E-MU's new Beta Macintosh OS X driver is now available for free download at www.emu.com.





  • Preparing for January art installation: Part 2

    Looks like things are good to go for the upcoming art installation at the Pajaro Valley Arts Council. We took the sound track that I produced last saturday as is ( see part 1) and the entire piece is being installed the gallery today. It's nice when something comes together without a lot of stress or last-minute scrambling and compromise. It's also a welcome change to have something that “presents itself” via pre-recorded matieral – again, no stress, no preparing for live computer problems, etc.

    The exhibition, entitled The Human Condition: The Artists' Response will be at the PVAC gallery in Watsonville, CA from January 10 through March 4.






  • New Podcast: Geeetar Improv 1

    At a christmas party last monday, I participated in a free jam with some of my musician friends – I played a bit of guitar during the jam and that gave me the impetus (could I really use “kick in the tuchus” two posts in a row?) to get my own recently-acquired guitar in shape. In particular, it needed stringing – fortunately, there are plenty of online guides to guitar stringing and how to do it well.

    Now that I have a working guitar, I have been noodling around a bit the last few days, mostly playing through effects and other signal processing on the computer. This release is a short improvisation I did with the guitar and various effects on the E-MU 1616m. Like most of my releases, it is fairly experimental/abstract, but it does contain a fair number of guitar cliches in the mix.





  • Preparing for January art installation: Part 1

    I am collaborating on an art installation for an upcoming exhibition in January at the The Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery: the piece has both a visual (sculptural) component and a sound component, the latter being my contribution.

    I've been doing bits of it over the holiday break, but finally gave myself the proverbial kick in the tuchus to complete at least a full draft today. I am making things simpler by using only sounds on the computer, not external synthesizers – and also focused on two sound libraries I purchased last year but have made only limited use of until now. The libaries focus on highly processed organic sounds (animals, environment, etc.) and modified analog synthesizers (including some circuit-bend instruments).

    The “composition process” was simply auditioning various sounds from this library and assembling them into a continuous sequence – a collage – that works with the visuals. The material is primarily ambient noise, gitches, percussive effects and sounds that only “hint” at speaking voices.

    Next step, after any additional changes and mastering, will be to put it together with the sculpture, presumably sometime next week…





  • Weekend Cat Blogging #82: Black Pride

    This New Years edition of Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Champaign Taste. We wish all our WCB friends, feline and human, a happy and healthy new year!

    Our contribution this week continues our tribute to James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, who is a hero of ours here at CatSynth; he passed away this past Monday. In addition to his music (which is playing in the background as I write this), he made contributions to civil rights and the “Black Power” movement, through his efforts to promote African American ownership of the distribution of music on records and radio, and of course his classic anthems such as “Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud.” It is in honor of this anthem that Luna strikes a proud, stately pose this week, reminiscent of the iconography of the Egyptian goddess Bast:

    The connection between black cats and civil rights isn't entirely gratuitous. Consider the well-known symbol of the Black Panther Party. Although founded in Oakland in 1966, the story goes that the party took its symbol from the Lowndes County (Alabama) Freedom Organization:

    We chose for the emblem a black panther, a beautiful black animal which symbolizes the strength and dignity of black people, an animal that never strikes back until he's back so far into the wall, he's got nothing to do but spring out. Yeah. And when he springs he does not stop.

    Getting back to James Brown, I would be remiss if I did not also recognize one of my former cats Morty, the original “Supa-Bad Kitty”:

    He got his nickname for his constant mischief, like sitting on the dining room table, but remainingly devilishly lovable. Plus, he could shake his money maker like no other kitty I've met. I miss him – he was taken by a former girlfriend and although I haven't seen him in many years, I hope he is doing well.











  • RIP James Brown (1933-2006)

    I cannot let the passing this morning of the Godfather of Soul go unremarked. The music that James Brown launched remains among my favorite popular music – funk and soul from the 1960s and 1970s have a special place in my heart and my CD collection. In particular, I return the 1970s era with the original JB's, funker, grittier and with just the right amount of slop. Indeed, the track “Turn It Up or Let It A-Loose” from the 1970 collection Funk Power was included in the research for my dissertation. I probably have the only PhD dissertation in Computer Science that includes a reference to James Brown in the bibliography. I suppose that's my tribute.







  • Warped Cannon

    Courtesy of fellow experimental musician Gino Robair, we have the “Warped Cannon” page, which features the Pachelbel's Canon in a wide variety of tunings. The MIDI files on the site present the canon performed not in variants of the traditional just and equal-tempered scales, but several rather odd tunings as well. Of particular interest to me was the the Bohlen-Pierce variation, using the Bohlen-Pierce tuning that I have discussed in previous posts. While some readers/listeners may find this variation a little difficult to listen to, and even disturbing when contrasted with the original, I actually find it quite inspiring. I am always interested to hear pieces done in this tuning ahead any future BP compositions of my own.