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Blog archive for December 2010

Microphones as sculpture

December 3, 2010

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De-interleaver

December 5, 2010

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De-interleaver is a useful utility for interleaving or de-interleaving sound files.

Stereo mixing using ViMiC in Logic

December 7, 2010

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I’m currently making a stereo mix of the sound for At the Zoo. The work, a collaboration between Karen Kipphoff and myself, is going to be part of an upcoming video screening.

The original 6 channel version that I made for the ICCI360 festival was spatialised using ViMiC in a way that was custom-tailored to the particular loudspeaker setup (number of speakers, positions and size of the space). This time I am using two virtual microphones, set up as ORTF, and rendering. That makes for a stereo image that will be much more robust to loudspeaker setups of varying sizes without needing to be constantly re-rendered.

The sound track is made up from two layers. One layer consists of six similar voices blending into a joint texture evolving over time, while the other layer is subdivided into three layers, each containing two voices. Each of the three layers comes and goes, creating a joint texture with different timbral colors weaving in and out of each other in a way that might resemble what Eno did for 2/1.

The stereo mix is done in Logic Pro, using 12 instances of ViMiC.

Mind-shattering miniature models

December 11, 2010

Artist David DiMichele asks you to fully immerse yourself in his mind-shattering miniature scenes. For over ten years he’s been creating these fantastic 3D installations in his studio, using everything from glass and ice to tree bark and coil. It was only until he made the conscious decision to start photographing these installations that he realized he could create a whole new, compelling body of work. Called Pseudo Documentation, they’re an exciting example of what happens when installation art is combined with photography.

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Glass

In order to create this series, DiMichele first sought out high quality miniature models and then placed them in for scale. He then used a 4×5 view camera and, without any formal training in photography, took pictures of his detailed installations, paying careful attention to lighting, focus and composition. Next, he scanned these photos into his computer and then used Photoshop for only light retouching and for refining his shots.

Here’s what James Lee Tullis of Platinum Magazine said of DiMichele’s Pseudo Documentation series: “The fantastical, dream-like effect of a figure isolated in a cavernous hall, surrounded or even overwhelmed by art, is also somehow an unsettling one. Partly this is due to the heightened reality of DiMichele’s dioramas, where he is able to precisely manipulate light and perspective, but it is also something more.There is love here- love of art, love of drama, love of architecture- but a certain coldness too. Just as the art is so much bigger, elevated, the human figure is inversely smaller, more vulnerable and subservient to the human vision embodied in art.”

 
 

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Light beams

 
 

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Ice

 
 

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Holes

 
 

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Cubist space

 
 

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Coil

 
 

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Hose

 
 

Via My Modern Met

Jamoma 0.5.2 beta 6

December 12, 2010

A new incremental version of Jamoma has been released. Download it here.

Walter de Maria: Large Red Sphere (2010)

December 12, 2010

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Installed in the Türkentor, Munich.

Via e-flux

John Grade

December 13, 2010

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For some reason I am stumbling across an abundance of photos of amazing installations these days. The above are from the installation Elephant Bed by John Grade at Whatcom Museum in 2009.

Check out his website for more, it’s well worth a visit.

14th International Video Festival VIDEOMEDEJA

December 13, 2010

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A single-screen version of the panoramic video At the Zoo by Karen Kipphoff and Trond Lossius will be part of the 14th International Video Festival VIDEOMEDEJA at Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia, December 17-19 2010.

The program of the festival can be downloaded here.

Octogris multichannel spatialisation plugin

December 13, 2010

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Octogris is a multi-channel sound spatialization plugin with up to 32 sources (inputs) and 32 virtual loudspeakers (outputs). Within these limitations, the user may choose any number of virtual loudspeakers and position them freely within the interface to match custom studio setups. Multiple presets are available to alter the types of motion used for spatializing stereo and multi-channel sources.

Octogris is panning-based, and the algorithm is somewhat similar to DBAP in having gain levels depending on distance from source to virtual speaker. Still it differs as the virtual microphones will go silent if the source is further away than the set “source distance”.

It is also somewhat similar to ViMiC, but again, Octogris speakers go silent for distant sources, and does not emulate distance-dependnet delays or early reflections.

AFAIK similar algorithms to Octogris are commonly used in computer games, ensuring that sound sources go silent if sufficient far away from the protagonist of the game.

Octogris is developed at Institut Arts Cultures et Technologies
Recherche-création à l’Université de Montréal. The screenshot above is the 8×8 version of it, hosted in Max using the audiounit~ external (available from the Edge forum).

At the Zoo @ 0 Budget On Screen

December 21, 2010

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What If Artist Group was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization by artist-curators Vik Lai (Chairman) and Beatrix Pang (Vice-chairman). The duo both gained their Master degree of Fine Art in Norway. Eric Wong (Treasurer) is an active blogger in Hong Kong. The group aims to support Hong Kong art by integrating local-produced contemporary art with the community, as well bridging and promoting Hong Kong art to overseas.

Currently, What If Artist Group curates the first project called “0 Budget Project”, which encourages artists to spend “0″ on making art. Artist are challenged to question the relationship between Art and Consumerism. The feedback is overwhelmed and has received surprising amount of submissions from participants all over the world. These works are well received and will be presented in various locations.

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A single-screen and stereo version of At the Zoo by Karen Kipphoff and myself was presented as part of 0 Budget On Screen.

I’m not convinced that the fine-grained details of ViMiC spatialisation has come through in the presentation, but it sure looks like an enjoyable event.

The screening also included Storyteller by Jackie Forzelius. I first it on Vimeo a few weeks ago, and recommend checking it out, it’s quite compelling.

NewMediaFest’2010 – Christmas Edition

December 21, 2010

…different from the one you are in now…, made in 2004 for SoundLAB II, is part of the Christmas edition of NewMediaFest’2010.