For this Cut and Splice concert I am reviving a piece that was first realised in May 1995 at Roulette in New York. The piece was initially conceived as music for dance. I thought that as dancers move through space in performance why not make music that would move through space in a similar way.
I consulted an engineer who designed a new device for me that moved the sound I made in accordance with different frequencies between different speakers. Originally, I had composed a piece for a flutist but I revised the piece to use sound I made in performance and live sound, such as combinations of found sound from radio and TV stations. This total sound goes into the input of a device that has a frequency to voltage converter with logical circuits.
When discussing this performance for Cut and Splice with Sonic Arts Network, I described a system whereby the sounds were sorted out by frequency range, which was variable by attenuator and divided into 8 frequency bands. Each band of sound went to 8 different outputs then each to a different speaker channel. This resulted in an immersive sound field in which the audience heard sounds from the nearest speaker loud and in close proximity and from the furthest speaker quietly and more distant. The sounds from each speaker of 8 channels formed an indeterminate collage and of course the effect differed with the location of the listener.
However, in actuality my device definitely never had more than one speaker on at a time. But the changing frequency of the input signal could make sounds change speakers very fast, possibly giving the illusion of more than one on at a time. As a result, I ended up creating a brand new piece by misunderstanding my own idea.
This new work for Cut and Splice utilizes Max/MSP patches designed by Mark Fell of SND to get similar results to this scenario that I conceived by mistake. Also, for this performance I am using a Teleo Module that interfaces sound with sensors. I use motion sensors to detect the hand movements of my drawings of Chinese calligraphy to make different combinations of channels and spatialisation. My calligraphy is projected for the audience to see during the performance. I would also like to acknowledge the support of Steve Giordano of the New York Institute of Technology who acted as technical consultant during the development of this project.
(Yasunao Tone)
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