Category: LookingOutwards-04

I really like the album Monolake Silence, by Robert Henke. The premise of the album is to create sound, but also a statement about how we currently listen to sound. Instead of working with different levels of compression and mixing, the entire cast of instruments has been set to the maximum at all times. This is because the way we listen to music in the modern world has changed. Instead of creating music with dynamics or elaborate compositions, current laptop, phone, and radio speakers are tuned to sound best when the music is mixed as loud as possible. This means that when songs of more dynamic genres are played, such as classical music, it sounds nowhere near as well as it might if it had been recorded live or if you were listening through headphones. In the final form you can very clearly tell that every track it at it’s maximum, but the arrangements have been left bare in that there are not too many instruments at a single time, such that we can hear all of the noises despite their volume.

‘Expressions’ is a series of artworks that were created through a collaboration with Kynd and Yu Miyashita (sound). This project explored the physical aspects of thick and bold paint that appear from digital space. This exploration allowed the artist to play with the shapes, light, and shadows that were made from the paint.

Through construction, Kynd combined 2D and 3D graphics that enabled him to create real-time graphics and renderings that had depth along with the interplay of light and shadow. With this method, there were many advantages. It was easier to create intricate shapes and details without the need to manage geometries. Kynd was able to use many 2D image processing techniques that included deformation, blurring, and so much more. It was also very “fast and lightweight” on the CPU. This project consisted of 2 graphical elements: autonomous elements and reactive elements. The tools that were used for ‘Expressions’ included TouchDesigner, openFrameworks, and WebGL. The music that was used for the video created different scenes that almost told a unique story due to its sequence.

The correlation between the 2D/3D graphics and the music were able to express the mood/emotion of the scene. With that said, Kynd has always been inspired by digital paint. As an art student with an interest in Expressionism and Neo-Expressionism, Kynd played around with many oils and other substances that we’re able to achieve unique characteristics and expressions. Even today, it constantly amazes me how intertwined technology and art have become over time.

Weather Thingy, Adrien Kaeser, 2018

The Weather Thingy is a custom made sound controller that uses climate events to control the settings of the musical instrument. The piece has 2 parts,
one being a weather station on a tripod microphone, and one being a sound controller connected to the weather station. The station senses wind with an anemometer, rain, and brightness. The station turns this data into “midi data” which can be understood by instruments.

Adrian wanted to make the instrument play live based on the current climate, and have the weather affect the melodies. For example, if the weather station measures rain, the chorus of the melody will change. If the weather station measures wind, the pan of the music will change.

The project used hardware including environmental sensors, weather meters, SparkFun MIDI Shield, encoder rotary knobs, Arduino mega, and Arduino Ienardo. Software that was used in the creation included C++. MIDI protocol, and Arduino.