57-344/60-407 Spring 2017
The foundation for this piece is a collection of field recordings I gathered this past weekend. Some of the techniques incorporated include granular synthesis, time stretching, side-chain compression, re-sampling, filter/pan automation and convolution reverb.
Without tainting your initial perception I was going for a feeling of longing and reflection, hope you were able to experience that as well.
Here is the link to my PD patch which, similar to what Sara showed in class, takes an A minor chord and randomizes the input volume.
I believe Golan Levin sought to flip our perception on how we can be creative as artists, not so much as pushing the boundaries of the obscure/avant-garde realm via technology but really delving into the origins of how we traditionally visualize sound to isolate what truly draws us in as humans towards the experience of nature, work, or a piece of sound art. I will discuss some of the ramifications of this overarching theme and present some examples to support my claim.
Golan first started off his presentation referencing a work of art which stunningly portrayed projected facial reactions of music critics to a live performance. One can strive for automation or robotic manipulation of sound but one of the most powerful mediums for enhancement of the emotional experience of music would be the human face. Witnessing facial expressions convey their myriad of emotions will always have a direct and profound impact on the viewer. Vis-versa, from an alternative perspective it has been proven that music shapes the way we perceive facial expressions. There exists a strong symbiotic relationship between the visual and auditory cortex. The illusion of what we think we see in a facial expression can override what we are hearing, this is has been proven via experiment and is called the McGurk effect.
