weimerhead

This week in Audio Arts we focused on routing signal through patch-bays. The picture above shows the three main types of connection; Semi-normalised, Normalised and Thru. This class gave me an appreciation of the pertinency of routing, in terms of the organisation and efficiency of a studio. For somebody working in a studio, having a clear image of the way signal travels around patch bays, mixers and other devices is a vital element of being able to utilise the technology to the fullest potential. The organisation and efficiency of a sound technician seems to rely somewhat on the user being familiar with the equipment and the way it has been implemented. Again highlighting the importance of concise organisation, in Creative Computing we discussed Metadata.

In forum class I was somewhat enthralled by Glen Branca’s ‘Symphony Num. 3’ -Gloria. After David mentioned that Branca composed the piece for six electric guitars (among other instruments) which were to be bow with loose horse hair I was intrigued. Despite reminding me of the soundtrack to a 1980’s science fiction film, I found the mantra extremely intense and it vividly played with my imagination. With such a constant, thick array of sounds I found that while I listened to Gloria it was impossible to take in everything at once, and at times some ‘ringey’ tones became less or more annoying as you focused on different noises. This ultimately gave me the idea that all music and noise in general is a unique experience for each listener. The spectrum of hums created by the array of guitars combined to sound like the engine of a flying saucer. The frequent chime of bells added another eerie quality to the piece, which I though aided it in sounding unearthly. The other obvious catalyst of this was the exploration of overtones, which progressively gave my mind’s eye an image that the large flying saucer that was gearing up for space flight. Ultimately, the plethora of harmonics built up, propelling the piece towards climax. The abundance of dissonance in the piece, which could be felt on chords held for extremely long periods, established that this was not ‘pleasant music’ but rather an idea of a ‘sound scape’. Works that aim not simply to please the ear, instead existing under a different objective, always seem to leave more of an impression on me, mainly because I think it’s more reflective of life rather than pleasure.

Bibliography

Haines, Christian. "Audio Arts - Patchbay Routing." Practical class in the EMU (5th floor), Schulz Building, University of Adelaide, 07 March (2006).

Haines, Christian. "Creative Computing - Audio File Formats." Practical class presented in the Audio Lab (Schulz 4.07), University of Adelaide, 09 March (2006).

Harris, David. "Music Technology Workshop." Workshop presented in the EMU (Schulz Level 5), University of Adelaide, 09 March (2006).