Before Proto!

Audio from my project- before proto board

Pandora's Sound Box by brigidrose

Hacked and bent

Here is my bent project, mostly put back in it's case!

Yet Another Kids Keyboard

So the bending of my Valentine Monster was also not so successful. I thought he would be really fun to play with, but he was too well put together and it was too hard to get to parts of the circuit without completely taking out every last ever loving screw. So, now he shall rest in pieces at my parents house in New Hampshire, as I have found a new victim.

Getting Bent - Take 2

Due to the recent and untimely death of my pink keyboard, I have decided to tell this gem to get bent instead. Here is a video of how it acted before the bending began! Also, if you watch carefully, you will get to see a portion of my cat! Its a two for one deal!

Curios

So, apparently none of my previous video posts feel like working, but here is a link to my youtube channel which contains all of the videos that we shot!

http://www.youtube.com/user/brigidrose

A series of tests!

A series of tests

Potential Project Ideas

So I'm thinking I would like to try to explore using instruments in an unconventional way, but I'm not sure if this feels far enough away from the example in the book. Other ideas include manipulating water with the sound waves coming off of these instruments and using them in a scene that looks like two people having a normal dialogue. For example, maybe we can be at a dinner table set up and having a conversation about what we did that day but through our own symbols. To me, the sound that comes off of the symbols when vibrated off the speakers makes me think of having a strained conversation, like one that might take place at the dinner table of an unhappy couple.

Piezo Sound Samples... Finally

Sorry for the delay! Some of these samples are me trying to get the levels right with the m-audio. There are also a few really cool ones that I took up in Kensington when there was a big fire going on, and a few that are songs that I recorded at band practice. There is an extra drum kit in our practice space, so for each song I tried taping the mic to a different drum head to see how the sound would turn out. For the most part it was pretty garbled, but there was one drum that did a really great job of recording.

Enjoy!

Piezo mic sound samples

I have had some issues with trying to attain a recording device that would properly pick up the vibrations I'm getting from my microphone. First I thought my iPhone would be able to do so, but I was mistaken. Then, my back up plan of using garage band on my computer failed because I was unable to figure out how to change the input settings in the program. I also tried changing the input settings in my computers preferences, but that did not work as I had hoped either.

Long story short, I have an m-audio device that I am taking out of the equipment room today, so I should have recordings to post to my blog very soon.

This is a place holder!

Sound Installation Progress

Here are pictures of my potential sound installation ideas, along with a video of my progress and a link to my sound cloud account where my sound clips live!

This first idea is supposed to be a comment about our vanity and our obsession with how others perceive us. I thought it would be interesting to explore the kind of reactions people would have if they had to sit in front of a mirror listening to the sounds of people laughing. How uncomfortable would they be? What kind of emotions would they be feeling?

For my second idea I wanted to comment on the fact that in todays world we are busy and self centered. We are always talking, but never really listening. I wanted to play off of that idea by presenting the viewer of my piece with this very familiar image of a tin can phone. Everyone knows that you are supposed to talk into it and then listen for what your friend has to say, however, with this phone all you hear is someone talking at you and you never get any time to respond. Just listening. How does that feel?

I'm not sure as of yet what the audio will be. I am thinking it will either be of a woman I recorded in the subway who was trying to give a speech but was being ignored, or it might be a recording of people asking rhetorical questions.

http://soundcloud.com/brigidrose

Sound Samples

Going into this project without a very clear direction, I first started to take samples of sounds that I have always found comforting, rain hitting my roof, the hum of an engine passing slowly by. After taking a few samples of sounds like this, I decided to try and flip the switch, and find sounds that were inherently not relaxing. I took samples of the busy city street, a sample of shoes clicking on tile and tapping impatiently, and even samples of awkward conversations had in a crowded elevator. The resulting seven clips can be found here: http://soundcloud.com/brigidrose.

I think that going forward, I would like to make some kind of installation that attempts to play with your mind. First the sounds are low, soft and soothing. Then, you are abruptly woken up from this kind of dream state and thrown into oncoming traffic, or other such scary/uncomfortable situations. The uncomfortable noises lasting only briefly at first, but over time they will seem to take over, until there is finally nothing but harsh nerve wracking sound.