Upcoming release on Room40

I have a releaseTransductions coming out on June 5th with Room40. The album was recorded using a Diskclavier, an acoustic piano that can be controlled by an external MIDI source. In this case, a modular synthesiser is producing the MIDI data through an improvised performance of a generative patch design. Transductions is an attempt to reduce some of my approaches to electronic music down to a simpler form, retaining the structures and systems but swapping the limitless tone colours of a synthesiser for the timbre range of an acoustic piano.

My own interest in electronic music has often focused upon dynamic, complex and often noisy sounds made possible through synthesis, more recently focusing upon analog modular synthesisers as the source of these emissions. Through my use of modular synthesisers I have become more aware of my interest in systems that generate musical structure, especially when the line between timbre and composition structure becomes difficult to identify.

The compositions for Transductions were produced using simple analog components such as low-frequency oscillators (LFO), wavefolders, clock dividers and sample and hold circuits, interconnected to create complex dependencies and feedback loops, resulting in precarious systems that respond erratically to subtle interventions. Perhaps echoing Joel Chadabe's description of performing with his own electronic music systems as being akin to 'sailing a boat on a windy day and through stormy seas'. (The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music).

The title Transductions and the various track names refer to a shift in energetic form, from electric to kinetic through the Diskclaviers solenoid, from kinetic to sound vibration, from a vibrating car to vibrating body as I dose with my cheekbone against the passenger window during a long road trip. I have worked almost exclusively with electronic sound for so long; hearing and seeing the piano's physical body shake made me appreciate anew the complexity of the real world.

Tranductions can be preordered here. 

Interview: Warren Burt

Photo: Roberto Laneri.

In late 2019 I was lucky to have the opportunity to sit down and chat with Warren Burt at Brunetti’s in Carlton (Melbourne). Warren has made incredible contributions to electronic music, in both the US and Australia for several decades now as a artist, teacher, writer, instrument designer and organiser.

Warren managed to cover a lot of territory (some of it in one breath!) including his experiences as a student and teacher at Albany, UC San Diego, Latrobe Uni, Clifton Hill Music Center and now Box Hill Institute, some of his ideas around electronic music composition, analog systems, improvisation, and instrument design, and association and encounters with a range of other well known electronic music pioneers including Serge Tcherepnin, Pauline Oliveros, Rich Gold, and Randy Cohen as well as some of Warren’s projects like Plastic Platypus and the Aardvarks IV instrument.

You can find out more about Warren at his website.

If you are interested in knowing more about Australian electronic music history Warren wrote an excellent paper on live electronics in Australia back in 1991.

Warren has also kindly allowed me to share one of his early pieces created with his Aardvarks IV instrument.

All Hell Broke Loose One Sunday Afternoon when the Checker Demon and His Buddies Hung Out At Dinty Moore’s Saloon. Warren Burt 1972

Analog Algorithms: Generative Composition in Modular Synthesis

I did my first paper presentation at an academic conference last year - Australian Computer Music Conference - full proceedings here, my contribution titled Analog Algorithms: Generative Composition in Modular Synthesis is here.

Abstract:

The contemporary re-emergence of modular synthesisers as a popular tool for music making rejects much of the conveniences afforded by advancements in music technology in the past 40 years, an idea that challenges our understanding of the relationship of electronic music composers to technology. Given the dominance of the computer in music making since the early 1990s there is a temptation to situate the modular synthesiser in opposition, focusing upon the modular instrument's tangible interface and a general shift away from the ubiquitous computer as primary drivers for the return to modular synthesis (Paradiso 2017). I argue that generative compositional approaches, specific to modular synthesisers, are another factor that should be considered in relation to this re-emergence. The modular synthesis paradigm foregrounds generative compositional processes designed not only to create sound, but to generate musical events and control signals. Many module designs carry a legacy of generative processes that can be traced back to the earliest commercial synthesisers. These generative approaches exhibit attributes that are intrinsically distinguishable from those developed in the field of computer music.

Castle Bravo

Live AV inprov recording.

A Long Road

I’ve recently revisited a slightly abandoned video art making practice. I used play a lot with analog video using a huge sony professional CRT making use of the separate inputs for vertical and horizontal sync along with an ancient test oscillator plugged into various inputs. 

Unfortunately after moving house with the 30kg + sony for about the 4th time I lost my patience and left it for the council to pick up. 

Silent version of video work made in 2007 using HP square wave oscillator from 1960's and fed back mixer going into Sony monitor on RGB and V + H sync.

Starfish Prime

Video using LZX modular video system controlled by eurorack modular synth patch. I’m interested in performing with intrinsically linked audio video - using both modulators of the audio and the audio itself to effect the image.