Research Blog - A brief history of sound recording

Since my project is now incorporating sound recording I thought I would check out the history of sound recording. The first way people could record music was with the invention of machines like the music box. These were basically mechanized instruments that played interchangeable dimpled cylinders. In 1860 the phonautograph recorded the first human voice. The quality was terrible but in 1877 Thomas Edison invented the phonograph which was the first effective way to record sounds. The phonograph also was capable of playing back recordings whereas the phonautograph could only record. In the early 20's breakthroughs in electronics brought on new discoveries of electrical ways of recording and hearing sound. New microphones, speakers, mixers, and recorders were developed that worked by electric means. With the development of the magnetic tape, recordings could now be precisely edited, and recorded over and over on the same tape. From there quality was improved through things like Dolby noise reduction, hi-fi stereo sound, and surround sound. Now that we are in the digital age, this is the primary means of recording, using computers or digital recorders to edit and record sounds.

Artist Lecture - Shimon Attie

Shimon Attie, Present day refugee with dormitory ship ("Flotel Europa") used to house refugees in Copenhagen harbor, 1995, 2 X 1.75 meter "fuji-trans" photograph mounted on light box submerged 1 meter under water, Borsgraven Canal, Copenhagen, Denmark

Shimon Attie, Mulack strabe 37 - former Jewish residence 1932, slide projection of Jewish residents, 1993

Shimon Attie, The Attraction of Onlookers: Aberfan - An Anatomy of a Welsh Village, high-def digital video, date unknown

I enjoyed the first project he showed, but for the most part I was not impressed with Attie's work. His first project was of projections of old photographs on the same buildings that the old photos were taken at. The aesthetic of this was interesting to me and it was an interesting juxtaposition of past and present, but like the rest of his work, I found the subject inaccessible. All his work seems to deal with historic stuff and honestly I find no interest in it. Even though the projection project dealt with German history and I am part German, I still don't really get it. He also did a project on the Welsh village of Aberfan where he asked "what does it take to make a Welsh village?" This made me wonder, who cares? What does this mean for or have to do with me? I understand it was about the tragedy that happened there, but other than trying to show the residents differently than they had been before I'm not sure what this had to do with these people. He made claims like "every Welsh village has a South Asian store owner." Does every Welsh village have a South Asian store owner and why is that? It seemed totally ambiguous. How is this different from any other village, town, or city? I also couldn't understand his recurring method of having people standing still while they rotate on a platform in a black void as if they are statues in a museum. For some reason, it made me angry because I couldn't understand why this was even art, it just seemed weird, random, or inaccessible to me.

Artist Lecture - James Siena

James Siena "Multi-Colored Nesting Unknots" 2004, Gouache on paper, 11" x 8-1/2"

James Siena "Enter The Faces" 1996
enamel on aluminum
19-1/4" x 15-1/8" (48.9 cm x 38.4 cm)

James Sienna, "Corner Drawing", Second Version, graphite on paper, 10 3/4 x 8 1/4", 2000.

James Siena, Battery Variation II, 46 ½ x 37 ¼ inches , 2005, medium unknown

James Siena "Twirly 2" circa 1994-1995, medium and dimensions unknown

James Siena, "Shifted Lattice", 37x27.5", date and medium unknown

I went the the James Siena Painting and Printmaking lecture and found it outstanding. His work really deals with some of the ideas I've been working with this year. Ideas about natural rhythms and patterns. His work particularly reminded me of a research blog I did about sacred geometry. All of his work has a natural flow to it and the way the elements interact and change is very organic. "Multi-Colored Nesting Unknots" and "Enter the Faces" especially reference sacred geometry with the apparent use of fibonacci sequences, they make me thing of this image:
He says his work is built upon a series of rules that he has laid out for himself. This is interesting because it reminded me of my methods of relating music to visual art. Sometimes he will make varying pieces based on the same rules but with different colors making them appear totally different. I really like how he uses rhythms and patterns, they seem to give the paintings a movement or vibration to them. I liked that he said he sometimes breaks his rules because his work is so natural and his thought process is another natural element in the making of his work so if he has a thought to do something different he goes with it.

Artist - Aphex Twin

Today I want to talk about Aphex Twin or Richard David James. I suppose I really only want to talk about one of his songs that relates to my work. While he does do photography for some of his album covers, most of his art lies in his music. Not only is it some of the most influential and original techno music there is, but he has expanded it into the visual realm as well. In his song Mathematical Equation he has converted an image of his face into sound. When the song is played back through a spectral analyzer the tones of the song produce an image in the spectogram.

Image of spectrogram in Aphex Twin - Mathematical Equation at 5:27

And here is a video for the analysis the rest of that song, the face happens at 5:27.


I think this is amazing and didn't know it could be done. I will have to find out how to convert an image to sound like that, it would definitely be something I might want to use in the future. It is very explicative of some of the things I've been talking about, that there are no borders, that there are only places where seemingly different things weave together. It could also be used to talk about the subliminal. I wonder if it is possible to show a whole story in a song. Of course the sounds that this produces are not really the sounds I would choose to use musically so I wonder if there are any other different ways of achieving something like this.

Research blog - Sound Art

For my research I've been looking at sound art. I found a quote by art historian Don Goddard that I thought was really interesting and related to my work," It may be that sound art adheres to curator Hellermann's perception that 'hearing is another form of seeing,' that sound has meaning only when its connection with an image is understood... The conjunction of sound and image insists on the engagement of the viewer, forcing participation in real space and concrete, responsive thought rather than illusionary space and thought." So I got thinking, I really need to make the strength between my images and sounds more evident, so I thought what is another dimension in which they could interact? What if I record sounds for the length of a photograph, using a variety of shutter speeds. This will definitely be something to explore even though it may be moving further away from some of the ideas I've been trying to work with. I also found some awesome sculptures made from sound, unfortunately the website I found these on doesn't specify the artist names or any other information.

Critique Video

My video was slightly painful, but I thought it was going to be way worse than it was. The first thing I noticed was that I looked very serious or angry or maybe scared. I don't know if maybe I always look like that, but I suppose I was a bit nervous because I knew right away that the piece wasn't being viewed properly. I guess it doesn't matter because I'm not going to try and change my face for my next crit, I'm going to look how I look. However, one thing I could try to work on is that I say um and like a lot and I kept doing something with my mouth, playing with my tongue or something. I should refrain from um and like and try not to do fidgety things like play with my tongue. I also feel like I could have responded better to some comments that were made, because in some cases I didn't even respond at all, I guess I was preoccupied with thinking about what was said. I should try to offer a response of how I feel about the comment or how I may be able to use it. When I am reading my artist statement I kind of rush through it and I think it may have been difficult to understand at some parts. I should slow down and make clear what I am saying.

Artist Blog - Yoko Ono and Charles Spearin

Today I want to talk about Yoko Ono. She was mentioned during my critique for her use of sound art. I like her work because she dabbles in all sorts of mediums from performance, to video, to music, to sculpture, much like the way I like to work. I also like the simplicity of a lot of it. I couldn't find any of Ono's sound art pieces, only music videos of her dance music, which I wasn't impressed with. I am downloading some of her other music though so when that is done hopefully I will get a better idea of what her sound art is all about. Here are some pictures of her installations which I liked.

Yoko Ono, Painting to hammer a nail in, 1966, dimensions unknown


Yoko Ono, Play it by trust, 1966-1998.

Yoko Ono, Telephone Piece, Ono periodically calls this phone during the exhibition. date unknown

Also Marion suggested I look at Charles Spearin's conceptual album, The Happiness Project.
I listened to the whole thing and it was very interesting how musical a normal voice is. A little critique though; the accompanying music the the voices on the album had a certain style to it which works in most of the songs, but for some, for example in the last track, Mrs. Morris (Reprise), the jazziness of her voice's instrument doesn't really lend itself to the style of most of the album, I think some of the songs could have really benefited from a jazzier back-up ensemble. It was, however, an awesome experiment in the natural rhythms and melodies that I've been trying to talk about some in my work. I coudn't get this video Marion sent me to work on my computer so I found the music elsewhere, but hopefully you can see it: