New York (Part 2)

I visited La Monte Young & Marian Zazella's 'Dream House' installation, nearby to where we were staying in Tribeca. When we first entered this unassuming loft, we saw purple light and heard a very loud, constant drone. The noise and light flooded the entire floor, immersing us as we wandered about.

After a time though, we finally 'got it'. The light comprised two sources of red and blue and cast odd shadows on objects, urging you to move your head to see better. When moving then, the sound changed, in fact, by a simple left-to-right head movement, the drone now became two distinct pitches.

So in fact, the room itself became an instrument, which you 'played' with the movement of your body. Often different when seated on the floor cushions, or moving deliberately around the room. Fantastic, engaging project. For more, see the MELA Foundation.

I also had the opportunity to spend time in the wonderful Electric Lady Studios, the brainchild of Jimi Hendrix who comissioned John Storyk to build the facility in the late 60s. Many thanks to the generosity of studio manager Lee Foster who looked after me during my visit.

Lee showed me around the three studio spaces (and especially Studio A, where that great music from Hendrix was made), as well as telling me much about the historical background, more recent modifications and the recent projects which have been happening (including Dylan, Guns & Roses, Beyonce and others).

So much history here, and as Lee explained, the artwork around the building was commissioned by Hendrix himself who wanted a 'spaceship' (albeit, psychedelic). Spine-chilling really, to wander the rooms and the corridors.
Inspired, I headed off in search on Manny's, where Hendrix, Dylan and others shopped for their guitars.


I came away with this fantastic Martin CF-1, a collaboration between Martin Guitars and Dale Unger (American Archtop). Represenative of that special period where the acoustic guitar evolved into the electric, it's not simply a jazz guitar, but rather, a high quality acoustic instument with a pickup fitted.

A great piece of memorabilia from New York, Manny's and a reminder of why I started playing music in the first place: Jimi Hendrix.

New York (Part 1)

Following the Lowell, Massachusetts Art of Record Production conference, I headed down to New York for a week to catch up with Bill Duckworth and Nora Farrell. Some of this was about work and the forthcoming Sound Gardens project, scheduled to be undertaken in a range of Queensland locations in 2009.

However, being the amazing people that they are, I got a lot more that I would have imagined - thanks Bill & Nora: was an amazing experience being hosted in NYC by locals! They also put on an amazing birthday evening for me in their New Jersey home, right across the Hudson from Manhattan:

View from Bill & Nora's New Jersey apartment.

What a way to do pumpkin soup!

Over the week, we got to experience so many wonderful perspectives on New York arts, including Birdland, Chelsea galleries, Smoke (jazz club), the Apple Store and others.

Tommy Igoe Birdland Big Band.

Chelsea gallery.

The Apple store.

Smoke, Jazz and Supper Club Lounge (featuring the Larry Goldings Trio

Nora and Jenny in Times Square.

We also experienced this gigantic multimedia installation at MoMA: Pipilotti Rist's Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters).

More about New York and Music Technology in New York (Part 2) of this blog, but for now: thanks so much to Bill and Nora and very much looking forward to treating them to Australia when they visit, next June 2009.

The Art of Record Production conference, Lowell USA

Presently visiting the USA, via LA, to Boston then to Lowell for the 4th annual international Art of Record Production conference.


This year, the conference was hosted by UMass Lowell's music department and the home of Prof William Moylan, the author of one of the world's leading music technology education texts, Understanding and Crafting the Mix, Second Edition: The Art of Recording.

One of the highlights was the opening keynote from industry legend record producer Phil Ramone (14 Grammys!), who also has just launched his new book, Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music. He spoke at length with wonderful personal tales about his work with Dylan, Streisand, Sinatra, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, on and on . . .

Another highlight was Lowel's 'critical listening room' where conference delegates were treated to amazing sound and analysis work with both famous recordings, as well as exceptional work form their graduate (Masters) students.

A discussion panel featured Dj Spooky (Paul Miller), Steve D'Agostino, David Hewitt, Mark Rubel on the theme 'The Recording Studio as Musical Instrument'.

I presented a paper entitled On disintermediated culture, education, and craft and it was teriffic to meet UMass's Wil Moylan and Alan Williams, as well as old friends from the UK (I saw them last at the first 2005 APR conference in London).

Speaking of old friends, following the ARP conference here, I'll then be heading down to New York city for a week, to catch up with William Duckworth and Nora Farrell. Bill and Nora were in Australia last 2007 and collaborated with the Queensland Conservatorium research centre on the fabulous iOrpheus - Art Among Us. Will be plotting for iOrpheus II.

Music, Recording, and the Art of Interpretation

Presently working on a new research project with pianist extrodinaire, Dr Stephen Emmerson. The project examines the recordings of a series of classical piano works, but rather than try to attempt to record these 'authentically' (following the recent fascination with recordings 'as' music), the project aims to deliberately manipulate and re-construct the pieces as sound art or 'phonography', with a view to expanding of some of the underlying narratives.

As a starting point, we took a series works performed by Stephen on the 29 October 2008 in the Queensland Conservatorium’s Ian Hanger Recital Hall. The compositions date from 1908, regarded as a landmark in the history of European Modernism with a number of the 20th century’s most remarkable composers finding their distinctive voice around that time via seminal works for solo piano. These included Alban Berg’s Sonata Op.1, Arnold Schoenberg’s 3 Piano Pieces Op.11 and Béla Bartók’s 14 Bagatelles Op.6.

Here's a few excerpts from the concert:

Boomp3.com

Boomp3.com

Boomp3.com

Next, we're working to present a paper and interactive session in the IMERSD recording studios as part of the CreateWorld 2008 digital arts conference, this coming December. In particular, we will be preparing 5 of Bartók’s Bagatelles, famous as a collection of pieces which explore a range of innovative compositional techniques (polytonality/bitonality, symmetry, twelve-note collections, quartal harmony, clusters etc.) as well as reflecting his explorations with folk music.

The range of the musical languages employed has encouraged the view that they are a collection of separate individual and almost incompatible pieces. However, as a musciologist, Emmerson is convinced that the sharp contrasts in style are part of the overall concept of the work as a cycle of pieces that successively builds with a cohesive sense of narrative progression. Beyond merely a collection of compositional experiments or exercises, he understands them as having strong emotional and programmatic implications that develop through the cycle.

Stephen has come up with a range of 'sound types' to parallel musicological arguments about the personal emotions and historical settings for the pieces, and we'll be producing these though a variety of multi-track and post-production techniques, including varing treatments for right and left hand parts . .

. . . overdubs, layers, compression, tape distortion, a host of microphone placements and manipulations of spatiality. 

Fundamentally, the project challenges the predominant approach in the recording of classical music where such works promote the illusion of capturing a concert experience and that sound production decisions appear to be transparent. Here the authors argue that classical music language can benefit from deliberate interference in the recorded product provided this is congruent with research into the underpinning musical meanings. 

And so the music is not just manipulated/remixed to produce an essentially a different piece (although this remains a valid possibility) but maintains that central aspect of musicking which leads to new ways of experiencing music. If this can be realised, then perhaps the artists have begun to master the art of interpretation and the ability to speak music’s language more effectively.

We'll be continuing the project following CreateWorld by producing all the works on Steinway and recorded in the Conservatorium's Concert Theatre. Aiming for a journal articel early in the new year, accompanied by a two CD set and booklet. Perhaps 'before and after' CDs, and what we're most interested in is – which one is really the 'fake'?