Artist at work

Experiments. The cycle of life.

Real life sound-experiments with drops on hot metal plates (without using audiofilters or effects).

For this last project of the Splashbox, I had converted this self-built sound-sculpture to a fairground attraction, a money collector for the 80 meter long Motorshiff Stubnitz. This is a floating German music platform which had to go into dock, and asked for contributions to do so. Together with Lucas Simonis, I compiled a CD of the Dutch experimental music scene and we organized an event, the proceeds of which went to this ship.

By tossing a coin into the Splashbox, a different unique short dance of the coin, or coins, started, caused by varying vibrations. A fully automated process, I had cobbled together and was programmed with an Arduino module. I used a little lightbeam and a lightsensor, which made a random program start, in case a short interruption happened, caused by the passing coin. In the final set-up a little bit of water was added into the collector, so the coins could dance into the water.

The background music you hear, is separate from the installation and is made by my favorite German band: Ammer & Console.

Preparing the stage for the 'Instrument Design Competition' at Georga Tech Atlanta, department Music Technology as well as a window concert for 1 visitor. Both with the same instrument, I called Splashbox. Camera: Robert (my friend from Germany).

To let my instrument fit in a suitcase I had to cut it into pieces. Although I was not nominated for a prize, one of the panel-members David Zicarelli, (the founder of Pure Data software. (By the way this opensource software is the base of this instrument)) mentioned that I should receive a prize for getting my stuff through the US customs. He wouldn't be surprised at all if the ingredients of my instrument were considered to be suspicious, and that my suitcase just got lost, which it didn't fortunately. This was not just stupid luck. I sticked a friendly letter to the customs in the inside of my suitcase, with a picture of my instrument in an assembled state, a list with too complicated technical details and the official invitation to George Tech, and some funny jokes.

SPLASHBOX enables vibrations to become audible underwater. 2 bassins of water are put in motion by a remote controller and made audible by using underwater microphones. In my live performances I make compositions with the resonance of selected daily objects under water by adding or removing them. During this wet dance a minicamera is connected. Moving images of the soundsoup are projected on a big screen, so the audience can have a look into the source of this soundkitchen. This mini-laboratorium shows a real time research with the sounds of daily objects around us, mixed together with the sound of (under)water and very low frequencies..

Building the Splashbox during an artist-in-residency at Artspace Flipside

The very first version of my self-developed instrument, and building the final version during an artist-in-residence project in Eindhoven.

SPLASHBOX enables vibrations to become audible underwater. 2 bassins of water are put in motion by a remote controller and made audible by using underwater microphones. In my live performances I make compositions with the resonance of selected daily objects under water by adding or removing them. During this wet dance a mini-camera is connected. Moving images of the sound-soup are projected on a big screen, so the audience can have a look into the source of this sound-kitchen. This mini-laboratorium shows a real time research with the sounds of daily objects around us, mixed together with the sound of (under)water and very low frequencies

Playing around with everything and nothing

Preparing the stage during Brug Theater festival Alkmaar in the Irish pub, for a performance with a self-built instrument

Collaboration with Yann Keller.

My first exam with an autonomous work. The task was to make a mobile, something that hangs, further there were no restrictions.
I made a soundsculpture of it, my own choice. I had no idea that a lot of them would follow. It was based on tiny electronic feedback-circuits that made noises.

It was my first encounter with electronica. It consisted of electro-magnets with piezo-elements attached, that moved them in the area of a speaker, and triggered the feedback noises. I was able to control them, by adjusting the interval triggers (with a little screwdriver), which were providing electricity to the magnets. The teachers (Edwin van de Heide, Robin Deirkauf, Jan Zoet and Frans Evers) reacted very enthusiastic.

Videoclip made in and around my former sound-studio, playing with the Rauschmaschine and the first version of my Splashbox, which are both used in the soundtrack. This work has been a part of a sound-exhibition in Melbourne. All participants were asked to give the viewer a look into their sound-kitchen and the environment.

https://thelibraryartspace.blogspot.com/2013/08/essi-experimental-sounds-sculpture-and.html

Playing with my pneumatic soundsculpture and digital noise.

More info: http://margrietkicks-ass.nl/pneuma-tix.html

Experiments with digital and analogue audio-filters, in a room with great acoustics (a bunker at NDSM Amsterdam) and my former own workspace.

First experiments with the Rauschmaschiene, after having finished the building process, during a residency at NDSM-Treehouse.

More info: http://margrietkicks-ass.nl/sound-quaker.html

Having fun with my audio-patch.

Links:
Pure Data software: https://puredata.info/
More about my soundart: http://margrietkicks-ass.nl/

Playing around with pulse width modulation. Unfinished patch, but sounds great already. I had to take a break to make recordings. Structured self-operating randomized chaos in progress. I can listen hours to this patch.

Links:
Pure Data software: https://puredata.info/
More about my soundart: http://margrietkicks-ass.nl/

Although I am working out a very precise spatialisation script for a radioplay with the audiosoftware Ardour, I am experimenting as well with my own design automated spatialisation-patch built in Pure Data for a pre-recorded stereo file distributed over 8 loudspeakers. One modus is completely random (front-patch), and in the second patch I can choose between a modus which goes through each separate speaker, one circels around in sets of 2 speakers, and one goes from the 4 speakers on the bottom to the four on the top. The timing can be adjusted and the different speaker-scripts can be randomized as well (following up one another in an unpredictable way.)
In the second patch the spatialisation of the left channel programs the outputs of the right channel (the leftovers), so that a speaker doesn't receive more than one signal at a time (in theory). The right channel has a few silences in the original soundfile, so there is no stack overflow. The data are quite light anyway, although there might be some latency. So much fun to work with this. Difficult to record, because my room is quite small. The pre-recorded audiofile is made with Pure Data as well and I am using the external 'else' library. Work in progress.

Links:
Pure Data software: https://puredata.info/
More about my soundart: http://margrietkicks-ass.nl/

Sponsored by Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
https://www.stimuleringsfonds.nl/

Domme vragen stellen in de praktijk; met Alice op bezoek bij Bas op de brug en in de machinekamer.

In the first patch with the audiometers I made a fully automated version, random numbers are switching random speakers at random moments on and off. Although you see 16 channels, there are actually 8. The extra 8 channels are virtual ones, these I use in the 2nd patch. I am splitting a stereo file in 2, adding to channel 2 a reverb varying from 0 to 90 and back, with random stops with different lengths in between. This makes the signal more spatial.

In the 2nd automation patch, the order and combination of speakers is determined, whereas the timing is constantly changing. I have made 12 presets, differing from 1 at a time, 2 at a time, 3 at a time, and 4 at a time. 10 presets are randomly timed, and 2 of them have an accelerator, varying from 100 milliseconds to 1 second and back, with time-delays in between. This means that the route stays the same, but that the timing is constantly speeding up, or slowing down (between 100 ms and 1000 ms).

In the 2nd patch I am using the extra (virtual) 8 channels (I mentioned already) with a time-delay, this is actually the 2nd mono-signal, following the first mono-signal via the same route of speakers, with a time delay of 700 milliseconds, to prevent that all speakers are at the same time silent. So each speaker receives the 2 mono-signals directly after each other. This makes the presets a little bit more unexpected as well, because of fading out times, and delay times. This I have done on purpose, to make it more dynamically, not too predictable.
A random counter switches between the different presets, and disconnects the random timer when one of the accelerators are activated. By recording directly to the harddisc, an 8-channel soundfile is generated, with a smooth fade in and fade out of 2 seconds at the beginning and end of the file, and of course all the sound-fragments have fade ins and outs as well, albeit with different lengths. Of course the minimum and maximum timings (the range of the random generators) can always be adjusted.

In addition this patch can be played live as well (for instance with a midi-controller). It is so great to play around with this stuff and I am proud that I managed to program this on my own, without any help and that it works exactly as I wish, without errors or stack overflows, and in my own logic.

This project is sponsored by Creative Industries Fund NL
https://www.stimuleringsfonds.nl/