Essays

Act I. The Globe. It has been a standing joke for years now, each time I leave London I kick myself for again forgetting to visit the New Globe.  Finally this inattention or amnesia has been remedied with the purchase of a five pound ticket for a standing place in the yard where I watched […]

Snap, Crackle and Pop; On listening, memory and amnesia. Your words are preserved in the tin foil and will come back upon the application of the instrument years after you are dead in exactly the same tone of voice you spoke in then…This tongueless, toothless instrument, without larynx or pharynx, dumb, voiceless matter, nevertheless mimics […]

This article originally appeared in RealTime Edition 83, Febuary/March 2008 and is reproduced here with the permission of the writer and RealTime http://www.realtimearts.net

“MÉXICO IS DIFFERENT LIKE A TRAVEL FOLDER SAYS.” THUS QUOTH THE IMMORTAL BARD, RY COODER. THROUGH THE LENS OF THE RECENT TRANSITIO_MX02 FESTIVAL OF ELECTRONIC ARTS & VIDEO YOU CAN SEE WHY. OVER A PLATE OF CHILES RELLENOS, DIRECTOR OF THE TRANSITIO_MX02 FESTIVAL GRACE QUINTANILLA RECOUNTS A STORY HER YOUNG SON TOLD HER, IT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

This article originally appeared in RealTime Edition 82, Dec/Jan 2007 and is reproduced here with the permission of the writer and RealTime http://www.realtimearts.net

A visit to the beach in darkest Austria!

A Nomadic Ear treatment

The Nomadic Ear.

Sonography, Cartography and the design of Sonic Narratives for Non-Linear Experience.

Preamble; getting immersed.

In discussing Immersive Environments we find ourselves at the mercy of a phalanx of aqueous meta-phors, saturated in an inescapable lexicon that engulfs our senses, saturating our frames in the fluid medium of sound.  So be it; let us be carried away on the flood to be inundated in the ocean of sound.  This text is concerned with concepts of spatiality, of location and the interactions of sounding bodies that articulate and activate the soundscape, how we as auditors experience the sonic domain and how we as authors compose and construct compelling immersive audioscapes.

This article originally appeared in RealTime Edition 81, Oct/Nov 2007 and is reproduced here with the permission of the writer and RealTime http://www.realtimearts.net

A Cultural Travelogue of the big shows in Europa 2007.

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It’s all around you ~ so read all about it! AudioNomadism or a description in plain English of how to do very complicated things with location sensitive spatial audio The download is a bit slow ~ but it’s worth the wait!

This article originally appeared in RealTime Edition 70, Dec/Jan 2005 and is reproduced here with the permission of the writer and RealTime http://www.realtimearts.net

Imagine starkness;
“A late evening in the future ~ Krapp’s den.
Front centre a small table, the two drawers of which open towards audience.  Sitting at the table, facing front, i.e. across from the drawers, a wearish old man: Krapp.
Rusty black narrow trousers too short for him. Rust black sleeveless waistcoat, four capacious pockets. Heavy silver watch and chain. Grimy white shirt open at neck, no collar. Surprising pair of dirty white boots, size ten at least, very narrow and pointed.  White face. Purple nose. Disordered grey hair. Unshaven.
Very near-sighted (but unspectacled). Hard of hearing. Cracked voice. Distinctive intonation. Laborious walk.
On the table a tape-recorder with microphone and a number of cardboard boxes containing reels of recorded tapes.
Table and immediately adjacent area in strong white light. Rest of stage in darkness……..”.

Imagine a child of the ‘jet-age’ living in an unobtrusive coastal village, mid-way between the dwelling of Blake, the artist, poet and visionary and that of his friend, the scientist and astronomer Halley.  The child proceeds with eyes wide open to technics and ears tuned to poetics ……