We received sponsorship headwear from Atlas Copco! The Sound of Work: Blacksmith sample pack is turning into a weird side quest to corporate sound archeology. I contacted the companies marketing departments in Finland and Sweden and we received caps from both branches (Caps that were shipped for Jesse have a modern look and I got a more subtle grey version). Atlas Copco is a key company in the nordic mining and manufacturing culture. It’s a living fossil of an organization, which is rooted in pre-copyright manufacturing culture and it’s wealth is based accessibility to local raw ores. I always remove or hide branding from my clothing but this is a rare treat and I’ll keep the logo on. Unfortunately the shape of the cap is silly. The story is impressive though.
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A list of filenames of the recordings we made with Jesse last weekend (excluding b,c,… versions of the same tools/work-phases). I’ve been mastering the samples using Logic Pro X. After a frustrating day with tutorials I found a decent workflow. We recorded two files on each take. A master and secondary-file in -6db (Tascam Dr-40 can simultaneously write two files from the same input). If the monitored master has peaked, I can repair it using the secondary-file. In Logic Pro X I have each file is on separate track. After tweaks I can select both as a “region” and then “bounce the region in place” on a new track, which can be exported. It will take me two weeks of daily work to master the entire collection (But I hope to have some test samples ready for the weekend).
I contacted Atlas Copco company in Helsinki and told them about our audio-archeological project (Majority of the hammer and drill tools we recorded were old Atlas Copco). They were pleased to hear about the project and promised to send a Atlas Copco branded cap for Jesse! It remains to be seen if something will develop from the engagement with the company.
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Visited Hybrid Matter symposium at TeaK last Thursday. Jennifer Gabrys gave a talk concerning animals as sensors. She referenced projects that had embedded animals with sensory technologies to collect data on weather conditions, migration routes etc. The approach is of interest for our Trans-Horse project. We’ve investigated the possibility to set the horse’s views and environmental requirements as a premise of urban planning in hopes of crafting more environmentally engaged and versatile environments. Gabrys approach was critical and she argued the majority of animal aided data is used to confirm human perceptions. She is currently working in a project called citizensense.net. Her talk gave me the idea to use the horse care-journals of the Mounted police of Helsinki as data to study city development!
Steen Rasmussen gave an interesting talk about BINC economics (bio-, info-, nano- and cogno.). His talk was a useful reminder of the historical importance of the middle class: The empowered, wealthy and democratic middle class of the last century was a unique historical glitch and automation of labor is it’s biggest threat. He was optimistic about 3d printing and other “new” manufacturing technologies and urged the audience to engage with new technologies open mindedly. Unfortunately many new technologies categorically renunciate agency of the makers. This renunciation is embedded in modern worldviews – Factories and 3d printers are equally bad! There are no new technologies.. New tools fuel the same old colonization. After the symposiums I came across the concept of Critical Making which I’ll have to study more. Critical Making seems to fit many Ore.e Refineries projects neatly.
On Friday I joined a dinner organized by the Union for Rural Culture and Education. The dinner completed my involvement with the Grey Cube Gallery project. I was seated next to Päivi and sound artist Petri Kuljuntausta. Kuljuntausta was kind enough to share field recording techniques and motivated me to continue with sonic experimentations. We talked about the Ihme audio-guide project I completed last spring and he had some ideas on whom to contact concerning the future of the project. I had to leave the dinner early as I rushed to Turku. On the buss I read some of Kuljuntaustas texts on sound art. He has used a KaossPad in his live setup.
In Turku I met with Jesse and we made 232 separate machine/tool sounds and two binaural recording at his smithy (The binaural equipment is on loan from Circus Maximus). The recording went as planned and we worked on site for eight hours. The majority of the sounds are high pitched and we’ll possibly make additional recordings next year. Jesse had the idea of fitting the smithys floor with piezo microphones, so that we could hear the bottom end sounds. We’ll likely call this sample-pack “Sound of Work: Blacksmith vol.1”. I’ll demo the sounds for Jesse next weekend.
I’m meeting students from the Kankaanpää Art School online this week to discuss their upcoming graduate exhibition and art projects. Also met with Antoine Pickels concerning possible Trans-Horse engagements next year.
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Jesse was excited about the idea of making field and sample recording at his smithy. We’ll make a sample-pack of pre-industrial (aka. true-post-industrial) sounds. Our aim is to sample pneumatic tools, anvils&hammers, steel forging at various temperatures, grinders, welding machines, power hammers and other tools Jesse uses as a blacksmith. We’ll possibly use binaural mics for ambient sounds and I’ll use the Tascam dr-40 with an external Sony ECM-NV1 mic for mono (and the device mics for stereo) sounds. The recordings will be a bit noisy but I don’t mind.
The pack will be called “Ore.e Refineries – Pre-industrial Sample-pack” (or something) and launched trough our website. Samples will possibly be hosted at archive.org (as a .zip) and on freesound.org. The pack will offer creatives who serve the post-scarcity economy, laboring on intangible projects at silent office sites and generic cafeterias an opportunity to manifest their moods and express their desires making music from sounds of pre-industrial labor, tools and technology.
I’ll also make an edition of 64 samples (totalling 60s of audio) which I can use with my Novation Circuit. The device received an update (v. 1.4) which makes it possible to make polyrhythmic sample patterns. Youtube user loopop also shared a way to play samples using chromatic etc. scales (using custom pattern templates) which offers fun possibilities. I’m still conflicted whether to expand my newfound interest in sounds towards analogue synths (in an effort to seek out new tones) or if I should focus on working more with samples and recordings (in an effort to understand and possibly deconstruct contemporary soundscapes).
Minimal-Modular (Like Erica synth Pico line) vs. Roland SX 404sx.
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Videos of Antti Salminen investigating how art is going to change as we run out of oil, Eeva Anttila presenting dance as the ultimate post-fossil artform (she’s arguing in a modern fashion) and Jesse Sipola living the dream.
Learning “The Theory of Affordances” by James J. Gibson (The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, 1979) in an effort to understand how animals change the way we perceive our surroundings. As we learn to work with the animal we are granted new “affordances” to the environment and collaboration between horses and humans build habits which benefit both species. Jussi Parikka cites J.J Gibson in his “Mutating Media Ecologies” (2015) article. The controversial concept of Niche Construction also offers interesting routes for investigation!
When investigating affordances I found a funny fitness project by Anne-Marie Skriver Hansen “Bringing Performance Art into Everyday Life Situations“.