This will be Cairngorms 1 page - it will link through to other Cairngorms pages and also back to other things do on trips with CW / JRF

 

School of Art Tests - July 2018

 

SheeWater - Royal Birmingham Conservator November 2018and other tests



This is a link back to the introduction page

1.d Smooth and striated

 

  • The quote – about smooth spaces being those of haecceities and quiddities
  • And something about the symbiotic nature of the relationship – between that and striated spaces
  • A bit of film from first PGR studio as background?

 

 

So I have been stumbling through, looking for ways to make and write – and something that began to make a sort of sense to me was that I needed a way of holding open these spaces of gatherd stuff; so I could work with them / the material and into it – with out it being, squashed, flattened – made static.

 

Deleuze and Guattari speak in 1000 plateaus (1440) the idea of smooth and striated spaces

 

Smooth spaces which are spaces of haecceities and quiddities the this ness of stuff and a space of encounter – spaces of affect; and striated spaces, of structure and organisation; they talk about these 2 spaces being mutually interdependent, that one cannot exist without the other - but that they are not static in there mode, a smooth space may become a striated and vice versa – that they are not stable, not permanent. 

 

When I set ‘work’ up in a space, it needs a or a number of structures to hold it, these may be as basic as; a usb stick, a support that holds a projector, a speaker stand  but also the structure of the spaces between and around them and how that’s set out and how the ‘stuff’ is materialised, so that the video and the projection or the audio recordings and edited tracks, the images and the sounds sit between, in , through those spaces and move between them 

 

But also at moments of choosing, I might take a form from the place where things were collected, or as in the case of this presentation,  take the rough plan I wrote on a plane, and use that ‘plan’, running with it as far as it seems useful and then letting it change and shift

 

I am interested in structures that are flexible, supportive and permeable – I am interested in the commonplace and every day – I am interested in how things happen when things / people come together – I am interested in difference (and similarity ) over time 

 Cairngorms gathering trip / critial review outline

Overview:

 

 

I had previously been on field recording ‘filed trips’ as well as workshops with both Chris and Jez; when the opportunity arose I knew that this trip would give me a concentrated period of time in which to gather materials,  there would be equipment available I don't normally have access to and also discussion around field recording techniques, theories and practices. My initial plan was to gather materials from just a few locations, concentrating on recording in a number of ways from a specific point at each.  

 

As we were on the Spittle of Glenshee there was water and water sounds everywhere; it made sense to work with this and make recording water my main activity for the first few days. I found an stretch of river just before a small, arched stone road bridge. It looked like a place where a meander sometimes lakes or a small flood plain, an area of stones lower that the paths either side of the river, tucked away and quiet; because of its proximity to the path and road it also offered the possibility of sounds of walkers, the occasional vehicle and distortions from under the bridge. It also gave access to a wider range of  water sounds than a straight stretch of river might.(Footnote - rivers, roads, paths - flows and movements of water, traffic, people.) I recorded from this point over the following 2 days.

 









Theoretical considerations / dimensions:

 

I have become increasingly interested in the idea of microperceptions that Deleuze and Guattarie discuss in 1000 Plateaus and that Massumi refers to in his introduction and picks up again in Parables for the virtual, Massumi describes these as as microshocks, the concept originates from Leibniz, who uses the description of the sounds of the ocean / waves and of that sound being made up of this multitude of sounds, (he describe as  petit perceptions) these little sounds that together make up this sound that we recognise as the sound of the ocean / waves. Individually they are a grain of sand hitting another, a water droplet hitting a stone. This concept of a micro perception has made me think in more depth about needing to try and capture particular bits and elements of the sounds, with the aim of gathering a number of these ‘micro - elements’ and bringing them together -   and then ‘construct‘, ‘compose’, ‘orchestrate ‘ them into new moments of event, made from the other, not a copy or documentation of what happened previously but new moments.

 

In ‘tuning the world’ the descriptions of water in landscape as being like a symphony, many different notes and sounds happening and ‘playing’ together this brings frown similar ideas and thoughts; that it’s again about the many the range of sound elements, that if you listen hard you can hear. 

Autoethnographic description

 

While I had been gathering materials and thinking about the idea of gathering ‘elements’ I had -decided that I needed to try and running them as a multi channel piece; mono (or stereo) tracks that went to an individual speaker (or speaker pair) that I could position and make a ’space’ out of. I also had video elements that I could use as well. My first problem was setting up a ‘system’ to do this; I had not previously set up audio to run ‘live’. The SofA has an old audio interface and some monitor speakers - so I tried it out. It took me a while to get them talking to each other - but I did.

 

(This links to some early thinking about ambisonics - but I had decided that ambisonic audio seemed very ‘absolute’ a recording of a space that you re produced somewhere else - while multi channel like this gave me options on positioning elements from different moments and altering their position again through moving the speakers - if that felt right)

 

I set the equipment up around a table with my laptop on, so I could listen back to the array as I worked with it, so it became a very particular set up, with meat the centre of it. I played with the positioning of the speakers and which tracks went where and at what volume , I changed the elements in tracks and moved speakers and projectors until I felt I had a rough ‘space’ made with 6 mono tracks and 3 video projections. It was a set up with an up  and down  steam video on right and left with the speakers for those audio tracks on the desk and then baser sounds from under stones from a speaker down to the left hand sides and a projection of the ground next to where I had recorded at the side of the stream next to it. There was hydrophone and other easier notes under the table and then more tinkering top notes from above the waters surface on speakers further back and pointing higher up. 

 

I was considering micro perceptions and how smaller ‘elements’ might be brought together to make a ‘bigger thing’; looking at the (micro) elements as the different channels of audio; and also the video, locked off shots looking up and down stream and also the close up of the ground. I was thinking how they were recorded and how the speakers were positioned and how the snippets and glimpses, shifting and movement of elements happened in in relation to each other. 

 

Murmurations #1 Monday 4th - Sunday 10th June 2018. Spittal of Glenshee.

Field recording ‘field trip’ organised by sound artists Jez Riley French and Chris Watson:

Outline of activity and aim:

 

The location allowed me to record materials to use for tests and experiments when I returned to Birmingham; materials from or of locations that I would not necessarily have chose to make work about. This allowed the possibility of working with them in a more dispassionate and critical way; to explore how techniques of recording allowed me to gather different aspects of the sounds, how I could construct those into new moments and posable events. The sounds of running water are well known to most people, are recognisable, is of interest as well; these are not strange and unknown, but sounds most have heard and have memories of experiencing. (Footnote: affect / micro perception and links to memory making Massumi - PAP paper)

 

My main aim was to gather elements, ‘micro elements’ (foot note?) of the sounds, from one point, sound from different moments and areas of the audio landscape; the surface, below the surface, spaces above, flowing past. It was this range of ‘parts’  of the sound that I was hoping to gather so that I could explore what I could do with the different ‘elements’, how I could use them to build with, when I was back in Birmingham. Trying to get parts of sound is particularly pertinent with water, the sound from running water can easily become white noise.

 

VR test pieces. (still in note form)

In August Sophie Hederwick and I got together and put together some small bits of sound with her VR pieces; they then went to a conferences on affect 

 

The sounds were located, so if you moved towards the ground you herd the noises from the forest floor in Cairngorms, if you looked up you hear the birds in the trees and if you move towards the water water sounds - its all set up so that there is a general back ground of woodland sounds.

Equipment used / set up:

 

Diagram: scanned copy

 

Cannon d5 markiii / 50mm prime lens 

 

 2 x Olympus LS100  

JRF contact mics, 

JRF hydrophone, 

Pair Naiant omni x-x lapel mics 

Telinga parabolic 

 

Recording positions:

 

All from same point - marked on diagram

 

Filming:

 ‘Down’ stream,  ‘up’ stream and close up looking to the ground. 

 

Sound recording:

Naiant omnis as a binaural set up, on a rock about 18” across , next to recording  X point on the edge of the stream just under the bridge shadow. 

Telling - Waters surface very close (dish down about 2” from surface balanced on 2 rocksL ‘Up’ stream, ‘down’ stream, across the water surface and pointing up under bridge.

JRF Hydrophones, near to X point in water.

JRF contact mic’s under rocks at waters edge.

 

Tech. Notes day 1:

 

When I reviewed the recordings - some elements were clear and interesting, some sounds distorted and noisy, mainly the lower frequency. ( The hydrophone got knocked about as a fast flowing area of river) I decided to try at a slightly different point with the hydrophones and explore other ways of getting baser tone / lower frequency recordings.

 

Tech. Notes day 2:

 

Found quieter area of river, slightly up from the bridge to try to capture more hydrophone recordings (area slower flowing. )

Experimented with contact mic’s under stones - so the sound of the stone / rock below being hit and pushed by the water. Really quite interesting.

 

Notes on recordings:

 

Lots of different angles and directions from which the sounds were taken.  All from the same space / spot – but different directions, mic’s or ways of recording.

Thinking about space / activity / things moving and shifting

Looking at it generally, then in detail, then looking away from that point? (A central  point? )

I used my omnies as binorials either side of a rock that made up the side of the river – at the edge – that liminal spaces – not in not out – but just by where I was sitting 

I put contact mics under stones / rocks at the waters edge – stones that were hit by the current of the water and moved / vibrated / shaken by it

The parabolic and the surfaces – were of particular interest – that isolating – getting just one thing…. I need to come back to that…. Alsogave me elements of the water sounds in the air above the river

I used hydrophones - which in shallow water also get the surfaces sounds and sounds from above the carfare.

So I gathered over 2 days different elements – micro elements of the space….

Really interested in this being a set of recordings from one ‘spot’ ; so me / I was the centre position… and the things ‘gather;’ were from /looking /pointing all around ‘me’.

 
  1. Things made of stuff

 

 

 

I quite like, stuff – from the French stuffos – material stuff ( stuffing derives from the same place) stuff that is all around us all the time

 

And from the Old English, of Germanic origin; related to German Ding . ‘Thing’-  Early senses included ‘meeting’ and ‘matter, concern’. And something with a separate and distinct individual quality, 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thing

 

 

 

 

Another thing that Massumi talks about is that affect is part of every event and what I began to realise was that maybe what I was looking for were points where I made events/when events occurred – an event maybe being an engagement, an encounter, an involvement with an art work; but also that I was giving the elements involvement / encounter with each other these nonbody objects in the space they were put into; I am very interested in this rather slippy slidy notion of how event might work – and when it might occur / happen – again that maybe when its happened, when we ‘recognise’ it – then maybe it has passed when we can see it in that way – then maybe it is post – that when we are in it we are maybe not aware of it….