#spaceimageandsound

[blighbct]

Above is a short video of what we created this morning in class.

Michael Bambury, Matthew Bland and I wanted a way to interact with audio as it is playing. I really liked the idea of controlling filters ontop of an audio track such as pitch, distortion, tempo or echo filters.

I created a quick low pass filter in processing last weekend that we could use today as a testing environment. I knew beforehand that Michael was going to be buying a MakeyMakey and so I mapped the keys in my program to the arrow keys.

I also created a random color generator that placed circles of different colors and sizes all around the screen. The user can control the color output by pressing different arrow keys.

In the video above we have attached a makey makey to some welding gloves that I managed to upcycle, and that is being ready as arrow key presses by the program.

[charlesjohnson-mct]

Needles

Everyone loves needles, right? No? That’s what I thought and that’s why I want to utilize them in my project for Space, Image and Sound. In the previous lecture, we discussed the utility of contradictory sound and image, showing different perspectives or emotions across multiple platforms. This can be showed by having an erratic and chaotic image, however the sound associated with it is a calm melodic tone for example. This can cause discomfort in the viewer, which is something that was also discussed in class and how disturbing pieces can be more memorable in some cases. 

I personally do prefer pieces that are not aesthetically pleasing, pieces that you really have to struggle to appreciate because of just how uncomfortable they are to look at. I am also a huge fan of antiques and old ‘crap’ so possibly I could utilize that in this project?

I want to make a piece that incorporates objects that people are not usually comfortable with, one of the most obvious cases of this are needles. I also want to incorporate the use of disassociation between image and sound. So far my ideas trend towards magnets and needles on strings.

This YouTube video is of someone playing with the same idea and to see what he can do with needles. The results are expected but there is some sort of chaotic and unexpected nature of the needles reacting with the magnets. Towards the end of the video he shows them suspended in the air, flying upwards towards the magnet. The way the magnets shoot upwards after being introduced to the magnet is somewhat terrifying and un-nerving.

I think it would be interesting to put a magnet inside an object that people would not want to be exposed to a needle, a balloon perhaps or possibly a voodoo doll. Either way, both of these objects have negative connotations towards the idea of needles being in them.

I am also interested in the addition of sound in this piece. Possibly having a clam and soothing sound played when you look at the piece. This way the viewer will feel discomfort in viewing the piece but a sense of reassurance in the sound element, arising to a conflicting sense of what to feel resulting in discomfort.

[blighbct]

Playtesting The Narrator

(above image courtesy of Michael)

Last couple of days we set up and tested our project for Space Image and Sound, and as you can see from the image above it is still a bit janky (I kind of like it though as it still allows us to switch things out as needed).

Even though many wires are involved, the voltage isn’t high enough to shock anyone, and tape seemed to hold everything together which is lucky since the mechatronics lab shut down before we got to solder anything.

I think that the rapid prototyping process was great. Creating something physical showed us the limitations we had, instead of just assuming things like a kinect or motion sensor could be added easily.

I feel the project left our original idea of enhancing mundane objects through adapative audio, and is more about utilising objects cooperatively for a playful outcome.

Cooperative is quite central now to the project, even though up until a couple days ago the idea was for the engagement to be a solo experience.

I hope Michael expands on the playful aspects of this project, now that we are finishing up, and he branches off continuing it for Studio. I will try continue to participate as much as I can without being overbearing, as I have really enjoyed this project.

Looking forward to seeing what the final outcome for this is in showcase.

[krouxbct]

Space Image and Sound - Final Adjustments

Before the final submission we decided to do some last minute adjustments and fix ups. We decided that the circular layout of the phones were too organised and did not covey the messages we were hoping to show. We decided to keep the rings however make them a bit more “randomized” . This was done in order to emphasize the crescendo effect of the installation. 

We have also decided on the length of each of the videos. The total length of the videos will be 1 minute with 20 sec of content followed by a 40 sec period of “black time”. This 20 sec window of content is used because the general attention span of someone viewing a picture or installation is around this duration. Since there will be sounds for this project, the short duration would hopefully be less disturbing to surrounding projects that the sounds running constantly.

We also had some issues with HeavyM being able to run multiple videos. As soon as we had six videos running there was some noticeable lag. Our solution to this will be to export the spacing and then use Premiere Pro to create a video clip to overlay.

[blighbct]

Making Objects

I have been putting together the objects we need for Space Image and Sound. The first one I created was the copper “tree” above (that Matthew has since made a better version of here).

This was really to test what it would feel like to touch an object and have sounds play. We had discussed this concept for a while, but now it was time to start creating.

I took a lot of inspiration in making the next two objects from Adam Savage. Recently I have been reading his book “Every Tool’s a Hammer” (Savage. A. 2019) and I really wanted to put together the objects out of styrene.

I have made a couple things with Styrene before, and knew that this would be a good material to make the objects from because of how durable it can be.

One of the chapters in the book is about tolerances. I have chosen to have quite a loose tolerance with my materials, and stuck with Non-Mechanical bonding as I want them to be quite hardy. 

I also shouldn’t really need to get back into the objects I have created. If I do, I would just need to cut along one of the welding seams on an edge and I could open it up again, say for soldering repairs.

Adam Savage also gave me the idea of sticking baking soda onto super glue (Savage, 2019, p. 188). in order for it to create a stronger cement. This made my end product a lot stronger then it would have been otherwise.

Above is an image of the cube I created, which when attached to the makey makey can be used to play different melodies by holding one of the five metal sides.

The MakeyMakey feeds keypresses into Ableton which then takes those presses as indication to play a certain tune. This works in the same way you can press keys in Ableton to play out a tune.

The last object I have just finished making is this “metal place-mat”. Michael, Matthew and I wanted to have a bottle that when touched would play different types of water sounds.

I have a steel bottle that can be used in this way, however it is my dads bottle and has his name engraved. I don’t really want to cut into, or attach things onto this bottle, so I came up with the idea of using a conductive surface that the bottle can rest on top of.

To make sure that the whole setup is conductive, I made a quick continuity checker out of a buzzer, battery and breadboard I had in my electronics box.

Bit frustrating to find the multiboard that I bought for this purpose did not include a continuity checker, but it wasn’t as much of a hassle to create as I thought it would be.

[krouxbct]

Space, Image and Sound - Stress Testing

We needed to do some stress testing in order to validate our idea for our project. We did this by:

Leaving the projector up and running to test out the different screens

 Using different materials to test if they showed better colour; single layer of sticker paper, double layer, and the grey tones.

Testing if the phones move despite being up for a long time and having the wall shake or any other disturbance from the surrounding area.

Securing a plinth to put our projector on

The only real issue we have had is that the projector might get bumped or shifted. We have tried to mitigate this by taping where our plinth and projector is meant to be however realistically in a showcase we would need to put up barriers to protect the device.

We will continue to work on the visual elements of the piece which we have started but still need some work. We also may need to try a different laptop or device as the program was heavily lagging when we tested it out on Kevins laptop.

[krouxbct]

Space, Image and Sound - Week 5

This week was all about our preparing for our Crit. The link to our presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lfGa8_HMT7WhiOHJh8vh0tA-y3Ase2x4ZduN_-DxGog/edit?usp=sharing

[krouxbct]

Space, Image and Sound  - Week 6

Last week we presented our project in a Crit session to the class. From the crit feedback we learnt that we needed a better way to make the mobile phones. Currently they are just made out of cardboard and lack the impact we were hoping for. Our fellow peers suggested a few options such as MDF or laser cutting to make the phones seem realistic however Clint remembered that he had some leftover phones from a previous students project and has allowed us to make use of them.

These definitely help improve the quality of the project however we just need to figure out an solution to how we can project onto the screens without glare.

Our solution we are working on at the moment is to use sticker tape to cover the individual screen areas and see if we can still project onto them after. Sheena did a test where she blue tacked a few of the phones onto the wall to test whether they would stay for an extended period of time. SO far the phones seem to be holding so we will be using blue tack.

In regards to the media we will be displaying on the screens we still need Stuart to give me some test material so that I can try running it through HeavyM