Sonic Performance Blog
Research Phase
Deciding to build an instrument for Sonic Performance came from already deciding to build an instrument adjacent device for Independent Study. A great amount of passion was instilled into my work when I started thinking more deeply about how creating sound can be conceived from an analog entity rather than a computer screen. Taking this newfound practice and applying it to more course work would benefit my artistic identity while incorporating performance into sound designing and collection.
While Look Mum No Computer (LMNC) was brought up in a lecture, I had already previously heard the artists discography prior to. LMNC also known Sam Battle is no stranger to my everyday playlists and until recently, I did not realize what was happening behind the scenes of his music. All his synthesizer creations are influential, but the main contributing factor is the Furby Organ. While my eventual approach to creating an instrument does not involve circuit bending, it does incorporate children’s toys.
Mark Koven’s commissioned instrument the Aprehension from Tony Duggah popularized horror boxes as a composition tool and sonic material gathering tool. Tony Duggah is a guitar craftsman and much like my finished instrument, the centrepiece is made of strings.
My horror machine is a step somewhere on the journey to Duggah and Koven’s work. Where the Aprehension Engine utilizes a rotating wheel, The Family Friendly Horror Machine, is plucked like a traditional guitar. Duggah’s work also utilizes bits of metal and other objects surrounding the strings to add other tones and textures.
Prototyping Phase
While beginning my work in devising a performative sound generation tool, I first thought about where my sound design practice lies. It is experimental, haunting, and abstract in nature. While I was comfortable in experimental and abstract, I planned to diversify my creations with something less horrific and more adjacent to joyful. Mix that with the children toy inspiration of Look Mum No Computer, and The Family Friendly Horror Machine was born. From the beginning, I knew that I wanted an instrument that looked like a kid had gotten a hold of it and decided to turn it into next week's show and tell.
My initial ideas did not always go unchallenged. Vocals, and use of the vocal cords were slowly incorporated into the performance after I discovered that vibrating guitar strings with the vocal cords produced unique sonic material when pick up gain was increased. While practicing this technique I also pondered whether actively processing my vocals alongside the instrument would lead to a more productive sound collection session.
The acquisition to the puzzle pieces of my project started with charity shops and friends. I first needed to find a base instrument that someone would not mind having a few nails driven into. Luckily, a friend already had a guitar with a toothbrush as the bridge, and a 6th string detached. Next came the toys, and fortunately a local charity shop had an entire bin full of only musical instruments meant for those under the age of 5. Tambourines, worm sticks, mallets, and wooden clappers were fastened to the guitar. The decision to incorporate contact mics during sound capture came from having all the instruments connected.
The final layer of my performance came down to what guitar pedals I would run the mics and guitar through. I settled on a high-density reverb, long duration delay, compressor, and a multi pitch/chorus pedal. While I originally wanted an outcome that produced something more endearing and cheerful, I yet again found myself collecting audio closer to the side of dramatic and sinister. While not expected, it was not all too surprising, and it gave me a jumping off point for collecting unique sonic material for more horror-based projects.
Choosing to stick with my artistic identity of horror sound design juxtaposes the imagery, and capture of the performance. A common horror movie trope is using childlike iconography to unsettle viewers, whether it be the rhyming sing a long of Freddy Krueger or the children's toys coming to life in The Poltergeist (1982).
Drafting and Performance Development
All sound collection was performed during a single day and night. Everything I played was recorded and the multiple sessions followed a narrative of comfortability and understanding of my own creation. As I continued to experiment with different playing techniques and vocal combinations, I found myself becoming more suited to certain types of play and combinations of sounds. Certain pieces of the instrument became more utilized than others as core forms of sound generation.
Rather than rehearsing the performance over and over trying to get one clean take, I opted to do as many takes as possible from each part of the amalgamation, while trying variations and stacking sounds on top of each other to create new textures. The instrument was accompanied by two singing bowls. The long drone produced by the pedal board suited the tonal qualities of the bowls well enough to become a part of the performance.
The Performance
The choice to use an action camera as one of the two camera angles was inspired by the childlike nature of playing with a toy for the first time. Putting the viewer in the same seat as the performer helps cross the line of immersion while also making the performance feel more personal. The performative gestures and general non-sense playing is what you might expect from a 5-year-old playing with a musical instrument for the first time.
The end goal was to infuse performance into sound design instead of trying to compose with the instrument. Layering different sounds leads to denser ambiences, and playing quick transience in succession leads to themes and motifs that are sprinkled throughout the performance. I also purposefully left the guitar out of tune and chose notes that both played off each other and created dissonance to add to the atmosphere.