More Talk Less Action December 5 Three Pix and Links to Audio and Video

Thursday night, December 5, 2013 at WestSpace Gallery in Melbourne, I was part of the "More Talk Less Action" series organized by Clinton Green and Greg Wadley.  That night, the members of the panel were me, Stelarc, and Paul Doornbusch.  Stelarc and I both did performances as well.  Here are three pictures from the event.  The recording of the wide-ranging and fun panel discussion will soon be available in the Archives section of the www.moretalk.org website.  The Audio of the performance, a 2 minute video excerpt, and a recording of the panel discussion are now available on the MoreTalk.org archive webpage: http://www.moretalk.org/archives/.  For those who just want to go to the Audio recording, here's that link: http://spill-label.org/sound/moretalk/WarrenBurtMoretalk.mp3. And here's the audio of the panel discussion: http://spill-label.org/sound/moretalk/MTLA6-discussion.mp3.  Many thanks again to Clinton Green and Greg Wadley for all the work they did on the show, and after the show, getting these recordings processed and up on their website.

WB performing on iPad, Korg Nano-Pad and computer at Westspace, Dec. 5. Photo by Catherine Schieve.

Panel discussion: Greg Wadley, Paul Doornbusch, WB, Stelarc.  Photo by Catherine Schieve.

Pre-show publicity photo gone awry - with those three, what can you expect? - L to R: Greg Wadley, Stelarc, Paul Doornbusch, WB.  Photo by Clinton Green.

Messier 15 - a new work that just sort, well, happened

So there I was, reading the New Scientist, minding my own business (and as William Burroughs said, "There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business!"), when there was this gorgeous Hubble telescope image of the distant globular star cluster Messier 15:

I don't know about you, but when I see an image like this, I think, "picture to sound conversion!"

So I took this image, and fed it into Nicolas Fournel's program AudioPaint, and using one of the Mt Meru scales I developed based on Erv Wilson's work, and some sawtooth waves (about 902 of them, to be prezact), got a 30 second sound file that sounded like this:

I liked the sound - you can hear how it gets denser and noisier in the middle, reflecting the shape and density of the star cluster.

Then I thought, "What if this were played a lot more slowly?" And "What if the scale the image was mapped to was a diatonic one?"

So I set up AudioPaint to make a 20 minute version in one of the ancient Greek (just intonation) modes - the Phrygian Diatonic in Archytas's tuning, no less.  This sounded gorgeous.  I was happy.

And then - "But what about doing the same thing in two different modes?  So I did - using the Hypodorian Diatonic (Archytas's version again) and the Lydian Diatonic (Archytas's version, but also a tip o the Hatlo hat to George Russell, of course).  Again, both gorgeous.

So I spliced them together, and listened over headphones while going to sleep.  And had a VERY satisfying nights sleep drifting off to slumberland with this.  

Eventually, I found the time to listen while awake and conscious.  I still liked it.

But wait a minute!  Now I've got ANOTHER hour long piece!  In a world which demands everything be a 20 second soundbyte.  What do I do with this piece?

Well, put it on the internet, of course.  And give it away for free.

So here it is.  "Messier 15 Globular Cluster In Three Different Modes for an Hour."  I hope you'll enjoy it.  And maybe you too will find that it's an aid in having sweet dreams and deep sleep, or if you're listening to it awake, maybe you'll also be pleased with it's sound.  Enjoy.

Three Definitions - new video work

THREE DEFINITIONS - a new video work, which was premiered at Seensound on Nov 24, is now up on YouTube and also here.  The video elucidates the definitions of those three diverse cousins, acoustic ecology, sound art, and music, and with full academic rigour, (and without a hint of pomposity), traces their contradistinctions and similarlities with a soundtrack that revels in its full measure of post-modern self-referentiality.  'Nuff said.  Enjoy.

Two New Reviews in Soundbytes

I have two reviews in the latest issue of Soundbytes. http://soundbytesmag.net/

One is a review of MOTU's Mach Five Three sampler, which I've been spending a lot of time with in the past few months, and which I'll be spending a lot more time with in the future.  That review is here.

The other is a review of David Rothenberg's great new book, Bug Music.  Following on from his books on whales, birds, and beauty, this is the latest in his investigations of the sounds of the natural world, and the people who study them.  Highly recommended, and that review is here.

Plus, check out the rest of the issue, which is chock-full of reviews, interviews and various hints and tips.

Change of Event Time

The SeenSound video/sound performance that was to happen tonight, Nov 10, which includes the first showing of my new video piece "Three Definitions" has been postponed.  (See description 2 entries down for details on the piece.)

The new time and date is SUNDAY 24 November, at 8pm, at the same place: Loop Bar, 23 Myers Place, Melbourne.  Sorry for any inconvenience caused.