pick-up technology

An easy to understand explanation of the technology used in
magnetic pick-ups which I presume is used in the Troika
device and in the headphones of Christina Kubisch

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3176165

electromagnetic interference detector

This device picks up radio frequency and electromagnetic interference presumably using the same coil and intermodulation technology as the guitar pick-ups but better for monitoring changes in ambient electromagnetic activity.

http://www.geosensory.com/erd-1500.htm

pickups

this is a good start-link for the EM-sounds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_%28music%29

i guess we are interested in the single-coil ones. i'll be updating this post if i come across anything interesting about EM-sounds..
cheers & happy Xmas

ps. a good resource for information on experimental music devices (especially pick-ups) and on-line store. usefull..

http://www.windworld.com/products/pu_info.htm

robotic sound sculptures in helsinki

http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/at/vida/paginas/v3/erinaldo.html

I saw this great alien (artificial) intelligence exhibition in Helsinki in 2000. This installation has robotic sculptures that produced noises and talk/listened to each other. I've got some great pictures in Glasgow that I will scan and post.

There are a lot of possiblities to integrate some reactive and collective activity in our concept.

silence of the lands

an interesting project about capturing ambient sounds and linking them with the place of recording. Also see it at we-make-money-not-art.com

http://www.thesilence.org/

basic senario

let's talk design!

Visual references to the kind of design/typology/aesthetics/ that will help us to communicate what our product is all about.

quick visualisation

Initial Tests!

For our first tests for picking up sounds from various sources we are using piezoelectric transducers (like contact mics).

Piezo attached on wall..



Second version with amplifier..



Third version with stronger amplifier..



We attached the piezos on various places around my flat. These include:
- freezer
- thermostat
- radiator
- water pipes
- window
- coffee-maker..

radiator sounds..



the sounds of London from my window..



These sounds were recorded on a computer. Listening to the 'raw' sound files we realized that it is difficult to distinguish the various elements (e.g. flowing water, motors, voices etc.) so we used special software (Sound Studio) to filter through different frequencies..


Unfortunately we haven't found a way yet to upload sounds on the blog..

capturing electrosmog

a device that captures elecrosmog

http://www.detect-protect.com/k/

listen to some samples

http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/sales/meters/mw1.asp

what we need but need to pay for information

http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=27&year=2005&month=-1&art=52766&PN=On

Suckers

Here are some links to suction cups - some work on uneven surfaces but I couldn't find
any that worked on porus surfaces. We are aiming to combine this attachment system with
the pincer/pin attachment and magnets.

http://www.piab.com/Templates/WebBase/Datasheet.aspx?id=6780

http://www.anver.com/document/vacuum%20handcups/hndcup-manual.htm

http://www.anver.com/document/pdfs/hand-cups/hand-cups-h1102.pdf

christina kubisch

more specific link to Christina's work which is relevent to our project

christina kubisch - her noise exhibition

The website of Christina Kubisch who works with electromagnetic induction
producing audible sound, an aspect of audio perception we want to incorporate in
our project.

http://www.christinakubisch.de/

some links by Mathias Gmachl

This one was send to me by Mathias. Make sure to check out more RCA Sound Research Group stuff at http://web.fm/twiki-bin/view/Hiaz/WebHome as well.
Thanx Mathias!

Hi Manolis!

I have been checking your blog page and doing some research and found the
following pages to be interesting. (I hope you dont mind me giving you
feedback via the list. If you do, please simply reply to me directly.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/30/technology/30hillis.html?ex=1275105600&en=
4a1c68b85a47519f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

(you need to register with the NY Times...)
This is called "cone of silence". Rather than actually creating silence it
uses ambient sounds and scrambles them in a way that your surroundings wont
be able to listen in on your conversation.
Nice technique and very similar to the sound curtain idea by the RCA student
I told you about, which unfortunately is completely offline now..

http://www.nselec.com/
This is a device for aging bird lovers that uses pitch shifting to make high
frequencies audible. Not a design highlight, but intersting area as there
are a large number of animal sounds that are below or above our hearing
ranges.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10194235/
This is a nice one as well. Make sure you download the soundfile at bottom,
which is created by speeding up the realtime recording to a level it becomes
audible.
There are a lot of (natural) cycles like this around us that are very hard
to experience due to their duration. This kind of thing does need some kind
of microprocessor in reality, but you should be able to simulate (playback)
in a show/demonstration.

Regarding the whole electromagnetic spectrum/electro smog things I would say
that its been worked on quite a lot in recent years. There is Christina
Kubisch's work and of course Tony Dunn's book and somehow I feel it would be
nice to explore something that didnt have this much exposure.

hope to see you later today.

best
Mathias

bye Alan..

unfortunately Alan is no longer in this project. we wish him well..