madsounds

Videos and Sounds

2006-03-12T23:21:00.000Z

It's kind of ironic that we haven't posted any sounds on this blog yet..
Below are some video clips with sounds from a 17min movie we made. Each clip is 7-10MB (.mov).

- What is OTTO 1.1 and how does it work?

- How does OTTO sound like?
(Better to turn volume up. The sounds were recorded in domestic environments and followingly edited and processed using custom made filters on MAX/MSP. The 'ambient music' at the end is a mix of these sounds using basic effects like looping, change of pitch etc. and was sampled by Mathias Gmachl.)

also:
- An introduction to madsounds

- What on earth were we thinking?

- OTTO's Industrial Design

OTTO in the IDE Interim Show at the RCA

2006-02-16T00:17:00.000Z

Madsounds and OTTO are now exhibited at the IDE Interim Show 2006 at the Royal College of Art.

From the show:

"Walls swinging, floors trembling, rain falling and ants walking; every object in our environment has a whisper that is often undetectable to the human ear. What if these sounds were audible? How would that change our aural awareness, perception of space and attitude towards objects? Would it make it possible to 'compose' our own soundtrack using our walls and objects as new forms of instruments?

Mad sounds is a proposal for a different appreciation of our environment, space and objects; by making it possible to identify, combine and manipulate these sounds.

We designed OTTO (greek for 'ear'); a device that makes hidden sounds audible. This is achieved via a thin polymer piezoelectric contact that senses weak vibrations and plays them as a sound through an integrated speaker. OTTO can be positioned on almost any surface through a combination of suction and magnets. By placing several units on different objects, one can select and create a new sonic experience and a form of ambient music appreciation, thereby utilising our space as a multidirectional audio platform."

OTTO 1.1 in service

2006-02-13T15:41:00.000Z

and its name is... OTTO 1.1

2006-02-13T14:04:00.000Z

We decided to name our device 'OTTO', which stands for 'ear' in greek. A prototype of OTTO, just out of the SLA rapid-prototype is illustrated below:

Latest recordings

2006-02-02T01:05:00.000Z

Some of the recordings to be used in the IDE Interim Show (sounds of the city, melting ice)

Chancho the goldfish

2006-01-26T00:50:00.000Z

Final Presentation

2006-01-21T22:49:00.000Z

some slides from our final presentation to IDE, which summarize the project up to this point.

design proposal for our space in the IDE Interim Show.

Microphone evaluation

2006-01-12T15:35:00.000Z

We attached the piezo buzzer, the Shadow guitar pickup and the piezoelectric film on a window and recorded their response to evaluate their quality.
After the recordings we performed a Fourier spectrum analysis of the sound-data.

Piezo-film analysis:

Piezo-buzzer analysis:

The comparisson shows a better response of the piezo-film, especially in the mid-range frequencies. Second came the guitar with the buzzer last, as expected.

Another factor that we evaluated was the unwanted noise levels picked up by the mics. Again, the piezo-film showed the lowest noise levels compared to the other two.

Microphone+Preamp development

2006-01-09T22:44:00.000Z

Microphone development from up-left, clockwise:

- Piezo-element used in cheap sound-buzzers. Piezoelectric material is layered on a thin copper substrate. We used the 'inverse' effect of the buzzer, hence mechanical vibtrations are converted to weak electrical signals.
- Small electret-type microphone.
- Acoustic guitar pick-up (Shadow SH711). The piezoelectric element is of higher quality and better shielded against noise.
- Piezo-electric film which offers several advantages, e.g. flexibility

Because of high-impendance and low signal of acoustic pickups, we tried using different pre-amp circuits in order for better recordings. Most of these circuits were taken out of cheap commercial electronics. By trying different configurations of we found out the right choise of pre-amp is crucial to get a clear signal as possible, especially if it is combined with filtering capabilties (EQ).

Microphone-preamp combinations.

During recording, it was evident that external noise was an issue. One factor which infunced that was cables and exposed circuits. We replaced excisting wires with special shielded audio cable.

First tests

2006-01-09T22:40:00.000Z

This was posted a month ago, but I post it again for reasons of consistency with the next post.

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..

design direction

2006-01-08T19:16:00.000Z

I want the design of the device to reflect the forms of classic microphones and classic/high-end/aviation headphones. As well as being beautiful objects they are pieces of audio technology that people can easily relate to; they are automatically associated with input (mic) and output (headphone) and are identifiable to the user. I feel that the look should be more minmal and reflecting the function rather than retro.

I am particularly interested in the 'spur' like connecton that allows the main unit to connect to the stand/headband. I think the same type of mechanism could be used to place sensors (i.e contact microphones) against a surface in a similar way to our original tone-arm idea but also be used to attach the device to a surface (leverage for suction cups and/or pins).

keywords\inspiration in relation to the object

2006-01-08T18:57:00.000Z

input and output

2006-01-08T18:38:00.000Z

Here's a list I made up of the various input sources within a basic domestic environment.
I boiled this down to 5 locations points that we can use in the installation in Feb'.

hands-free-headset

2006-01-05T20:21:00.000Z

I thought this was cool

Sound Effects techniques

2006-01-04T17:03:00.000Z

from Wikipedia's 'Sound Effects' site:

'... As the car example demonstrates, the ability to make multiple simultaneous recordings of the same subject—through the use of several DAT or multitrack recorders—has made sound recording into a sophisticated craft, and allows the sound effect to be shaped by the sound editor or sound designer, not just for realism, but for emotional effect.

Once the sound effects are recorded or captured, they are usually loaded into a computer integrated with an audio non-linear editing system. This allows a sound editor or sound designer to heavily manipulate a sound to meet his needs.

The most common sound design tool is the use of layering to create a new, interesting sound out of two or three old, average sounds. For example, the sound of a bullet impact into a pig (from the above example) may be mixed with the sound of a melon being gouged to add to the "stickiness" or "gore" of the effect. If the effect is featured in a close-up, the designer may also add an "impact sweetener" from his library. The sweetener may simply be the sound of a hammer pounding hardwood, equalized so that only the low-end can be heard. The low end gives the three sounds together added weight, so that the audience actually "feels" the weight of the bullet hit the victim. If the victim is the bad guy, and his death is climactic, the sound designer may add reverb to the impact, in order to enhance the dramatic beat. And then, as the victim falls over in slow motion, the sound editor may add the sound of a broom whooshing by a microphone, pitch-shifted down and time-expanded to further emphasize the death. If the movie is a science-fiction film, the designer may phaser the whoosh to give it a more sci-fi feel. (For a list of many the sound effects processes available to a sound designer, see the bottom of this article.)

'Vibroblaster' and 'iZ'-synthesizer

2006-01-04T12:38:00.000Z

The vibroblaster is similar to the Soundbug concept, probably more robust, smaller and maybe more powerfull, but more expensive and unclear yet whether it has a mounting mechaqnism (sucker).

Vibroblaster

What about this funny creature as a synthesizer?
"iZ lets you create your own music by pressing his belly to start and select from a choice of beats. Once you find a sound you like, move iZ's right ear to add a little rhythm to the equation, and turn his left ear to find a suitable musical lead.."
iZ
watch the video..
iZ video

frequency modulation

2006-01-02T16:45:00.000Z

I've been looking into how synthesisers work; frequency modulation, phase distortion, etc. Wikipedia has been good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthesiser

During my search for components and a better understanding of the technology I came across this 'function generator' at Maplin (quite expensive). Check out the discription of possible applications.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35227&criteria=frequency&doy=2m1

To change non-hearable frequencies and vibrations into audio signal and also for scanning through the spectrum of input this might be the technology we need to investigate further.

soundbug

2006-01-02T15:45:00.000Z

I think the sound bug is a great wee product although it doesn't look very nice. In a way it does the reverse of what we are doing with contact microphones. I'd be interested to see the contact point between the surface and the device looks like. If it is piezo electric maybe the technology could be transformed into a mic like the simple buzzers we had.

The device is attached to the wall using suction like the glass carrying device I bought. Because there is no substantial weight a gentle twist action creates the vacuum which is much more elegent than a big lever (see the soundbug quiktime clip in the bowling alley).

I want to get loads of these sound bugs (you can combine 2 to for stereo), splice them together and place them all over the interior surfaces to make my whole room into a large speaker :)

http://www.soundbug.biz/

ultracane - working with the brain

2006-01-02T14:55:00.000Z

Some basic info from the ultracane website on the Superior Colliculus; the part of the brain that deals with sensory information and helps develop spatial awareness. I'm going to research more into this. I think Matthias mentioned was talking about this when discussing how the brain processes audio information in an efficient way.

http://www.soundforesight.co.uk/working_with_the_brain.htm

ultracane aka 'batcane'

2006-01-02T14:49:00.000Z

Here is an interesting piece of technology that relates to some of our initial concepts on the perception of space and environment through sound. It uses ultrasound/echo-location like bats to give the blind and partially sighted more information about their physical surroundings than a normal cane. Interestingly the ultracane provides tactile feed-back through buttons and not through sound because they don't want to interfer with the normal hearing ability of the user.

http://www.soundforesight.co.uk/index.html

pick-up technology

2005-12-30T20:19:00.000Z

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

2005-12-30T20:03:00.000Z

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

2005-12-27T15:28:00.001Z

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

2005-12-18T02:04:00.000Z

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

2005-12-18T01:48:00.000Z

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

2005-12-13T02:12:00.000Z

let's talk design!

2005-12-13T01:24:00.000Z

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

quick visualisation

2005-12-13T01:18:00.000Z

Initial Tests!

2005-12-13T00:13:00.000Z

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

2005-12-12T10:45:00.000Z

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

2005-12-12T10:33:00.000Z

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

2005-12-12T10:32:00.000Z

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

christina kubisch - her noise exhibition

2005-12-12T10:28:00.000Z

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

2005-12-06T13:32:00.000Z

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..

2005-12-05T01:04:00.000Z

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

small amplifier

2005-11-27T13:37:00.000Z

maybe we could use these small amplifiers within the unit to boost
the volume.

http://www.headphoneworld.com/HeadPhoneWorldSite/product/Accessories/BO01.htm

troika electroprobes

2005-11-27T13:25:00.000Z

Troika is a design studio in Brixton. Sebastian Noel is one of the founders and a friend of Moritz. I'm going to contact him for advice on the technology used for the electroprobe. I've met him before and he seems like a pretty friendly guy.

http://www.troika.uk.com/electroprobes.htm

Check out the rest of their work, some quite interesting stuff.

sound and memory

2005-11-23T21:56:00.000Z

Not quite sure what's going on here but something to do with sound, memory and 3000 white LEDs :)
http://www.livingwall.org

contact microphone uses by artists

2005-11-22T19:16:00.000Z

- Stephen Vitello: listen to contact-mics' sounds:
http://www.stephenvitiello.com/mp3/nprpieceonwtc.mp3

- Jason Kahn: “one hour as snow”
i live in zurich and during our last big storm of the winter i recorded the sound of falling snow from my balcony--contact microphones attached to aluminum foil, onto which the snow fell; and bare contact microphones coming into contact with the falling snow. the resulting soundfiles were then variously equalized and sometimes filtered, and some left in their natural state. these recordings were originally made for an eight-channel sound installation which i did at diapason gallery in new york. i'd now like to bring everything down to two channels and expand the piece to one hour.
(source: http://www.resonancefm.com)

- Brandon LaBelle, http://www.kaon.org/brandon_labelle/documents/doc_2.htm

- John Cage, http://www.mode.com/catalog/024cage.html

'do it yourself' - Contact Microphones

2005-11-22T16:43:00.000Z

http://home.earthlink.net/~erinys/contactmic.html

audio-equipment 'eBay'

2005-11-21T14:27:00.000Z

here's a link for second-hand audio stuff. Brian Eno is supposed to be selling his old synthesizers there currently..
http://www.spheremusic.com/

links

2005-11-21T12:00:00.000Z

The links don't seem to be working - cut and paste in navigation bar.

some research areas

2005-11-21T11:51:00.000Z

Here are some sites which might be worth looking at. Some are not very specific to the project.

http://www.futurism.org.uk/music.htm

more futurist music and intoners

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/ee476/FinalProjects/s2004/bcr5/#_High_Level_Design
http://www.soe.uoguelph.ca/Design/posters2005/stethoscope.htm

ditigal stethoscope - wi-fi transmission

http://www.dataclimates.com/edgetown/

edgetown

http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/
www.alisant.net/alison_sant_trace.pdf

dunne and raby - tunable cities. Dunne and Raby's website is worth a browse through

http://spaceandculture.org/2004_01_01_archive.php

hertzian space

http://www.haque.co.uk/index.php

Sky ear - interaction with architecture and envirionment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugging
http://www.spy-equipment.co.uk/Miscellaneous/k9miscellaneous.html

bugging devices

some more ideas

2005-11-21T11:50:00.000Z

This is a development of the 'sound-sucker' concept into a similar device that has an integrated amplifier and speaker. Having these devices scattered around the space to pick up sounds from surfaces or every-day electronic devices and play them back with controlled tempo or pitch, allows for a improvising music-making and a multidirectional sound experience (as opposed to the classic stereo system). The instuments for doing this, are - like the 'sucker' concept - everyday-sounds we never usually appreciate and everyday electronic devices.

thinking from last week

2005-11-21T11:44:00.000Z

2005-11-20T23:24:00.000Z

Serenading mice:

www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8237

How romantic!

2nd presentation

2005-11-20T22:48:00.000Z

This is a summary of what we've been up to since Oct. 17. Images are slides from the 2nd crit on Nov 11.

- The initial idea was to have sevaral distinct sounds and music clips that would corespond to the images as playback. Furtanetly, Duncan thought it would be better to have a continious piece, which proved to be right- it had quite an effect..
We went for Biosphere’s, Fluviamorphologie (can be listened to from http://www.biosphere.no/mp3.html), because of its mix of natural and artificial sounds which to us resemble flowing water and electromegnetic field interferences.

- Have you ever noticed, that a change of a song during a party can change the flow of conversation between people within seconds? What triggers that?
We decided to move the affective music player concept from the individual to groups of people. Specifically, to social occasions.

- Concept sketch of affective music playback for a dinner party. People’s ‘emotions’ are monitored by common objects they use during the social activity. A champagne glass with a skin resistance sensor hidden in its ‘neck’ and a wireless data transmitter on the basis. Similar concepts for cuttlery and table-cloths. The collective data is gathered by a software on your PC which controls the music being played. The algorithm is based on a simplified ‘happy/sad’ concept which is being controlled by the song’s pitch and tempo.

Design Objective: make the technology less intrusive (hidden?) and most intuitive (take advantage of usual human habits) as possible.

‘Deposite your feelings..’
Affective music player concept for clubs. Distribute physiological data-sensing pols around the dancing area. By touching them, people give their body-input, which is assembled and affects the music being played. This enables interaction with the sounds, the space and possibly with other people as well .

- You can probably tell more form what a person listens, than how that person looks like..
We liked this idea very much. Duncan thought it would be a nice idea if you could listen into what the iPod next to yours, on the street or in the tube, is currently playing. Pretty much like the sharing option on iTunes, but you only listen to what the person next to you is listening at that moment. Is it sneaking into other people’s personal moment or is it actually sharing?
Next day, we found out that MIT Media Lab Europe has already realized this idea. It’s called TunA and information can be found here.. http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,61427,00.html

1st presentation

2005-11-20T22:06:00.000Z

These are some slides from the first presentation we did on 17. Oct, showing our initial thoughts for a product.

2005-11-14T18:48:00.000Z

Links to the work of the Italian Futurists and The Art of Noise

http://csunix1.lvc.edu/~snyder/em/russolo.html

http://csunix1.lvc.edu/~snyder/em/varese.html

2005-11-14T15:00:00.000Z

testing - 1,2,3

2005-11-13T01:45:00.000Z

test
one-two-one-two...