Modulateav's Weblog

Modulate at SONM – May 2011

modulateav — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:26:37 +0000

Modulate were invited to spend a week at SONM in Murcia, Spain – a new Centre for Sound Art and Experimental Music curated by Francisco Lopez. Here we gave a presentation, performed a concert, and showcased a new installation , the “Modulate Octophonic Loop System” , an 8.1 sound installation developed by Bobby Bird exploring new ways to present Modulate’s unique sound, which remained exhibited at SONM after we left.

Stereo excerpt from The Modulate Octophonic Loop System

More images from SONM

Excerpt from our live AV concert

New work was developed by Modulate with support from Arts Council England

Modulate live at Shambala 2010

modulateav — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 21:46:59 +0000

see more images here: Modulate in the Woods

Hear excerpts from our live set on Modulate Soundcloud

For this years Shambala Festival, Modulate created a series of unique sound and visual experiences in the woods , partially inspired our setting, being situated in the center of the beautiful Wilderness area. Here we designed a magical light tree to sit beneath, an expanded UV Totem space, a three screen projection installation, plus we brought our quality sound system, emanating a warm and resonating space amongst the trees. Through this we played our own selection of experimental electronic sounds and AV for three nights, plus, on the Saturday we premiered an entirely new Modulate audio visual live set at around 3 in the morning-

All in all, another creative and fun time was had by us all- thanks Shambala, Des, and to all of the extended Modulate team .

Mark Harris: The Boy Observes the Ocean

modulateav — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:46:10 +0000

Congratulations to Modulate member Mark Harris , who has just had his album “The Boy Observes the Ocean”, released on Hibernate Records. A series of beautifully crafted soundscapes, the album has been gaining some excellent reviews, and can be bought in CD format from Hibernate or as mp3s download from boomkat,

Sample mix

Buy CDr | Buy digital

Mark will be giving a solo performance in our Modulate space in the woodands at Shambala Festival on Sunday August 29th

Modulate at Flatpack Festival March 2010

modulateav — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:55:01 +0000

In March we gave a 45 minute Live Cinema performance at Flatpack Festival , an improvised, slowly unfolding abstract sonic visual journey, which was very well received by the audience.

recording of our performance below :

Prior to our performance we also curated a selection of screenings, including an exclusive preview of EXP /Frank Bretschneider plus some clips of a beautiful video installation ‘Forever’ by Universal Everything

Noisefloor Festival 16-17 Jan 2010

modulateav — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:49:11 +0000

Modulate gave a live AV performance at Noisefloor Festival, held at Staffordshire University, Stafford. See clip here: vimeo.com/modulate

Conceived to help bring the fields of Electroacoustic music and IDM/Electronica closer together,the festival featured daytime multi-channel Electroacoustic fixed media compositions, played through a 14 loudspeaker diffusion array, plus live concerts in the evenings, at which modulate played alongside Soundhacker, Autistici , Michael Santos and Simon Scott

Modulate member Mark Harris also gave a solo performance.

Sonic Culture Salon – Annie Mahtani -09/01/2010

modulateav — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:23:44 +0000

Another in our occasional series of Sonic Culture Salons, Modulate presents ” Lago de Mamori : An Aural Environment by Annie Mahtani”.

Annie was a participant of our Birmingham Sound Matter project with
Francisco Lopez last year, after which she successfully applied for a
sound artist residency at Mamori Arts lab in the Brazilian Rainforest,
a yearly residency directed by Francisco. Annie will present field recordings from the Brazilian Amazon in the form of a 16-channel sound installation. She will also speak about her experience in residence at Mamori Art Lab and engage the audience in an open discussion around the recordings and possibilities for future development of this work-in-progress.

Date: Saturday 9/01/2010
Location:The Gallery Space, Custard Factory Digeth
Time: 1-2.pm Sound Installation playback
2-3.pm Presentation / discussion

3-4pm Sound Installation playback (repeat)
4-5p.m Sound Installation playback (repeat)

Cost: Free

Feel free to drop in and out at any time, although to experience the
full hour of field recordings / and for the talk, arrive on the hour.
Refreshments will be provided

Supported by Arts Council England / Modulate / Mamori Arts Lab / BEAST

Modulate performance at ATAM Coventry

modulateav — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:58:29 +0000

Modulate audio except ATM : cov1

In September 09 Modulate performed at A Thing About Machines festival in Coventry, in the historic setting of St John’s Church on Spoon Street. The three Modulate music makers ( Bobby, Mark and Mark) performed from the front of the church while Joseph and I had the pleasure of projecting our visuals onto the architecture from the back of the church.

It was a great to have the opportunity to perform in such a special setting, and a pleasure to be a part of this unique festival, now in its second year.

What a shame that the Arts Council did not support ATM this year, despite the success of last years festival and the great line up this year – but well done to Cormac for continuing regardless. Lets hope they give more support where its due in future .

We also enjoyed the other performances in the church, which were given by Janek Schaefer , Ben Ramsay and Threep

Modulate at Shambala Festival 2009

modulateav — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:56:01 +0000

Modulate Sonic Circle at Shambala 09

More images on flickr

For the woodland area at Shambala Festival 2009, Modulate continued to expandand and develop upon previous years multiple speaker sound installations, creating a larger version of the Sonic Circle , using a custom 10.2 rig flown in the trees comprising of 10 xNexo PS 8s, plus a larger stereo system based on the ground, with a smaller 10.2 monitoring system inside our Yurt control center.

With the 10.2 system, the stereo signal can be filtered & panned around the 10 speakers in different directions or in a random panning mode, the stereo system on the ground can receive the full frequency spectrum or be used as the sub for the 10 surround speakers, also effects can be added & these can be filtered & panned independently to the stereo signal. the idea is to create a moving stereo sound stage in which the system can be constantly tweaked or tuned to work with different tracks or soundscapes …. but you would really need to hear it to get the full idea!

This year, instead of the circle being visually defined by small led’s
inside the speakers, we had 40 x 1000 liter IBC containers with DMX controlled luminares inside. Recycled IBC containers have been used by other artists to create various lighting installations, one of the better known being Modularbeat‘s Kubik installation / portable outdoor club, which has appeared in major urban spaces across Europe. However after we were asked by Shambala if we could incorporate the use of similar containers into the Modulate space, we thought it would be fun to try a new take on the idea, translated from an urban space into a woodland glade.

Having previously designed a number of light and sound installations using Max/MSP, multi-speaker sound systems & DMX controlled lighting within fiberglass orbs & light sticks, programmer and sound designer Bobby Bird found it a relatively smooth process to translate similar software design to the cubes, while David Checkley, technical support, sourced materials and pulled together a great team of able & willing assistants to build the installation on site.

Aside from the Sonic Circle and the cubes, we projected live quartz
animations onto a circular screen, laser projections onto the tree canopy, UV canvases on trees, a chilled fog machine, plus electronic sounds flying in all directions, selected all over the three nights by Mark Bunegar & Bobby Bird (Modulate).

As well as original material, some of the artists / labels played included Raster Notion: Alva Noto, Senking, Pixel, Nibo, Ryoji Ikeda, Kangding Ray, Komet, Stephan Mathieu, BJ Nilsen, Fluxion, Robert Henke / Monolake, Gerhard Behles, Frank Bretschneider + Steinbruchel, Robert Hampson, Klovn, Atom TM, Deep Chord, Hem, Autechre, Shuttle 358, Tetsu Inoue, Helena Gough, Fennesz, Rhythm and Sound, Trente Moller, Pole, Vladislav Delay, Coh, Main, Weiland Samolak, Loscil, EU, Smyglyssna, Signal, Biosphere, Sutekh, Gramm, Masters of Psychedelic Ambience, EU, Bretschneider + Dupree , Atom TM, Burnt Friedman.

The Modulate team this year :

Bobby Bird: sounds + sound design, Max/MSP programming and concept for the Sonic
Circle, programing for the light cubes.
Dave Checkley : production manager
+ his team of helpers, Cloe, Ant, and Bob
Liam: all round help & sound tech install
Mark Bunegar : sound selection and graphics
Sean Clark Cuttlefish : laser projections
Joseph Potts: UV canvas
Scylla : live quartz projections
Mark Harris: quartz composer programing
Dowd: professional tree climber , & Denise
Martin Vernan & Kika: mission transportation

More images on flickr

Modulate – Ikon Eastside – Birmingham Sound Matter concert

modulateav — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:01:10 +0000

‘BIrmingham Sound Matter’ CD release and concert at Ikon Eastside

Concert presented by Modulate in collaboration with Ikon

Tickets sold out! CD available now

A concert featuring international sound artist

Francisco Lopez
(Madrid) plus seven regional sound artists:
Helena Gough
Nicholas Bullen
Cormac Faulkner
Martin Clarke
Bobby Bird
Mark Harris
Annie Mahtani

Date: July 8th 2009

Time: 19.30

Venue: Ikon Eastside 183 Fazeley street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 5SE

Cost £6

A Birmingham Sound Matter CD (on Audiobulb Records) , will be released to coincide with the concert. Available on the night and online from modulate.org.uk from Juy 8th for £10.

Francisco Lopez is internationally recognised as one of the major figures of the sound experimental music scene who has, over the last thirty years, developed an astonishing sonic universe, based on a profound listening of the world.

He was first invited to Birmingham by Modulate in 2007, to give one of his legendary ‘Total Darkness’ performances, and we were delighted when he subsequently suggested returning to direct Birmingham Sound Matter. After a series of workshops led by Lopez earlier this year, the participants created a shared a pool of location recordings made in the city, which subsequently underwent a series of transformations through further collective and creative processes. These recordings and transformations have formed the basis of the final compositions. which will be heard in concert on the night.

Lopez has previously directed two similar projects, Montreal Sound Matter and Brussels Sonic Matter

Supported by PRS Foundation and Arts Council England.

With thanks to Cuttlefish Digital Arts for web server provision,

Fazely Studios for workshops space, and SSE Audio for soundsystem

Modulate Perfromance at CocArt Music Festival Poland

modulateav — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:13:52 +0000

Modulate’s performance at the CoCArt Music Festival, at the Center of Contemporary Arts in Torun, Poland, was a big success. The five members of Modulate performed a new AV set, created for CoCart, to an audience of over 400 people.

Two Youtube clips :

One Here

Review

“Last weekend, during the final of II CoCArt Music Festvial, the audience took a musical journey with Modulate – a British multimedia collective. The people, gathered in the CoCA’s underground car park were taken aboard a futuristic space frigate, speeding through the void of outer space. The accompaniment to this fascinating voyage was kept minimal, while also being rich in textures and musical figures. The whole spectacle was replenished with abstract and geometrical visualizations, digital / laptop electronics appeared here as a fully developed rhythmical form … a space cruise of the highest degree”.
Excerpts from a review by Dariusz Brzostek ( translated from Polish)

Venue

Other perfromances we particularly enjoyed included those by Vitor Joaquim + Hugo Olim:

Sunao Inami:

And of course, Hatti, co curators of the festival:

Photos courtesy of Vitor Joaquim , Wojtek Szabelski / freepress.pl, and Rednail

With thanks to: CoCart and Hatti for inviting us

Arts Council England for additional travel funding

… and the lovely Polish audience