Modulateav's Weblog

Modulate at Shambala Festival 2009

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

Modulate Sonic Circle at Shambala 09

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, on tech /lighting, 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

Francisco Lopez / Birmingham Sound Matter – workshops

modulateav — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:50:14 +0000

Stage One

The workshops with sound artist Francisco Lopez , held at Fazeley Studios in Birmingham, went very well …

Participents:

Francisco Lopez (Project Director)

Stage Two: field recordings and composition, to take place over the next three months

Stage Three: Live concert in Birmingham:

Wed 8th July at IKON Eastside

Info / tickets AVAILABLE NOW!

Stage Four CD release of Birmingham Sound Matter on Audiobulb Records

Project Director Francisco Lopez

Project facilitation Modulate

Project Co Ordinator: Scylla Magda

Photos: Mark Bunegar

Supported by The Arts Council England and PRS Foundation

New Zealand / Birmingham Artist Residency

modulateav — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:07:41 +0000

Birmingham and U.K creative culture as experienced by Modulate’s resident artist Damian Frey from New Zealand. Three videos below.

In 2007 Modulate successfully applied to host a three month International Artist Fellowship , a unique Arts Council programme established to award time and space fellowships to enable artists to explore ideas outside of the constraints of a production schedule, and to engage with their peers in different cultural settings,

From a wide range of applicants, from 24 countries, New ZealanderDamian Frey was the person who resonated most with Modulate’s callout for a ‘Sonic Beatnik’, and the person whom we felt would gain the most opportunity from being selected.

In May 2008 Damian re visited us in Birmingham and we took the opportunity to talk to him about his experience of being here, and how the residency had impacted on his creative path since then. We also collaborated on a piece of work, something we hadn’t done much during his residency.

Since the Modulate residency brought him to the northern hemisphere, Damian has remained in Europe, finding his skills – which include code programming and software development, musical composition, interactive sound and light installations - much in demand. As well as developing his individual work, he has successfully collaborated with high level media artists and organisations including Ars Electronica – OfLab (Austria), Chris Sugrue (US), Medialab Prado (Madrid), New Interfaces For Performance (Bristol), the Netherlands Media Art Institute (Amsterdam), Yolande Harris, Dorkbot Valencia (SP) Steim Foundation (NL) RjDj and Andre Goncalves (PT).

One of the best outcome of the I.A.F residency has, for us, been in making a strong connection with Damian, so that we now consider him an international ‘floating ‘ member of our extended Modulate collective.

Below : short video related to Damians residency and revisit

Below : two conversations with Modulate. Taking part: Damian Frey, Bobby Bird, Mark Bunegar, Mark Harris, Scylla Magda, Joseph Potts, Sean Clark. Mediated by artist Geoff Broadway, One : more about the residency

Two : “Isolation” geographical and artistic: Damian in New Zealand / Modulate in Birmingham.

Excerpt: “ Maybe being isolated from the rest of the artistic crowd says a lot more about the rest of the artistic crowd than it says about Modulate. Maybe there’s a good reason to be isolated – to isolate yourself from the rest of the art world. -maybe the rest of the arts world is disappearing up its own rear end, for want of a better term, in lots of important ways ” Damian Frey (NZ)

Modulate says “Hello” with digital technology

modulateav — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:24:30 +0000

In music, the digital revolution happened well over a decade before the much vaunted ‘digital film revolution’, with bedroom studio musicians everywhere finally getting their hands on affordable digital technology to create experimental music. Any clubber who was around in the 90’s in Birmingham will be well aware of this, as the city was home to some of the most respected clubs in the country, including Oscillate, hosted by Higher Intelligence Agency, which brought acts includung Orbital, Autechre, Plaid, µ-ziq, Biophere, Locust, Ultramarine, Spacetine Continuum, Chantal Passamote, Sun Electric to perform here, and House of God whose resident DJ / Musicians included Surgeon and Sir Real.

Now Birmingham City Council brings us “Hello Digital”, billed as the Midlands first digital festival, which proposes to introduce the citizens of Birmingham to the wonders of everything digital, and invites them to discover the future, at millennium point next w/e.

Modulates name won’t precisely be up in lights here (well, they could be…) but some of our members have been working away in the background on one of the interactive installations, “Field of LIght ”, a project dreamed up by the PLUS team, who also devised ’Illuminate‘, another installation which we were involved in.

Modulate’s Bobby Bird has been programmer and technical consultant for the piece, devising a way to control the lights & transfer data gathered via a website into the real-world installation, Modulate member Mark Harris has created a generative sound piece to accompany it, which will gently evolve over the 4 days of the exhibit, while our trusty ‘ in house’ electrician, Dave Checkly, has been busy wiring everything up in such a way as to ensure the general public won’t be electrocuted.

Bobby Bird – Sound Installation at The Herbert

modulateav — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:12:17 +0000

Bobby Bird will be exhibiting a newly commisioned sound installation at The Herbert Gallery in Coventry as part of A Thing About Machines, Festival Fri 19th – Sun 21st September.

“Purpose Built” is a multiple speaker sound installation, using as
source material location recordings made at LTI, one of the last
outposts of manufacturing in Coventry, where Black Cabs are still
being hand built. The piece will be both a sonic re interpretation of
the process of manufacturing, and an exploration of sound as a
by-product of the manufacturing process.

Bobby Bird is a musician and sound artist. In the 90’s he released
experimental electronic music albums as the Higher Intelligence
Agency, while in recent years he has also been designing site specific
sound and light installations, and is currently a member of audio
visual collective Modulate.

Also at the Herbert will be a new sound installation ’Re: Construction” by Cormac Faulkner, , and Kinopixel a screen based installation curated by Darryl Georgiou

Venues:The Herbert : Jordan Well, Coventry, CV1 5QP, UK
Late Opening Fri 10.00 -21.00 /Sat 10.00 – 5.30 Sun 12.00-5.30

Inspire Cafe Bar: Christchurch Spire New Union St, Coventry, CV1 2PS

Frank Bretschneider plays Modulate

modulateav — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:15:34 +0000

Frank Bretschneider, co founder of one of our favourate labels Raster-Noton, came to visit us in Birmingham on 31/05/2008, and gave an audio visual performance of his album ‘Rhythm’. …some more photos here on Flickr

It was a pleasure to host this event and we appreciated his taking the time to come to Birmingham, after his performance at the ICA in London the night before as part of “12 years of Raster-Noton“.

Modulate’s Bobby Bird first made friendly contact with Frank after noticing his use of a Higher Intelligence Agency sample on his ‘ Looping 1-V1′ album, which he took as a great compliment!

Modulate in Capsule

modulateav — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:47:57 +0000

Midlands based AV and digital arts collective Modulate have had a new piece of work selected for display in a uniquely designed construction called the [of] Capsule, which was recently showcased at Nemo Festival in Paris and Elektra festival Canada, and which will form part of an Optofonica exhibition in Amsterdam in July

Developed in Amsterdam by Optofonica Foundation, ARCADI, and TEZ, the Capsule is designed to enable the viewer/listener of audio visual artworks to be immersed in a diffusion of spatialized and tactile sound – low frequencies are transduced directly into the bone system of the human body, converting the sound into hyper-perceivable vibration.

Modulate are currently planning to bring the Capsule to Birmingham as part of a micro AV festival in 2009.

Modulate’s AV artworks have previously featured at the Austin Museum Of Digital Arts Texas, New Forms Festival Canada, Optofonica Festival Amsterdam, Mediateca Caixaforum Barcelona, Sounds Electric festival Ireland and Sonar Festival Barcelona

Bobby Bird to headline Polish Festival

modulateav — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:40:58 +0000

Modulate collective member Bobby Bird will give two rare live Higher Intelligence Agency performances this summer, the first at Muzyczne Ambient, a festival in Gorlice, Poland where he will headline, and the second at the Boom Festival in Portugal.

After not playing live for a few years, spending time creating multi speaker installations and AV works with Modulate, bringing up a young son, converting a Dodge truck, building a new studio, and using his programming skills in projects such as last years PLUS installation Illuminate , there seems to be something of a resurgence of interest in HIA. Last year he was invited to play at the prestigious Detroit Electronic Music Festival U.S.A