Sound Sample from Voice Lessons

Posted on November 11, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

Voice Lessons is an interactive touch-screen installation that I recently presented during a graduate critique seminar at MCAD. The piece, developed in Max/MSP, granulates both sound and video as the viewer touches the screen while maintaining synchronization. I will be installing the piece again next month for an open studio night on December 9, 2011 at the MCAD Whittier Studios, 2835 Harriet Avenue South, Minneapolis. I will also be sharing more complete documentation about the piece soon. For now, please enjoy this short segment of audio sampled from the piece as it was in use.

Voice Lessons Excerpt

Forgotten Channels

Posted on October 1, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

Forgotten Channels is a generative music and projected video performance piece that aims to discover connections between our visual memory and our response to peculiar soundscapes.

The visuals for the piece are made up of fifteen shots selected from hundreds of mobile phone videos. The videos make up a score that was prepared by playing them on a large LCD display then re-shooting them with another mobile device to frame mysterious elements and expose the imperfections within the digital media.

To perform the piece the visual score is abstracted again by playing it on yet another mobile device positioned below a camera plugged into a computer. Custom software analyses the input to produce a real-time stream of algorithmic music. The musical information is captured and manipulated by the performer in response to the imagery.

Casino Royale Instrumental Circa 1995

Posted on September 26, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

Former A&R rep and all-around minneapolis music nut, John Kass recently posted eight tracks ripped from a couple of demo tapes that we submitted to his record label back in the mid-90s. You can check out all of the tracks on his blog gojohnnygo.com. I’m including an instrumental track below that’s loaded with some note-y Pro-One lines revealing that I have been using that synth for at least sixteen years. Crazy!

Instrumental

Forgotten Channels

Posted on September 25, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

I’m currently preparing a performance for my graduate critique seminar on October 4, 2011. As I have been working on the piece, tentatively titled Forgotten Channels, I have been capturing little chunks of interesting sound. Here’s an example of something I decided to preserve from a recent practice session.

Forgotten Channels Study

Sync and Filter Modulated Chordal Drone

Posted on September 19, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

And we’re back… After twenty days of five-minutes-here and one-hour-there since the crash I have managed to recover a significant percentage of the original content of AudioCookbook.org. There are still hundreds of audio files that need to be put back in place, and probably a lot of lost images, but the first ten (of eighty) pages are cloase to 100% recovered. I have also created a new design based on the clean and functional Twenty Eleven WordPress theme. This responsive design looks nicer and will also provide a better user experience on mobile devices.

Although there is lots more to be done, now it is time to get back to the business at hand. Making sounds! At this stage I can’t guarantee daily output, but I intend to work up to it. Here’s a chordal drone that I created recently using my Roland MKS-80. I modulated the filter and the VCO frequency with the LFO set to a sine wave. However, you will not hear the pitch sweeping because the oscillator that is modulated is synched to the unmodulated one.

Sync and Filter Modulated Chordal Drone