DKO at FRANK Part 2: Everyday Music (2012)

Posted on December 28, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

This is an excerpt from a performance by DKO from the MCAD MFA open studio night on December 7, 2012 as discussed in the post Live Binaural Recording of DKO with Oliver Grudem. The document features Oliver Grudem (not shown) who produced the audiovisual score in real-time. The video and sound coming from the LED display and loud speaker below it was broadcast into the performance space as Oliver walked around the Minneapolis Uptown area during a snow storm. The visuals and sound from his walk provided a “score” for us to respond to as we improvised. Oliver was also able to hear our musical reactions to the audiovisual score as he was broadcasting and respond accordingly.

The piece was recorded with my custom built binaural head microphone to capture the sound localization of the performance space. NOTE: It is necessary to wear high quality headphones to experience the binaural effect. The spatial properties of studio monitors are also acceptable but will not produce the same localization of the sound sources. Thanks goes out to Eric Dowell for shooting video of the one hour long performance. I am working on editing a shorter version to briefly summarize the essence of the piece. This 13 minute video is a more in depth snapshot of what the performance entailed.

Dueling DSI Tempests + Drum Machines Class

Posted on December 22, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

This video features me and electronic musician, Lucas Melchior, on two synched up Dave Smith Instrument Tempests. Everything was played live into the machines. No parts were pre-recorded. It’s all live. The two of us are teaching a class, titled “Drum Machines,” starting January 17, 2013 at the Ableton certified training center Slam Academy in Minneapolis. Learn how to make music synchronizing your musical devices, old and new. Featuring Ableton Live, DSI Tempest, Expert Sleepers, Korg Monotribe, SCI Pro-One, and more.

Live Binaural Recording of DKO with Oliver Grudem

Posted on December 10, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

On Friday, December 7, 2012 the MCAD MFA program had its yearly open studio night. Last year it was called SHOW + TELL, but this time we titled it FRANK. There was some amazing work up all over our Whittier studio spaces. I contributed by directing a performance featuring my trio DKO and MCAD alum, Oliver Grudem, who provided a real-time audiovisual score for the ensemble to “read”. This relates to my thesis research in progress, but in brief the audiovisual content was broadcast over a mobile network as Oliver traversed around the city sending us what he saw and heard as it happened.

DKO Recording Session and Performance at Bellows

Posted on October 23, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s a selection made by Jon Davis from our recent DKO performance and recording session at the lovely Bellows Studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. This rough segment was mixed and engineered by Adam Krinsky. The limited edition poster was designed and screen printed by Jasio Stefanski.

Fragile Gloss Featuring DSI Tempest

Posted on September 13, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

It has been a couple of months since I have shared an Ostraka track (Wayland’s Smithy back in July), so I thought I would let you have an advance listen to a very recent mix featuring the DSI Tempest. This particular track also includes sounds programmed on the Roland MKS-80, SCI Pro-One, and Korg Monotribe. Thanks for listening, and let me know what you think.