Music of Sound

Following up on a previous rant about the aesthetics of studio design; from an interview on Native Instruments site heres a couple of photos of Lumos retro-futuristic looking studio in Berlin:

 

methink someones been watching re-runs of 2001…

Gas – Vapourware – via

Sphere Music is a UK based auction website specifically dealing in vintage electric music instrument auctions; VEIMA and they currently have an auction with a fantastic selection of vintage gear (including many synths) from the sale of a private studio…
The two items that struck me as VERY unique were these two:

The Schlumberger Solartron JM1861 Pseudo Random Signal Generator:

And even rarer, the Korg MS20 Blackboard Edition:

“Here’s probably a unique chance to get one of the rarest synth ever made ! This is a Blackboard KORG MS20 made by KORG in 1978 , for synthesis education. This one was sent by the Japanese KORG Firm for Mr Francis RIMBERT (JM JARRE’s well known musician) for a French synthesiser school. Less than 40 examples were made !! It has been serviced last year by a professional in France, so everything has been checked, and cosmetically is really in very good condition. The keyboard can be replaced into the main panel if you decide you want, but it looks very good like that and it’s great to use like it, and it was made in wood in 1978 as soon as it arrived in France. Big dimensions (1 meter x 0.70 m x 0.12 m for the panel)”

Also in the current auction, theres an MS10, MS20, SQ10, MS02 and the ultimate in the range; the MS50. You better have deep pockets if you want to collect the whole set! Happy bidding!

Every year I receive an email notifying me of the next School of Sound (held annually in London) and I wistfully think one day I’ll get there, but for some reason the April dates never fall between films, and flying from New Zealand to London is not something to be done directly, unless you like to suffer. Seems they dont really make planes with 6ft tall people in mind, unless you are a rich 6ft person & can afford to get out of cattle class…
Anyway if you live in London or at least closer than I do, can I highly reccomend you check out The School of Sound, 2009:

The 8th SCHOOL OF SOUND International Symposium
15 – 18 April 2009
Southbank Centre, London

The School of Sound presents a stimulating and provocative series of master classes by practitioners, artists and academics on the creative use of sound with image. Directors, sound designers, composers, editors and theorists working at the highest levels of film, the arts and media show us the soundtrack from unexpected perspectives. They reveal the methods, theories and creative thinking that lie behind the most effective uses of sound and music. If you work in film, television, commercials, radio or multimedia – this event will convince you of the extraordinary potential of the soundtrack.

We have devised a programme that is as useful for the director, producer or screenwriter as it is for the sound designer and composer. Sound in storytelling, sonic environments, human sound perception – the topics range from the practical to the aesthetic to the abstract during these intense four-day meetings.

In its previous editions, the SOS has attracted delegates from over 25 countries. Join us for our eighth event in 2009. At the SOS you will not learn about hardware or software. But we can introduce you to the ideas of creators working at the cutting edge of sound production and inspire you to say, “I never thought of working that way.”

Confirmed speakers
MANI KAUL
Noted Indian director presenting the work of Ritwik Ghatak

HILDEGARD WESTERKAMP
Composer, radio artist and sound ecologist

DANIEL DESHAYS
Sound Designer and Music Producer for film, radio, dance and theatre,
collaborating with Chantal Akerman, Agnes Jaoui and Philippe Garrel

PAT JACKSON
Features Sound Designer (Jarhead, The English Patient,
The Talented Mr. Ripley) and Film Editor

PIERS PLOWRIGHT
Radio features producer

ROGER CRITTENDEN
Drama editor, former Head of the MA Programme at the NFTS and
author of Fine Cuts: The Art of European Film Editing

STEVE MUNRO
Film Sound Designer known for his longtime collaboration with Atom Egoyan

KIM LONGINOTTO
Documentary filmmaker (Divorce Iranian Style,
The Day I Will Never Forget, Sisters In Law)

PHIL SOLOMON
Avant-garde filmmaker, video and installation artist

Registrations now being accepted. For information about the programme, fees and registering, go to www.schoolofsound.co.uk, email sos@schoolofsound.co.uk or phone 00 44 20 7724 6616

Can I also highly reccomend a book published of previous lectures, mentioned previously here in my sound design book list & available from the school of sound website. I particularly enjoyed the section by Walter Murch (as always) and Carter Burwell but also found Mani Kaul very very interesting & philosophical, hence the upcoming 2009 session will be a definite highlight… I’m also a big fan of Atom Egoyans emotionally driven films so hearing Steve Munro speak would also be very interesting… But I’ve got two films back to back from January to May, so…. I’ll just have to dream of 2010…

Christopher Willits has a unique take on the guitar & electronic music. I first heard his music on the excellent ‘guitar’ album on minimal electronic label 12k called EADGBE and I have always been equally intrigued by both his music & his techniques, so its great that XLR8 magazine have been recording a series of interview/workshops with him; check out the latest (episode 5) below or download a quicktime of it & previous episodes here

You just know these two words dont go together: monkey & segway

The software based strobe tuner I raved about previously here has been updated & is now available as a VST/AU plugin (previously it was a free standing app only, requiring you free up your audio hardware while using it) so via a VST-RTAS wrapper I’ll be able to use it inside ProTools – Fantastic!!!!!
Check it out here

Ok, this doesnt have too much to do with sound (well, everything has something to do with sound, but anyway…) – we’re final mixing so my free time is approaching zero… so heres a little video chain of events about cause & effect… And gravity… Starting at the beginning, at least as I am aware, is the Rube Goldberg-like mechanism at the core basis of a short film called The Way Things Go: “In 1987 Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss built a enormous, precarious structure 100 feet long out of common items. Using fire, water, gravity, and chemistry they create a mind-blowing chain reaction of physical and chemical interactions and precisely crafted chaos.”

Now if that isnt enough youtubery I don’t know what is, now do some work!?!

I love this band portrait by photographer Ye Rin Mok

it took me a moment or five to notice the band members in the shot….

Here is the perfect gift for the Star Wars fan that has everything – an R2D2 media centre/video projector/ipod dock! But wait theres more! A Millenium Falcon remote control!

I think R2D2 is one the coolest robots in film history & a lot of his character comes from Ben Burts electronic vocalisations – if you want a burst of nostalgia go translate some english into R2D2 speak here – i love the little pitch bent tone/whistle it does when you put in a swear word! But slightly back on topic – do you know how R2D2 got his name? Apparently it was during the dialogue predubs for American Graffitti, Walter Murch explains in this interview: “When I was working with Dick Portman on Godfather, I had picked up his habit of voice-slating each reel: “Reel Four, Dialogue One,” for instance, would mean “Dialogue premix one for reel four,” and so on. Except he abbreviated it to “R-4, D-1,” something he had picked up from his father, Clem, who had been the mixer on King Kong and Citizen Kane. You can see where this is going. One day I was mixing the second dialogue premix for reel two of American Graffiti and voice-slated it “R-2, D-2,” and George, who’s sitting in front working on the script of “Star Wars”, suddenly stood up: “What did you say?” “Ummm, I don’t know.. R-2, D-2–is that what you mean?” “R2D2!!….What a great name!” he shouted, and went back to writing his script.”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.