04.07.09
cynical (TM)
total betrayal (TM)
11.04.08
Isolitude (Mike Marcus & Amie Slavin)
“Exploring the growing anomie in large urban centres Isolitude is a haunting and thought provoking piece.”
‘for the first time more than half the world’s population, or about 3.3 billion people, will live in cities, a number expected to swell to almost 5 billion by 2030′, United Nations Population report.
Running from 6th to 16th November ‘08 Isolitude is a joint installation by street-artist Mike Marcus and sound-artist Amie Slavin. Marcus’ 7-foot tall cutouts populate the gallery space creating a maze that forces you to navigate between the figures whilst Slavin’s 8.2 urban surround-scape presents an immersive and simultaneously detatched virtual environment placing listener & figures in menacing and uncomfortable surroundings.
Marcus has also created (a limited edition of 35) 6-colour screen prints available from jealous gallery
And my involvement ?
As Amie’s engineer I was involved in the hardware setup, and provided a custom (graphics tablet based) surround pan controller used in the mixing/building of Amie’s surround-scape … more on this soon.
10.22.08
Microtrack battery hack
A while back we bought a second-hand M-Audio Microtrack on Ebay without first checking that its battery was in tip-top condition. On receipt of said recorder, it worked for a few days before failing to boot - effectively rendering itself useless. It is one of those sorry devices, like many of Apple’s, that has an internal, non user-servicable Li-ion battery, which means to get it changed you’re meant to send it back to M-Audio who will charge £50+ for the privelege, and take 3 weeks to do the job - not a particularly amusing situation. So, I thought I’d have a look at how hard it would be to sort myself. As it turns out, it was a relatively easy task requiring surprising simple soldering. It is however dangerously difficult to open the case in the first place …
If you’re thinking of doing this yourself, then be warned - Lithium-Ion batteries can be dangerous - I HOLD NO RESPONSIBILITY for you frying yourself, or your microtrack. If you are competant and cautious, its a simple task, but you do so entirely at your own risk - what follows is a guide to where to start, but seriously, if you’re not sure about this then don’t bother and get M-Audio to fleece you instead !!
exhibit A - a dead Microtrack
![M-Audio Microtrack 2496 [MK I]](http://daz.roughdiamondproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/a.jpg)
Cracking the Case
Key to solving the inherent deadness problem is first to get into the case of the device itself. I’ve read of people mangling the audio inputs by using too much force, so take care here. Its not actually that hard but take your time as each time you get it wrong, you’ll end up with a scratch to prove it, or worse still, you could get bitten by the casing snapping back together with one of your digits between the pieces (ouch). Anyway, on the back casing, you’ll notice that the corners are curved around the unit.
exhibit B - side view of half-open case showing position of tabs, and curvy corners
To get in, stick a small flat-head screwdriver between the back panel and the main body avoiding the tabs (marked in red) - the green lines show where its okay to start prising it apart. Do this gently, down the length of one side, and repeatedly lever the case further and further away from the body. Eventually, you’ll see the tabs. When one side is complete, use something (e.g. a kitchen knife) to hold this gap open as you repeat the procedure for the other side - note that there is more space to get started towards the top of the unit on the side with the menu button. A steady hand, and not too much force are whats required, but don’t worry if a couple of the tabs break - not nice, but it’ll go back together again and open up much easier next time …
exhibit C - back panel off, main unit upside-down showing battery outlined in green
The battery is simply stuck to the back of the pcb with a little double-sided sticky tape and can be freed easily. It is connected by one red and one black wire, which can be snipped - one at a time so as not to short the battery. The battery can now be disposed of at your local weee certified recycling centre.
exhibit D - old battery (green) and replacement battery (blue).
Almost any single-cell lithium ion battery will do for this (as long as it will fit in the case once re-assembled) - they are mostly 3.7 volts, which is what we require, and mobile phone batteries suit the bill as they’re small, 3.7v and readily available, the only downside being charge. The original battery is somewhere in the region of 1400-1800 mAh and my replacement is rated at 700mAh, so I expect battery life to be less than half - around an hour of recording time. The replacement battery I found is from an old mobile phone, which on initial inspection was too fat to fit back in the case, so I cracked open it’s plastic case to reveal its interior containing the wrapped lithium ion cell, and a small pcb with the charging circuits.
DO NOT open the batteries any further as you could end up with that nasty lithium stuff plastered about the place (if you don’t know what lithium + water does …)
Anyway, once the original battery is removed, the bare ends of the wires can be soldered onto the replacement battery terminals, being extra careful not to short the battery by accidentally soldering the wires together - a fine pointed soldering tip is probably best, but with care, you can get away with something a little less subtle …
exhibit E - replacement battery with wires soldered, placed in makeshift celophane wallet
Once your ‘new’ battery is soldered to the correct wires its a good idea to wrap it in insulating material so that when its squeezed against the back of the pcb no accidental shorting occurs - I used some celophane from a tobacco packet, and a generous helping of gaffer tape 
So, the new battery is ready to charge. Don’t put everything back together yet as its a good idea to play it safe and watch the battery charge to look out for any signs that things are going wrong - plug the unit into the mains, power it up, and stand back …. If the battery starts to bulge, hiss, whine, or exhibits any other weird behaviour then stop charging immediately, take it outside and stand clear - it probably won’t explode, but if it does, it ain’t gonna be nice - chemical burns anybody ? … see why I say I’m not responsible for your hacking now ?
2 or 3 hours later, the battery will be charged, so remove the power supply, switch the microtrack off, and then test to see that it boots up okay.
exhibit F - the microtrack running from a mobile phone battery
So, now we’ve verified that it is in fact working its time to put the back on. Its worth spending a little time investigating any damage that may have been done to the points where the back mates with the rest of the body as any plastic out of place may hinder the smooth reseating of the panel. Also, bear in mind that the slide switches for phantom power, record level and hold need the back panel edge between the back of the slider and the rest of the case. If the case goes back in the wrong place, these sliders will be mis-aligned making them look weird and hard to operate - and the case won’t close properly, so do this side first, and the second side should (with a little persuasion) easily reseat with a satisfying click.
All in all, that took about 4 hours including charging time, and cost me nothing. If you haven’t a spare battery just lying around it’ll not cost much from places like this. The Nokia BL-6C equivalent is rated at 3.7V / 1070 mAh and at £10 seems maybe a good bet - anyway, shop around as the more mAh you can find (that fit in the microtrack) the more recording time you get.
06.23.08
turn it up, baby
9 Weeks of age, 4.5 kilos in weight, 56 cm long and a wopping 92dB(A) at 1 metre, although I’ve no idea of the wattage …
05.14.08
The Accidental Telephony Experiment
Apparatus :
1 Hotpoint Washer/Dryer
1 Neglected pair of trousers containing …
1 Cheap as chips mobile ‘phone
Methodology :
Forget that ‘phone is in trousers.
Introduce trousers to washing machine
Run full D cycle
Empty machine and discover ‘phone
see if it still works.
Hypothesis :
I figure the sim card will survive its accidental-aqua-adventure, but as for the rest of the ‘phone, I would imagine that the detergent will have deposited sufficient salt on the circuit boards for the thing not to work. As for the battery …. well, thats a whole exciting area itself - dare I plug the unit in and see if explodes ?
Outcome :
The phone is in bits following its sojourn in the spin cycle, so … I let it dry in the sun for a few days and gave it a whirl. No charge in the battery, so attempting to charge it I discover the battery fizzes and starts to expand. Quick ! out to the garden goes the battery in case of explosion and a new phone is bought. To my delight the sim survived and I get to keep my contacts and phone number - hurrah.
04.10.08
WKOLXONVKEFTJ - WTF ?
google analytics says I had a visitor using a browser called ‘WKOLXONVKEFTJ’
what on earth is WKOLXONVKEFTJ ? google returns nothing [well, this post at least]
hmmmmmmmmmmm……..
03.29.08
mixing on the beeb no less
I’ve just come back from a session at the local bbc radio station where I did a live mix for Owsley Sunshine on the ‘In The Mix’ show. Interesting setup with a few wonky bits and pieces here and there. Not enough working inputs for 3 vocals, guitar, keys, sax, bass, percussion and drumkit. I think we got away with it though. The funniest part was the complete lack of adequate monitoring for the singers - they had to make do with the studio outputs being fed into their cans. Everyone else was okay because they could hear the sound in the room, but the lack of monitoring made sound-checking the vocalists impossible, and we had to wing it. To get around the inputs problem, I submixed the vocals and keyboard in the live-room [thankfully I had my trusty little spirit folio mixer with me] and fed this submix into the control room’s music desk [yamaha 03d - my first encouter with such]. The vocal levels of the first track were unspeakably bad, but once I’d popped back through to adjust the folio and found the eq and compressors in the o3d things began to run much more smoothly - I even managed to locate a decent [built-in] stereo reverb and panning delay needed for the remaining tracks. Having never used one before, I must say I’m impressed with the 03d - a compact, clean and very powerful little desk.
So there it is - I can now saw I’ve engineered a live session for the BBC - bonza !
02.27.08
Amie Slavin @ SightSonic 2008 / AV 08 @ MIMA
Sound Artist Amie Slavin will be showing Sophia’s Web at this year’s SightSonic -The York International Festival of Digital Arts. We got a ‘phone call last night from one of the organisers requesting the presence of the piece, which will be on show from 14th to 17th March. More info here .
As if this wasn’t news enough, one of Amie’s other pieces ‘WavePOWER, WavePLAY, WavePOWER‘ will be featured as part of ResonanceFM’s contribution to the AV 08 Festival during their week long broadcast from the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art.
Earthquake hits Lincolnshire - damage estimated at £4
An earthquake measuring 5.something on the rhictus scale was felt throught the country at about 1 am last night. It has emerged that the quake centered on the sleepy market town of Market Rasen, in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Much of the town, and several surrounding villages were flattened by the impact of the quake - felt as far away as 150 miles. Experts suggest that a shock of this magnitude may well be responsible for the birth of language in the near future - local inhabitants tend to be quite shy, and as far as communication with the outside world is concerned, all that has been heard in the last few decades has been a series of grunts from a local farmer, apparently ‘tending’ to his sheep. Although the area suffered wide-spread devastation, no rescue efforts have been launched yet, largely due to the inability of the emergency services to locate Lincolnshire. The most pressing cause for concern to emerge so far has come in the form of a whip-round by local villagers struggling to find the £4.19 needed to repair the extensive damage sustained by this sleepy, and overestimated village. Further afield, in the dangerous wastelands of Gainsborough, houses were said to have suffered extensive damage, although on inspection, insurance companies suggested that there was no possible way to verify the extent or cause of any damage sustained. One industry insider was heard saying ‘come on, this is Gainsborough afterall’.
02.24.08
The not so scientific phase perception survey
[just a bit of fun] Following on from this post in rec.audio.pro I decided to do a little experiment …William Sommerwerck :
Back in 1980 I attended the SCES and heard a demo from Peter Moncrief which purported to show the audibility of absolute phase by playing a 0.5 Hz square wave through an LS3/5a. There was an obvious difference in timbre between the B110 going in and coming out.
When I got back home, I attempted to duplicate the experiment, using Audio Technica electret headphones. (They were selected not only for their quality, but because their step-up transformers were electrically isolated, making it easy to reverse polarity.) A Heathkit generator provided the 0.5Hz square wave.
In the process of experimentation I discovered that the square wave _always_ sounded like “tick tock”. Always. I attached a ’scope and confirmed that the polarity didn’t matter — the first pulse I heard had a different timbre from the second.
Using the ’scope to show the polarity, I found I could mentally “flop” the “tick” and “tock”, and the inversion was stable with time. It was sort of the audio equivalent of the Necker Cube.
So, I’ve created wave files to have a stab at doing this demo (obviously knowing nothing more about it than whats provided in the post). I’ve discovered that the LS3/5a is a speaker designed by the good old beeb and considered somewhat of a classic. Of these, I have none, and I can’t even be bothered to look for the meaning of B110 - I bet its probably the code for the driver in the LS3/5a, or a magnet design number or somesuch. What I can provide is an approximation of a square wave at 0.5 Hz.
Okay, that’s great. To further explore this, I’ve created a pulse wave at 1Hz, and I’m not letting on which file is which.
They both sound similar, as they both consist of 19 clicks over a 20 second duration. The square wave maintains its peaks and a click is effictively produced everytime the waveform pass through zero, whereas the pusle wave peaks and then returns to 0 creating a click - hence the difference in frequencies of the originating ‘waves’.
The test is this :
Visit this page to download the zip file containing 2 wave files. Without looking at the waveforms listen to them. Are all the clicks in the file identical sounding ? Is it for both files, or just for one ?
Do your speakers sound different moving from + to - when compared to from - to + ?
When You’re done, visit this page to share your results.
That’s all really - on listenning, I [fwiw] experienced something similar to what William described with a definite ‘up / down’ feel to what I was hearing with the square wave and the ability to switch sides on the rythm, but I’m not sure if I got the same results with the pulse wave - I’ll try again in a few days time … in the mean while, happy listenning
02.16.08
pixel millionairre …
Not the most conventional of valentines gifts, and a day or so late … I’ve received two 19 inch tft monitors - a whopping 2.62 Million pixels don’t you know - woo hoooooo - the studio [once relocated downstairs again] is gonna look great and have more space to move around in now I can finally pass on the two [stupidly deep] 17 inch crts we’ve been using for the last 4 years. And what did I give in return ? A years membership to talking books - more toys. Consider me a Happy Valentine.
02.15.08
Hugh you’re a ****
Watch out if you’ve got a Behringer MX3242X or similar !! I’ve just changed the plastic bevel on the side panels for the rack ears that arrived with the mixer 4 years ago … thanks to some rather short-sighted design, I’ve just broken off the headphone socket !! This is because the supplied screws are FAR TOO LONG for one of the screw-holes and when screwed in even half way bumps up against a floating piece of PCB holding the headphone socket [I know now ...] but seeing as I didn’t know, and I have a penchant for cross-threading screws, I carried on when it got a little stiff - A MISTAKE !! ….. CRACK ….. rattle, bump, off it goes.
I’ve been inside the case and its not gonna be difficult to fix but still …. arse
On a more positive note, I’ve now got the old laptop running as a virtual synth - haha - it’ll manage about 4ms latency comfortably running a single vsti with 3 moderately hungry insert fx, not bad for a vanilla dell pentium M 1.4gHz running XP on a paltry 256mb of ram with a cheap as chips internal audio chip.
Three cheers for cantabile : http://www.toptensoftware.com/cantabile/
02.12.08
Resonance Waves
Amie’s piece “wavePower, wavePLAY; wavePOWER” got played on top London Arts Radio station Resonance FM 104.4 last night after a last minute ‘phone call from one of their programme managers saying they had an unexpected free slot and would it be possible to air the piece? possible? of course !! So we sat terrified for an hour as it streamed through one of our office pcs, hoping that the mix sounded as good on the net as it did in the studio. We were not disappointed!
So, two firsts - Amie had an hour of air-time, and I had one of my plugins used for about 10 minutes of the show.
“WavePower, WavePLAY, WavePower” is scheduled for another play in March - keep an ear on Resonance FM for more details.
Read more about the work of Sound Artist Amie Slavin.
Read about Wave POWER.
Get the wavePLAY vst plugin.
12.05.07
show me the art …
I’ve just finished setting up amie’s piece monks’ roar, for display at the lincoln christmas market. Its part of the ‘its an occupation‘ show, also featuring tapenoise and sunshine gray.
for more info on monks’ roar, visit amie’s page.
10.24.07
mac attack
I’ve just been given an old powermac g4 : 450mhz, 384mb ram, 32mb agp, 20 gig sytem, 40 gig storage, dvd reader, zip drive (!). It apparently runs osx 10.3.9. The keyboard is pretty good, but brilliant - it hasn’t got one of those damned-awful McMouse examples of design winning over function. Haven’t yet decided what to do with it, although I’m thinking it might make a reasonable fx plugin host for the studio, or a server perhaps. It weighs a ton so its not going to be very mobile. Oh yeh, it came with a Lacie cd burner - about the size of a breezeblock - probably about as fast when it comes to burning cds too …
09.30.07
Woo Hoo Tube
Finally, I’ve got the video ‘up’. Time for Tea :
09.27.07
I put my garbage in ….
I just had the pleasure of editing my first video. With MovieMaker. Other than the terrible sound from the camera’s 8khz samplerate everything went … err … well. Well, ‘well’ is a bit of a lie. Its a dog, and an un-trained one at that. Anyway, it was time to export the finished masterpiece. Simple operation right? render output in the same file format (avi) and resolution (320×240) you’ve been working at, in order to compress it for use on-t’interblah. Common sense would suggest its a reasonable idea, but No. Apparently not. Give me a choice of wmv, but only avi in double the size?. wtf? So, I’ll render double size, then resample. A waste of time. Ah but no. The apparently double size avi was a much smaller file than I expected. wtwtf? Oh, Okay, its half the resolution it says it is. That explains the file size, but still - wtwtfff? Oh, err, hang on, its not the same size as would be expected at the new, half resolution, which ought to be by now the same size as I started with and want right? Well, No. Its bigger. As if there weren’t enough artifacts from using a cheap camera, I now have to generate more, by resampling to the size I want. To make matters worse, in order to publish it, I want it as a swf which adds a whole new beautiful layer of crap. Oh yes, and now somehow, the timing has started slipping in the conversion to swf. So, until I have more time, wmv wins.
I want my garbage out you silicon bastard.
On the other hand, I’m pleased to have remembered bink. I used it to make the video into a .exe - Greyscale + scaling + Interlacing has a great, old-school look and it even blacks the rest of the visible desktop area and provides transport key commands. chuffed.
08.09.07
swine & snake soup
16 way midi surround controller - nested swine documents with plugins to handle midi i/o via sockets to python and virtual midi devicelets within xml - screenshots :
07.04.07
a damp squib …
laptop gone pfht along with a lot data 
it started with freezes, out of nowhere, which progressed into an unknown missing file (as far as xp was concerned) which turned into a failure to boot altogether, which leads me to believe that the harddisk well, erm … died. no smoke, or sparks, or anything remotely spectacular (for a change), just 2 flashing leds to indicate some error code or other. logic would dictate however that I now have loads of options to explore - what to do with my newly broken resource - repair it ? re-use some of it ? burn it ? oh I’m so excited.
[update] after sorting out a new (old) desktop to use as a replacement machine (thanks julie) and opening up the laptop to have a play, I discovered that one of the memory slots doesn’t behave like it ought to. The machine is happy with memory in slot 2, but when sticking any in slot 1 (regardless of slot 2) it won’t play ball. both memory sticks are fine though, so, I have a 256mb laptop now … quite slow, but at least it can be upgraded back to its 512mm former glory …
06.01.07
swine fever …
thought it fitting to share my favourite swine recipe : bacon & prawn risotto (serves 3 - 4) …
1 onion, sliced
6-8 medium mushrooms, sliced
3 rashers bacon, fat removed, finely cut
1/2 bowl prawns (probably frozen)
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
250g arborio risotto rice
3 desert spoons olive oil
1 knob butter
2 large hands full of fresh spinach
1 pint chicken stock
1/2 glass white wine
a load of parmesan
2 cloves garlic
some basil / pesto
boil at least 2 pints of water - 1 pint for stock, and the other to defrost the prawns with. heat pan with oil and knob of butter then start frying onion and anchovy, add bacon after a few minutes. soon, add rice and stir until pearly / semi translucent. get nice and hot and add wine. evaporate alcohol and start adding stock. after a few minutes add mushrooms. keep adding stock and stirring. Add prawns as late as you think safe for them to heat through properly and a couple handsful of fresh spinach. if using pest, sling it in. when all is done and its just about ready, stir in parmesan chopped basil, and garlic. as soon as parmesan is melted, serve with red wine and enjoy.