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live-performance + live-stream at OT301 Amsterdam
For the live-streamed performance, which was also live in space (with sound through the speakers as well as mixed through a sound card to OBS), I played all tracks through Reaper. I was able to loop certain sections of specific tracks, play complete songs and jump in and out of a track to accompany the action on stage. Difficulties that arose were:
1. Unclean loops (beginnnings and endings were hard to select)
2. Slightly imprecise operations (in jumping back and forth within a track)
3. My sounds were always on; I didn't have direct access to the mixing table, so every mistake was heard
4. Some of the clicks/unplanned noises were already within the track.
To counter these difficulties, I would consider using Soundplant for live mixing, and/or look for other platforms, which would help with nrs 1 and 2; finetuning my recording and editing skills, which would include subtracting unwanted noise, recording at the right volume levels, and learning which proximity from the microphone is necessary when speaking. I would also like to work with a mixing table, connecting my computer and microphone to it, listen to the sounds in a large space and practice the handling of changing tracks, looping, and fading in and out. I would like to continue the practice, as tried out during this residency, of being both operator and performer, on and off stage; en/mesh oper-former and onstageoff.
Fragments of the performance
technician - Pierre Mollet
performers - Irina Baldini, Korina Kordova, Emily Welther
In this video there are looped sounds of the track blackberryblackberry and, at about 1:30 minutes, the multi-track: story of touch. I had adjusted the volume levels of each track while listening to it in the gallery before the performance.
In this video, I used the recordings I had made with Soundplant - singular words and combinations of words allotted to keys on the keyboard, which were played and used to create a beat. The final sound was the same recording, moved up to a track with fx settings - a bit of a surprise. I played and paused these sounds to try and confuse Irina. This was a bit bumpy - it might have made more sense to use Soundplant directly and not its recording.
Here I experimented with making sounds live with the microphone, pressing, rubbing, squishing a broken-off leaf of an aloe vera plant. I mixed it with my spit in order to make it wet and hopefully louder. For the recordings I had made of the blackberry leaves, I had used microphones for both live and studio recordings, and was able to adjust recording levels for the quiet sounds. The mic here was a dynamic mic, yet required the volume to be turned way up because of the space and both other soundtracks that were playing (one was blackberry-leaves-in-your-head, a track using only very high and low frequencies; the other sound was Irina's).
Blackberry-leaf-sounds; lowered pitch, tempo and removed high frequencies; looped. I played all of the soundtracks through Reaper, had selected this track and looped it live. Unfortunately, the selection was taken with a second of silence before it, so in the loop there is a jilt or crack. This experience led me to question which program is best suited for live mixing, and/or how to be more precise when selecting the part of the track I want looped.
I began this part by walking in space, playing with the sounds of my footsteps, sliding them and my hands against the wooden floor. Soon after I began, Pierre turned off the microphone which had been amplifying the sounds. I continued without realizing the sounds weren't heard in the live stream! Later I attempt to scream high frequencies, and freestyle to Korina's movement with rocks.
Full documentation (through OBS) of the live performance at OT301, Amsterdam, on March 14, 2021. Each artist had videos and sounds related to their research. We decided on a laboratory-type setting, entering and exiting the space, plugging in and out of the projectors, using recorded sounds and the microphone. My videos were played only on the mini projector (due to technical difficulties) and on my computer screen.
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