Experimental Sound
for Visual Artists and Filmmakers


Composer and multimedia artist Philip Mantione has brought together experimental sound artists and composers, Glenn Bach, David Casey and Daniel Eaton to give a series of workshops and performances at RAM centered around the art of sound for visual artists.

The workshops are designed to expose artists to methods and software for creating and incorporating sound in their work, as well as to inspire those with a general interest in sound as art. Topics will include: Open Source Software and Audio Fundamentals, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Avid Protools and Max/MSP.

The second day of the event will feature performances and screenings by the participating artists including a screening by guest video artist and curator, Alysse Stepanian. There will be a panel discussion following the performances with the artists, moderated by the curator of RAM, Kathryn Poindexter.

In the workshops, participating artists will discuss and demonstrate their use of music software and computer-interactive devices. Each has written created sound for experimental video and film or multimedia installation, and will discuss and their unique approach to using industry standard audio software. Specific applications covered will include Audacity, Protools, Ableton Live, Logic Pro and Max/MSP. The workshops will emphasize a computer-driven experimental perspective as opposed to traditional scoring for instrumentalists, so knowledge of music theory is not required.

All workshops and performances are free and open to the public. Advanced registration is suggested for the workshops as space is limited. Please call RAM @ (951) 684-7111. The event is sponsored in part by a grant from New Music USA’s MetLife Creative Connections program.

Participating Artists:

Glenn Bach

As an artist who works with sound and music, Glenn Bach weaves field recordings, digital audio, and analog electronics into quiet, meditative soundscapes, with additional interests in improvised sound design for dance and silent film. His published music includes a duo project with John Kannenberg on the UK label Entr'acte, and a solo record on the Scottish label Dust, Unsettled.  He has performed or collaborated with such musicians as Steve Roden, Jeffrey Roden, Aaron Ximm, Chris Schlarb, smgsap, Marcos Fernandes, and many others. Bach leads the improvising ensembles Southern California Soundscape Ensemble, Double Blind, and Intense Situations of Peril, and oversees the MPRNTBL netlabel. His long-term project, Atlas Sets, is a collaborative conversation about musical map-making, contemplative practice, creative community, and artistic intention. Bach grew up in Southern California, and received his MFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University, Long Beach. More information is available at www.glennbach.com.

Bach will lead a workshop on audio fundamentals and open source software. Bach will use Audacity, a cross-platform, open source audio editor, to demonstrate basic recording, editing, mixing, and mastering techniques while covering fundamental audio principles, acoustics, and aesthetics. Bach will also introduce participants to a wide range of freeware and shareware for use in sound design and synthesis, as well as web-based resources for royalty-free and open-source video and audio samples and libraries. A wrap-up exercise in mindful listening will engage and invigorate participants for what promises to be an educational and inspiring weekend.

Links to Glenn Bach’s work:
http://dust-unsettled.com/album/radia
http://www.mprntbl.com/mprn-013.html
http://www.mprntbl.com/mprn-008.html

 

 

David Casey

...is a musician and sound artist living in Los Angeles. His work has been exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Art (San Diego, CA), Concord Space (Los Angeles, CA), SoundWalk (Long Beach, CA), Art Institute of California- Inland Empire (San Bernardino, CA), and the Center for Integrated Media, CalArts (Valencia, CA). He has performed on drums in most major cities in North America. He was artist-in-residence at STEIM (Amsterdam, NL) in 2009 and earned his MFA in Experimental Sound Practices at the California Institute of the Arts in 2010.

Casey will demonstrate the uses of Ableton Live, a unique digital audio workstation often described as an 'elastic' application capable of manipulating sound in real time, literally pushing and pulling pitch, rhythm, effects parameters, mixes and layers of sound in innumerable ways. Ableton can be used for editing, mixing, composing, installation, sound design and live performance. His workshop will focus primarily on ways to use Ableton Live for interactive installation and live performance. Special attention will be placed on connecting external MIDI controllers to manipulate and trigger sounds.

Website and links to David Casey’s work:
http://davidcasey.tumblr.com/

 

 

Daniel Eaton

...has garnered notoriety for his unique approach to scoring films and animations. Honed and trained in traditional music making, he easily slips between the worlds of wild or sometimes subtle musical experimentation and more formulaic derivative music. He believes music and sound can truly empower the moving image to unexpected heights. His work for the moving image has been featured at the 2012 Sundance Festival, the 2012 Annecy Animation Festival, and numerous other festivals through out the world. Daniel is also a performer, recording artist, and teacher currently residing in the Los Angeles area. He performs regularly as a solo artist and in the trio GRAMPUS that features percussionist/composer Mike Lockwood and trumpeter/programmer Louis Lopez. In both settings Daniel explores interfacing with audio and live visual media through interface with the laptop and the open platform program Max/MSP/Jitter. He has built custom micro controllers and interfaces for his trombone and also wearable video projection gear through out the last few years. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, Bobby Mcferin, Cloud Eye Control, Orkestar Meze?, The Open Gate Theater, and many others through out the years. He currently holds a B.M. in trombone performance from the University of Wisconsin and an M.F.A. in Composition, Experimental Sound Practices and Integrated Media from the California Institute of the Arts.

Eaton will lead a workshop that covers the basic workflow in Logic Pro and how to use it to manipulate sound and music for creative film scoring from a non-traditional view point. This workshop will cover set-up, importing video, mapping audio to the moving image, and many of Logic Pro?s unique features that can be used for creating interesting sounds including: automation, flextime, audio units/effects, and signal flow. An example animation that was featured at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival will be used as an example session. Logic Pro was used as the primary audio program for the creation of the surreal and bizarre sonic narrative that accompanies this thought provoking animation. A dissection of the process of scoring this animation from a non-traditional perspective through the use of Logic Pro will be a main focus of this workshop.

Website and links to Daniel Eaton’s work:
http://danielcastledine.com/

 

 

Philip Mantione

...has composed music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, computer, fixed media, interactive performance, multimedia installations and experimental video. He writes custom software in Max/MSP to create music that melds field recordings, sampling and computer generated sound into unique sonic textures. His Sinusoidal Tendencies, released on Innova, has been described as "austerely impressive" (Paris Transatlantic Monthly) and "a searing study in form and color." Zane Fischer, of the Santa Fe Reporter, called his interactive sound sculpture, The Human Resistor, "...a satisfying, interactive rabbit hole, in which tactility becomes sound." Mantione’s work has been presented at notable venues such as the Bing Theater at LACMA, Merkin Concert Hall (NYC), Baltimore Contemporary Art Museum, Islip Art Museum, CCA (Santa Fe,NM), SESI' Cultural Centre (Brazil), CCCB (Barcelona, Spain), National Museum of Fine Arts (Cuba), and the European Media Arts Festival (Germany). Recent concerts include: John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium at UNM and the Southwest Festival of New Music (New Mexico). He currently teaches Audio Technology and Production at the Art Institute of California - Inland Empire.

Philip Mantione will give brief introduction to Protools, an industry standard software used for recording and creating sound for the moving image. He will describe the possible uses of Max/MSP/Jitter, a multifaceted program in which object-based programming can used to for a variety of applications including sound art, experimental video and interactive installation. Using custom patches, he will demonstrate the capabilities of Max/MSP and how it can be integrated with Protools, Logic Pro and other devices such as an iPhone.

Links to Philip Mantione’s work:
http://philipmantione.bandcamp.com
http://www.philipmantione.com
http://www.box1035.com

 

 

Alysse Stepanian


Guest video artist, Alysse Stepanian’s videos, installations, paintings, photographs, web art, performances and curations have been presented in over 40 countries. Her work is visually enticing, and socially and politically engaged. Selected screenings include: The Museum of Actual Art, Mexico City; Contemporary Museum, Baltimore; Arad Art Museum, Romania; Anthology Film Archives, New York City; Vasteras Konstmuseum, Sweden; and Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin. She is the curator of Manipulated Image, an experimental video art and multimedia events series that has presented work by over 157 artists from 41 countries. Last year she created URBAN RANCH PROJECT on Facebook, featuring work in all media, bringing awareness to the interconnectedness of racism, sexism, ageism, speciesism, and other social, hierarchical, and anthropocentric prejudices. Stepanian’s collaborative installations with Philip Mantione under the name BOX 1035 are multi-sensorial, with social, political, psychological and philosophical references. L.P. Streitfeld has described their work as "a wry and profound commentary on the conflicted state of America's emotions." BOX 1035 has created installations in the U.S., Berlin, Beijing, and New York. Beijing’s City Weekend magazine listed "Don’t be afraid, be ready" (2006) as number one of the top 5 exhibits.

Website and links to Alysse Stepanian’s work:
Manipulated Image: http://manipulatedimage.com
URBAN RANCH PROJECT: https://www.facebook.com/UrbanRanchProject
Alysse Stepanian: http://alyssestepanian.com
BOX 1035: http://www.box1035.com

 

 

Event Schedule:

Workshops:
Saturday - February 16, 2013 - 10:00am to 4:00pm

Performances/Screenings:
Sunday - February 17, 2013 - 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Location:

Riverside Art Museum
3425 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside CA 92501
Phone:(951)684-7111
www.riversideartmuseum.org/

More Info:
music@philipmantione.com

Audio Engineers:

Trevor Johnson
June Romero

Special Thanks:

Drew Oberjuerge (Director of RAM)
Kathryn Poindexter (Curator)
Ai Kelley (Communications)

 

The event is sponsored in part by New Music USA’s MetLife Creative Connections program and made possible by the generous support of the Riverside Art Museum.