Norman McLaren's SYNCHROMY (1971)
"Here are pyrotechnics of the keyboard, but with only a camera to 'play the tune'. To make this film, Norman McLaren employed novel optical techniques to compose the piano rhythms of the sound track. These he then moved, in multicolor, onto the picture area of the screen so that, in effect, you see what you hear. It is synchronization of image and sound in the truest sense of the word."
(National Film Board of Canada)
Fig.1 Director: Norman McLaren; Year: 1971; Time: 7 mins; Music: Norman McLaren.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Soundmachines: a tangible music sequencer using visual patterns
"An instrument for performing electronic music. Three units, which are resembling standard record players, translate concentric visual patterns into control signals for further processing in any music software. The rotation of the discs, each holding three tracks, can be synced to a sequencer.
The Soundmachines premiered on the Volkswagen New Beetle stand at the IAA motor show in late Summer 2011. In cooperation with the sounddesigner/ producer Yannick Labbé of TRICKSKI fame, we developed three unique discs, each controlling one track of an Ableton Live Set exclusively made for the Event. The show was supported by a set of realtime generated visuals, running on a 25m wide LED wall."
(The Product)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
The Electronic Music Pioneer Daphne Oram
"Daphne Oram (1925 – 2003) is one of the central figures in the development of British experimental electronic music. Early in her career she declined a place at the Royal College of Music to become a "music balancer" at the BBC, and as co–founder and first director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she is credited with the invention of a new form of sound synthesis – Oramics. Not only is this one of the earliest forms of electronic sound synthesis, it is noteworthy for being audiovisual in nature – i.e. the composer draws onto a synchronised set of ten 35mm film strips which overlay a series of photo–electric cells, generating electrical charges to control amplitude, timbre, frequency, and duration.This system was a key part of early BBC Radiophonic Workshop practice. However, after Daphne left the BBC (in 1959), her research, including Oramics, continued in relative secrecy."
(daphneoram.org)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
