I just finished my first year at the NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Never would I have imagined that I’d be juggling the chaos of a pandemic alongside academic deadlines that seemed to move steadily ahead with little concern with all that was going on in the world. It was a contradictory space, but now that I’m out of it, perhaps I am thankful. Thankful for all that I learned. Thankful for the distraction. Thankful for the Graduate Student Union that still made sure I got paid every month despite not working.
For one of my performance classes, I began to develop this project called “In Pursuit of Black Noise.” It was a continuation of “Gaze Makes the Glitch” (which I wrote about in a previous newsletter), but had a more sonic focus.
In Pursuit of Black Noise is an audiovisual performance and sonic meditation that explores the everyday glitch process that occurs in both the digital realm and IRL space. This project is a continuation of a study called Gaze Makes the Glitch, a study that investigates how colonization and race as technologies have led to the erasure of past, destruction of magic, and creation of the “one-world world.” Using sound synthesis and glitch art, this project moves toward truth synthesis - the generation of black noise.
The piece explored this concept in four different movements, movements that are not necessarily distinct or totally separate from each other, but movements that had their own artistic signature and energy.
I. Utopia
“When we act in accordance with the prophetic dream, the dream comes to directly constitute reality.”- Jackie Wang, Carceral Capitalism, 2018.
Mood Board:
Sonic Characteristics: Nature / Water / Slow / Happy / Steady / Spiritual
II. Violence / Introduction of extrautopian Violence into Community
Forced removal from native lands / categorization / full humans v not-quite humans v nonhumans/ extractivism / removal of resources / null / empty / reorientation / space / erase / repeat
Mood Board:
My Case Study:
Sonic Characteristics: Chaos / 808 / Competing Energies / Overlaps / Faster / Off-Grid
III. Erasure
“WHAT DID I DO TO BE SO BLACK AND BLUE" - LOUIS ARMSTRONG
Mood Board:
My Case Study:
Sonic Characteristics: Driving Force / More Synths / Elevated / Repetitive Loop (Repetitive Process) / Clipping
IV. Death
“The earth cannot move without music. The earth moves in a certain rhythm, a certain sound, a certain note. When the music stops the earth will stop and everything upon it will die.” - Sun Ra, Space is the Place, 1974
Mood Board:
My Case Study:
Sonic Characteristics: Clicking / More Electronic Synths / Warping / Static / Discomfort / Cacophony
Technology / Setup
This was the most exciting process and also the most intensive element of the piece. Many of these components are largely invisible to viewers, so I’m excited to share! For Sound Generation, I use the Korg Volca Keys and the SP-404 which was loaded with samples that I curated/spliced/edited etc.
These instruments were then connected to an Audio Interface which was connected to my computer via USB. I have one of the Focusrite interfaces and I highly recommend. I also had a MIDI Controller connected to my computer.
I then routed the audio into Max(Max/MSP/Jitter) which is a visual programming environment that allows you to create really fun audiovisual projects. It. has a bit of a learning curve but once you understand the basics, you can do a lot of things.
Here’s a screenshot of my Max Patch:
There’s a lot going on here but at the top right you can see my three faders labeled adc~1 and adc~3 4. These corresponded to my input channels from the Focusrite. I used the incoming audio signals to track the amplitude of the Volca and the Zero Crossings of the Samples in my SP-404.
There are a few effect objects I was also using such as BRCOSR and FEEDR. I turned these on depending on what movement the piece was is and altered some of the parameters to get the desired effects I wanted.
During my first recording of this piece, I didn’t have a MIDI Controller so I was doing all of these by hand but getting a MIDI Controller and also programming which things were on/off depending on the movement (using the send and receive objects) made this entire process a lot easier.
I know this might look extremely confusing to some people, but I’m happy to go more in-depth if people are interested. Seriously hit me up about or I can do a newsletter specifically on Max/MSP/Jitter.
Reflections
This project feels far from finished. I envisioned it as being at least a 30-minute performance but due to the restrictions of my class, I only did a 5-minute performance and then did a 10-minute longer-form video.
But also, it was interesting to visually and sonically explore this idea of Utopia and Violence through the use of Sound Synthesis and Glitch Art. These forms felt like they went hand-in-hand. Synthesis in the sound world is the technique of generating sound from an electrical signal, which is what I was doing somewhat with the synthesizer I was using. And with the art of glitch, I was exploring the impact of violence on the body and within a community, but also technologies role in that. All of these together combine to create SYNTHESIS AS TRUTH GENERATION.
This time is full of glitches as we upload/download ourselves and others in this time of isolation. My remote academic experience has been full of glitches. Full of illegibilities. Frozen cameras. Lagging sound. Confusing communication. Humans hiding behind Camera-Off Zoom Blocks. Silence in the midst of immense presence.
Although gaze may not be always violent, there’s no doubt that these video conference platforms like Zoom capitalize on our gaze and prioritize the gaze. Many people I know have talked about the effects of having to gaze at yourself during a meeting and needing to Hide Self-View. I remember reading articles about Zoom having an “attention tracking” feature which will identify participants who have clicked away from the Zoom window. Sounds a lot like gaze tracking.
Questions I have
Is Utopia even a world without violence?
Initially, I wanted the death movement to be mostly silent, but I decided against it. Should death have been silent? Does glitch cause death or does it just create something different?
What are the effects of removing the tiniest bit of a song to create a sample and rendering that illegible / unidentifiable from its source?
What are the affordances and limitations of citations?
A white critic told me my project was boring because “looking at a video on a screen is boring.” Was she right? Are we all just bored? What does boredom even mean here?
Links
10 Minute In Pursuit of Black Noise Video: