A combined live audio visual improvisation with contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Scorpio, Jack Smylie Wild.
I really enjoyed working on this experimental project with Jake. For me, it was a chance to leave my usual writing practice to one side, and focus on enjoying the collaborative process, dipping into areas I’m interested in, but don’t give much time to.
I found a lot of old footage I’d taken, and Jake was happy to play around with it. I also made some new bits of film especially for A Circle in Twelve Parts, transforming myself into a kind of Green Man in the woods, with river clay and leaf litter. For the live recording on the night, I revisited some characters I used to draw when I was a teenager, for a comic I made called ‘Creatures of the Moonshine’ – which explores ideas around the multifaceted nature of self, and the seeming contradictions and juxtapositions therein.
This work felt more like the start of something than an end-product, and I’m looking forward to getting back into Jake’s lab to conduct further multi-media experiments, perhaps with some spoken word and rap, in the future.
A combined live audio visual improvisation with contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Virgo, Anna Sherratt.
“I’m a writer, director, producer and sound designer from Aberystwyth, but currently living in Cardiff. When Jake approached me with his brilliant avant garde project, I was excited but nervous – not knowing quite what to expect. True to my star sign, I am a meticulous planner, but I also love improvisation and chaos, and the creativity that brings.
In the end, I went with a “Desert Island Discs” approach, taking ideas from where life and music intersect and responding to Jake’s amazing mixing in chatter, spoken word and song.
It was an honour to take part in such a unique series, and to have a go at making Virgo whatever it happens to be – especially if that’s a bit messier than the stereotype!”
Halfway through a third year of a circle in 12 parts.
Thanks again to all the lovely people who have been part of this years series.
I am very excited by the process of making these works and how it has developed this year. Both visual and sound elements are now being created live, though not necessarily concurrently. Where possible guests have come to my studio and interacted live with the turntables or synths, playing them or their own instruments into the mix. I then have live cameras and recorded video clips, images ready in VJ software to mixin real time with the live audio. Where we have been working over zoom the audio mix is created and recorded live both ends and both zoom visuals feeds are recorded. I then process those recorded visuals and any other material from my guests to input into a different format for the VJ software where I manipulate and mix all of the visual elements while playing the live recorded audio from earlier.
A live audio visual improvisation with sounds, images, video and vinyl selection from this years guest Leo, Susan Sluglett.
In the mix are: Louis Armstrong -‘Dream a little Dream of me’; Ella Fitzgerald – ‘Can’t we be friends’; Talking Heads -‘Road to nowhere ‘; Kate Bush – ‘And dream of sheep’; David Bowie – ‘Heroes’; Nina Simone – ‘To love Somebody’; Earth, Wind and Fire – ‘Let your feelings show’; George Benson -‘Lady love me (one more time)’; Bob Dylan – ‘She belongs to me’; Joni Mitchell – ‘Chinese cafe/unchained melody’; The Smiths – ‘Stretch out and wait’
A live audio visual improvisation with images, video and vinyl selection from this years guest Taurus, Maura Hazelden:
An aural & visual dance duet, a reminder of birthdays past, I so enjoyed the immersion in apple blossom.
It was great to feel a bit creative and to be creative in collaboration. I had thought I might use some of my work in terms of images but somehow it became a personal journey of images from birthdays & my life, some friends…photos of me (I’m not always fond of having my photo taken except in my work!), of a place close to my heart now gone, food and bluebell wood walks for my birthday, and … apple blossom.
How have I never made a link between Lily the Pink and my series of works with pink lilies?
I would like to apologise for both of us not realising that soundcloud advertising would slip in, and my lack of speed in silencing it! I might be a Quaker but I don’t endorse Franklin Graham…this is not a love song…
Thank you Jake for the invitation and a creative afternoon with plenty of joy! I am inspired to relook at some of my language/sound work and do some re-creation.
A circle in 12 parts is a way of bringing together all the different strands of my practice, a way to include all kinds of material and processes, ideas and influences.
Back in 2002, when I first started to find and collect audio objects and make experimental sound works with them, I tried a few software synths – Rebirth and Reason were the go to programs at the time and I can remember using a block sequencer in Reason to make and hear visual patterns but I struggled to get past the limited steps and regular tempos. Not only that but I was trying to develop a practice with minimal cost and the expense of the software was significant! The found objects and their physicality and unpredictable nature of interaction possible with turntables and vinyl became far more interesting and accessible.
20 years on I found myself experimenting with virtual modular synthesis having discovered the amazing free software VCV Rack. I started playing with the synth app as an alternative to playing a dreadful mobile computer game called Marvel Strike Force. Why I got so absorbed in that game I’m not sure but over 3 years it took hours, if not days, of my time, steadily increasing the need to pay for things to stay up to date. I never paid for anything. Finding VCV Rack and it replacing my Marvel habit puts in in a curious place, is it part of my art practice? is it a hobby? entertainment? maybe all three? Perhaps it doesn’t matter.. whatever it is, it feels a lot more wholesome than Marvel US military propaganda!
Almost immediately after starting using VCV Rack I was considering its visual quality and trying to establish a way to make that a more interesting experience. Initially I was recording the sessions locally and trying different visual treatments with the recordings in post. In mid October 2021 I posted this video of a processed recording of a VCV Rack session. I used some databending techniques on the original improvised synth session recording and then further corrupted the recording live while streaming to Youtube.
It was around then that I started streaming most of my experiments with VCV Rack, sharing my screen to Youtube as a way of recording the sessions without filling up my HDD. In hindsight I can see it is in part the uncertainty around what these experiments are and how they relate to my practice that led to my decision to stream them privately, a decision I regret somewhat as my work is very much about process, embracing the failures and getting away from value judgements and hierarchies..oh well. Perhaps they are more interesting in retrospect anyway (perhaps not) as we can see some sort of progression and understanding of the software develop (hopefully).
A fortnight later I posted this glitch video with a bit of improvised synth sound.
Another fortnight later I streamed this next video with a longer bit of live synth sound. The MP4/HEVC glitching process usually gives me a file that just about plays in my streaming software but this file refused. It did play in VLC player so I was able to stream it.
In the following week I started using Vmix to alter colours, add visual. With the exception of 22022022022022 I haven’t posted any more synth videos since mid November but I have been playing a lot and continued experimenting with visual material too, streaming regularly to youtube to record. There is now over 70hrs of recordings of my learning the software and developing a live process with visual material, overlays, circle drawings, animations and extra software to offer more live interactions. I’ll start looking through and posting some soon probably..
Once in a lifetime. The precise second where the palindromic time and date hit last night.
It was 20 years ago in 2002 that I first started playing with virtual synthesisers. I rediscovered them recently and have been finding my way around the amazing free VCV Rack since last September, finding ways to apply live visual effects and overlays to live captured synth improvisations.
This fairly minimal droney one started at 22:00 on 22/02/2022 and lasted 22min. Annoyingly Youtube seems to have cropped a second off to spoil my Twosday!
The found of music 