ISSUE 15

                                    _________
                                   /         /.
            .-------------.       /_________/ |
           /             / |      |         | |
          /+============+\ |      | |====|  | |
          ||C:\>        || |      |         | |
          ||            || |      | |====|  | |
          ||            || |      |   ___   | |
          ||            || |      |  |166|  | |
          ||            ||/@@@    |   ---   | |
          \+============+/    @   |_________|./.
                             @          ..  ....'
          ..................@     __.'.'  ''
         /oooooooooooooooo//     ///
        /................//     /_/
        ------------------

For Issue 15 we, XPUB1, broadcasted 8 times a radio show. With every week 1 episode. The structure had a high density; On Monday and Tuesday we watched, read and talked about information and learned things on different software. On Wednesday we had to come up with ideas and produce them immediately so it could be broadcasted every Thursday.

ANNOTATING

✦ Read and Notes

BROADCASTING

✶ Episode 1 / Transition and Trans-Actions Intersections

PROTOTYPING

For the first radio show we learned to work with Liquidsoap and Icecast. We learned the connection between the Icecast server and worked with files connecting Liquidsoap in the terminal. For this broadcast I've used some online AI software to convert random images of turtles into music. I've also used text from our class Telegram group to audio with Google translate. Although I'm used to broadcast radio, I have a monthly show on Worm Radio, it was new to me to create audio/ music with different content other than my own voice.

The website of this broadcast is visible here:Episode 1, unfortunetaly the audio is not playable since the Liquidsoap file is not running anymore. This is sad for the archiving purpose, however my contribution was too experimental, in the sense that it was very long and boring and because of lacking a context it is not recommended listening to it anyway.

✶ Episode 2 / Les Sons XPUB

PROTOTYPING

For this Episode I worked together with Jacopo. We searched for different words used in audio and their meaning. Words such as: echo, butterfly effect, reverb. From these terms we made a small glossary in audio format. We looked for placed around the Wijnhaven/Blaak building with high reverb and echo qualities. We recorded on different places the spoken glossary.

✶ Episode 3 / A Generative State of Mind

For this week we learned to work with Sonic Pi. This open source software is a tool to create loops with sounds. It is a mix between coding and making music. For my own process I started making "blogs". These blogs are html pages on our Sandbot server to collage audio, images and web design for my own research archive. First I tried to remake on of my favourite songs of Aphex Twin; Ptolemy in Sonic Pi as a small study to tryout the software. In the meantime I investigated this song title, discovering some medieval history on Ptolemy. Inspired by different texts these week, such as interviews and writings from Donna Haraway, I combined all this information in an audio track for our broadcast this week; a track about loops. For me the word "loop" has different meanings; it can refer to solar systems, to recycling or down-cycling, but also to the coding inside Sonic Pi(creating music using different loops). I tried to make a rhythmic song even though all the loops used are looping in different speeds.

PROTOTYPING

The blog:

My process was logged in this blog. This is the code used for making the track in Sonic Pi:

3.times do
  live_loop :hoi do
    sleep 18
    4.times do
      sample :drum_heavy_kick
      2.times do
        sample :elec_chime, rate: 2
        sleep 0.25
        1.times do
          sample :drum_heavy_kick
          sleep 0.1
        end
      end
      sample :elec_snare
      3.times do
        sample :drum_tom_mid_soft
        sleep 0.125
      end
      1.times do
        sample :drum_cowbell, amp: 0.5
        sleep 1
      end
    end
  end
  
  live_loop :hallo do
    6.times do
      sleep 2
      sample :drum_snare_hard
    end
    1. times do
      sample :drum_cymbal_pedal
      sleep 0.6
      sample :drum_splash_hard
      sleep 0.4
    end
  end
  
  live_loop :drum do
    sample :drum_bass_hard
    sleep 1
  end
  
  live_loop :sfeer do
    sleep 1
    sample :glitch_perc3
    sleep 1
    sample :glitch_perc2
    sleep 0.5
    sample :glitch_perc2
    sleep 0.25
    sample :glitch_perc2
    sleep 0.25
    sample :glitch_perc4, beat_stretch: 3
    sleep 1
    live_loop :melodia do
      with_fx :reverb, mix: 0.4 do
        5.times do
          use_synth :beep
          play chord(:C4, :major7), release: 2, amp: 0.5, beat_stretch: 3
          sleep 4
        end
        1.times do
          use_synth :beep
          play chord(:C2, :major7), release: 2, amp: 0.5, beat_stretch: 3
          sleep 4
        end
        
        1.times do
          
          use_synth :kalimba
          play chord(:E4, :minor7), release: 2, amp: 0.5
          
          use_synth :pretty_bell
          play chord(:C4, :major7), release: 2, amp: 0.5, beat_stretch: 3
        end
        2.times do
          
          use_synth :subpulse
          play_pattern_timed chord(:C3, :major7), 0.25, pan: rrand(-1, 1), release: 0.05, amp: 0.5
        end
        1.times do
          
          use_synth :kalimba
          play chord(:E4, :minor7), release: 2, amp: 0.5
          
          use_synth :pretty_bell
          play chord(:C4, :major7), release: 2, amp: 0.5, beat_stretch: 3
        end
        2.times do
          
          use_synth :subpulse
          play_pattern_timed chord(:C3, :major7), 0.25, pan: rrand(-1, 1), release: 0.05, amp: 0.5
          play_pattern_timed chord(:C4, :major7), 0.25, pan: rrand(-1, 1), release: 0.1, amp: 0.5
        end
      end
    end
  end
  
  live_loop :plink do
    sleep 36
    sample :elec_twang
    sleep 2
    sample :elec_twang
    sleep 1
    sample :elec_twang
    sleep 0.5
    sample :elec_twang
    sleep 0.5
  end
end

live_loop :voice do
  sleep 40
  1.times do
    with_fx :reverb do
      sample "/Users/floor/Desktop/365.wav", amp: 0.5
    end
  end
  sleep 60
  1.times do
    sample "/Users/floor/Desktop/365.wav", amp: 1
  end
  sleep 60
  1.times do
    sample "/Users/floor/Desktop/365.wav", amp: 2
  end
end

Some links on Sonic Pi:

✦ Sonic pi

✶ Episode 4 / The Act of Untethering

For this broadcast we worked as a group on this text, The Word of Unbinding, of Ursula K le Guin. The final result is an adaption of the text in the shape of an audio play.

HOST

For this episode Kendal and me were the caretakers

PROTOTYPING

For this issue I focussed on creating the design of the website, a bit on changing the original text, recording Kendal's voice and editing the voice recordings last minute with Audacity.

The adapation of the text was focussed more on the digital world. As a class we tried to find as many synonyms relating to the internet & computers. Because of this I was thinking of this classic "Hacker" style design. Something with falling green numbers, things very Matrixesque. For the first prototype of the web design I tried implementing some free found javascript codes. It was interesting for me to search for codes and make it work in web design, but it was too ready made to use. Later I tried different typography based web designs and trying things out with ascii. With just HTML & CSS I experimented with movement & animation. For the title design on the final result I used this Ascii generator.


                                          .----.
                              .---------. | == |
                              |.-"""""-.| |----|
                              ||       || | == |
                              ||       || |----|
                              |'-.....-'| |::::|
                              `"")---(""` |___.|
                             /:::::::::::\" _  "
                            /:::=======:::\`\`\
                            `"""""""""""""`  '-'
             ///~`     |\\_                      =\\\\         . .
            ,  |='  ,))\_| ~-_                    _)  \      _/_/|
           / ,' ,;((((((@   ~ \                  `~~~\-~-_ /~ (_/\
         /' -~/~)))))))'\_   _/'                      \_  /'  @   |
        (       (((((( ~-/ ~-/                          ~-;  /    \--_
         ~~--|   ))''    ')  `                            `~~\_    \   )
             :        (_  ~\           ,                    /~~-     ./
              \        \_   )--__  /(_/)                   |    )    )|
    ___       |_     \__/~-__    ~~   ,'      /,_;,   __--(   _/      |
  //~~\`\    /' ~~~----|     ~~~~~~~~'        \-  ((~~    __-~        |
((()   `\`\_(_     _-~~-\                      ``~~ ~~~~~~   \_      /
 )))     ~----'   /      \                                   )       )
  (         ;`~--'        :                                _-    ,;;(
            |    `\       |                             _-~    ,;;;;)
            |    /'`\     ;                          _-~          _/
           /~   /    |    )                         /;;;''  ,;;:-~
          |    /     / | /                         |;;'   ,''
          /   /     |  \\|                         |   ,;(    
        _/  /'       \  \_)                   .---__\_    \,--._______
       ( )|'         (~-_|                   (;;'  ;;;~~~/' `;;|  `;;;\
        ) `\_         |-_;;--__               ~~~----__/'    /'_______/
        `----'       (   `~--_ ~~~;;------------~~~~~ ;;;'_/'
                     `~~~~~~~~'~~~-----....___;;;____---~~

✶ Episode 5 / Broken Phone

For this broadcast I did not add a contribution. The rhythm of broadcasting every week was not in sync with having ideas all the time, so for this weeks episode I took a break.

✶ Episode 6 / Sobremesa

HOST

For this episode Nami and me were the caretakers.

After 5 episodes, our group work as a class was a bit scattered, so Nami and me decided to use this broadcast for digesting what we have done so far. Personally this was a natural reaction in the process for me because it was hard to keep up with the phase of broadcasting every week; the days of the week were fully booked for a lot of reading material, watching documentaries and less for reflecting and digesting. One word that came to my mind is this lovely noun "Sobremesa". I introduced this word for the main theme.

Sobremesa An untranslatable word from the Spanish language; the time spent around the table after lunch or dinner, talking to the people you shared the meal with; time to digest and savor both food and friendship. -Urban Dictionary

The meaning of the word "sobremesa" was our main theme this episode; this resulted into a talk about our broadcasts so far and about Radio Implicancies in general. This was a live recording with all ten of us, with tea, sitting on the ground, decorative stones lying around and an aroma diffuser dispensing smoke into the air to create this meditative atmosphere, a room to talk and digest. You can listen to this live recording here.