Debut: November 30, 2006 / 7-9 PM
Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, NY

•  a real time audio sample windowing and progression program to deconstruct multiple audio tracks and reconstruct them into longer pieces in rhythm at variable and user controlled tempos.
• Accompanied I want to see you limp with pleasure by Holly Faurot and Sarah Paulson
• 2-hour performance with 12 performers, 5 video monitors, 5-channel video component (live & pre-recorded)
• Developed using the JMSL and Java

When faced with the repeated task of having to create very long pieces to accompany Holly and Sarah's performances, I began thinking of ways in which I could compose without knowing the duration of the piece.  It had to be musically consistant with whatever I would wanted to explore sonically, yet still be listenable for the duration, and would have to be able to be any length as set at performance time.  What I developed is a technique to deconstruct recorded music by extracting small audio samples and reconstruct them in new tempos and time signatures, slowly progressing them through the original. The result is something unexpected and intriguing, but that still follows the overall sonic arch of the original. I orginially developed this technique for an earlier work, but the underlying architecture here is much more elegant. 

The window length is set to the duration of one beat.  In 4/4 time, a quarter note is 1/2 second at 120 BPM, and 4 make a complete measure. One measure is 2 seconds long.  At 60 BPM, the window would be 1 second and the measure 4 seconds long.  The position of the window is changed each measure and determined by how much of the performance has been completed after the previous measure.  If a 2 hour performance is half over and the original duration of the audio track being deconstructed is one minute, the position of the window would be half way - at 30 seconds.  What this does is very slowly push the window through the orginal piece. Perhaps I'll See You Again (Someday) is in 6/8, and I think that's one of it's most fundamental distinguishing characteristics.

The demo, which is also the source material for the longer composition, is an awakening, a dirge, and an acceptance. A structured attempt to cope with unstructured events.

 Looking Forward

• Compisition for a 1 day performance based on 10 seconds of audio - perhaps something transient like dropping a plate or a car passing by 
• Use a variety of bass and rhythm tracks to create a hip-hop type sounds without any actuall looping

Thanks to Holly Faurot, Sarah Paulson, and Nick Didkovsky

~ Available for museum installation/performance w/ or w/out different source ~
~ Please contact me for more information ~

Note: Please turn off the music player on the right above if you are planning to watch the video.