Derek Holzer from Elektronen Toto on Vimeo.

TINY NOISE COLOGNE from Elektronen Toto on Vimeo.

Now Playing

Victor Pelevin - The Clay Machine Gun [book]
Thomas Pynchon - Inherent Vice [book][danke C, G & T!]
Даниил Хармс (Daniil Kharms) - various short stories
Matthew Barney - Cremaster 2 [video][again...gotta love the death metal bees...]
C. Spencer Yeh - live last Friday at White Rabbit, Berlin
barn owl-the conjurer lp[2009 root strata]
barn owl-transfiguration lp[2009 electric totem]
elm-nemcatacoa[2009 digitalis]
black to comm-alphabet 1968[2009 dekorder]
eno moebius roedelius-after the heat[1978 sky records]
heike vester-marine mammals and fish of lofoten and vesteralen[2009 gruenrekorder]
kevin drumm-imperial horizon[2009 hospital productions]
morbid angel-thy kingdom come 7''[1988 splattermaniac]
oren ambarchi-a final kiss on poisoned cheeks vinyl[2009 table of elements]
peter wright-an angel fell where the kestrel hover[2009 spekk]
pyramids with nadja-self titled[2009 hydra head]
skullflower-birthdeath ep[1988 broken flag]

The only true wisdom lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and it can be reached only through suffering. Privation and suffering alone can open the mind of a man to all that is hidden to others.

---Inuit shaman Najagneq, recorded by Knut Rasmussen

If you want to build a modular, my advice is not to do it if you want to have any friends, it takes too much time.

---Jessica Rylan

(click photos to make them BIGGER)

My new DIY synthesizer project is getting better and better. Right after I got my residence permit I realized I had almost a month in Berlin without having to get on a plane, train, bus or boat, so I decided to maximize that time by going deep into the modular cave. The Great Loneliness indeed--but with incredible revelations! This is the realization of a dream I've had for ten years now, so forgive me if I geek out for a moment...

The modules I've built, from top left to right:

TOP ROW
Two Dual Thomas Henry XR-2206 Voltage Controlled Oscillators (Bugbrand PCB layouts, self-etched)
4x4 Bipolar DC Matrix Mixer (Ken Stone CGS 33 & CGS 04 PCBs)
Blank Panel (singlewide)

MIDDLE ROW
Super-Psycho Modulation Source (Ken Stone CGS 21)
Wave Multiplier (Ken Stone CGS 29)
Blank panel for another Dual Thomas Henry XR-2206 VCO (will complete tonight!)
Blank panel (doublewide)
Two channel DC Mixer (three inputs per channel, large jack outputs)(more CGS 04 PCBs)

BOTTOM ROW
Dual Synthacon Voltage Controlled Filters (Marc Bareille PCBs)
Dual Polyvoks Voltage Controlled Filters (Marc Bareille PCBs)
Blank Panel (doublewide)
Blank Panel (singlewide)
Breadboard Prototyping area (= doublewide blank panel)

Besides most of the PCBs, I'm really committed to making every part of this thing with my own hands. Some people in the synth DIY scene send their front panels out to get professionally etched and anodized. I'm not really concerned with having the "professional look", partly for financial reasons, and partly because it's really important to be able to rapidly prototype things, get them in the case and make some fucking noise. The fact that it looks handmade seperates it from all that store bought crap that people don't have any clue what goes on inside of anyways.

With that in mind, I found a great "finish" for the metal by using an orbital hand-sander and 100-grit paper. Very Neanderthal, just the way I like it! The top row modules all have this finish. I've got some metal-stamps on order for the panel lettering, and then I'll probably clear-coat each panel to keep the finger-grease out.

Speaking of noise, sounds soon, maybe on the weekend.

Now Playing (...besides the synth that is...)

baroness-blue record[2009 relapse]
coalesce-ox[2009 relapse]
converge-axe to fall[2009 epitaph]
eagle twin-the unkindness of crows[2009 southern lord]
helmut schäfer & zbigniew karkowski-eminent risk factor[2008 ALKU 65]
light-life is meaningless & goes on forever[2009 self released]
pelican-what we all come to need[2009 southern lord]
prurient-rose pillar 11"[2009 heartworm]

PRESENTATION TUNED CITY

Klanglabor, Filzengraben 8-10, Hinterhof links
Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Cologne, Germany
Monday 19 October 19.00-20.00

Tuned City - Between sound and space speculation was an exhibition and conference project taking place from July 01.-05.2008 in Berlin which proposed a new evaluation of architectural spaces from the perspective of the acoustic. Event co-organizer Derek Holzer will present selected topics and documents from Tuned City, and introduce his TUNED CITY COLOGNE workshop to take place over the next several months at KHM.

More info on Tuned City can be found at: tunedcity.de







WORKSHOP TUNED CITY COLOGNE

Klanglabor, Filzengraben 8-10, Hinterhof links
Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Cologne, Germany
Tuesday 20 October & Wednesday 21 October 10.00-17.00

There are limited places in this workshop! Please register ahead of time with Martin Rumori: ..

This workshop--envisioned as a starting point towards the creation of a long term project aimed at ISEA 2010--aims at investigating the interrelation of sound, architecture and urban space in the city of Cologne.

The conceptual starting point of this workshop is two different but similar lexicons of the kinds of acoustic effects created in real environments. The first is Barry Truax's Handbook of Acoustic Ecology (1978, second edition 1999, available online: http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/) and the second is Sonic Experience: A Guide to Everyday Sounds by CRESSON researchers Jean Francois Augoyard and Henry Torgue. Each work combines terminology from a number of disciplines, but most notably acoustics and sound/music composition, as a way of defining the acoustic effects and experiences found in the everyday soundscape.

Using these books as "field guides", participants will seek out different examples of the various acoustic effects within the urban experience. From there, we could consider site-specific projects which call attention to these effects (the "urban intervention" component) and installation/performance projects which explore the sonic effects/features in a more controlled environment i.e. the gallery or concert hall (the "laboratory research" component"). My own expertise in environmental sound, soundscape composition, field recording and the Pure Data programming language will be a great asset to the students in any of these situations.

During the first two day session in October 2009, a "laboratory" day will introduce some of the tools and concepts of field recording, including binaural, stereo, quadraphonic, 5.1 and ambisonic/soundfield recording techniques. Following this, participants will explore the city of Cologne, putting the concepts and techniques discussed into action. Finally, after a critical listening session, post-production techniques will be explored to present, spatialize or manipulate the collected recordings. Later workshop sessions in Fall 2009 will concentrate on participant-initiated installations and site specific works.



Workshop Schedule

Tuesday 20 Oct

10.00-12.30: Lab session--discussing conceptual approaches to urban soundscape from Truax, Augoyard & Torgue + introduction to field recording techniques
12.30-13.30: Lunch
13.30-17.00: Field work--exploring/gathering urban sounds

Wednesday 21 Oct

10.00-12.30: Lab session--playback and discussion of recorded sounds
12.30-13.30: Lunch
13.30-17.00: Lab session--post-production editing, spatialization, manipulation of recorded sounds + discussions for future sessions





ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Derek Holzer [USA 1972] is a sound artist with a background in radio, webstreaming and environmental recording. His work focuses on the often unpredictable details to be found in field recordings and self-built analog electronic sound synthesizers, as well as strategies for collaborations and free and open source software such as Pure Data. He has released tracks under the Nexsound, Mandorla, Sirr, and/OAR and Gruenrekorder labels, and has co-initiated several internet projects for field recording and collaborative soundscapes including Soundtransit.nl.

Holzer has performed live, improvised electronic music in many venues and festivals in Europe, the US and Brasil. He is a fellow at Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Cologne during 2009-10.

Photos

Tuned City event, July 2008, from top:

* Anechoic Chamber at Technical University Berlin (St. Ander)
* Recording Studio, Funkhaus Nalepastrasse Berlin (Pablo Sanz)
* Curved Hallway, Funkhaus Nalepastrasse Berlin (Pablo Sanz)
* Acoustic Model, Staalplaat shop Berlin (Pablo Sanz)
* Recording gear, Chris Watson field recording workshop, Pfefferberg Berlin (Pablo Sanz)
* Participants, Chris Watson field recording workshop, Pfefferberg Berlin (Pablo Sanz)
* Recording gear, Chris Watson field recording workshop, Pfefferberg Berlin (Pablo Sanz)

Brief updates are in order... last Thursday I was lucky enough to get a two years extension to my German residence permit with relatively little hassle. I'm sure the Marfa Texas Country Club will be disappointed that they won't be having me as their golf caddy next season, but them's the breaks.

As you can see above, my old buddy Tore "Origami" Boe is visiting Berlin again from the Canary Islands, and we'll be playing with electricity together as BOE DEREK at the next Salon Bruit. Not sure if I'll bring the TONEWHEELS setup, or construct something suitably primitive to match his fantastic "acoustic laptops", but it should be a fun night all the same.

The TONEWHEELS workshop and performance in Belfast went very well. I didn't shoot any workshops videos myself, but hopefully the Oscillations Festival will edit together some nice cuts of the gig some day.

For the workshop, I tried a new light-to-sound converter circuit from www.5volt.eu, and it worked so well I designed a board for it. Cute little thing, ain't it?





Eric Archer (ericarcher.net) also just sent me one of his fantastic light-to-sound converters, although I haven't been able to pick it up from the office where it was shipped to yet!!!

There were several updates to the TONEWHEELS website (umatic.nl/tonewheels.html), including some further historical info as well as the Vimeo videos finally added to the front page. Next step is to update the Technical section with better workshop info.

In the update, I included some photos of Daphne Oram's Oramics machine, an amazing optophonic synthesizer from 1959, which Rob Mullender in London was kind enough to let me have a peek at. Some of the photos are posted below.









And Rob sent me a great scan of a 1970's Optigan disc that I couldn't resist putting up as well!




I'll be taking the TONEWHEELS project to the following places very soon:

?? Nov - MS Stubnitz, Amsterdam, NL (date to be confirmed!)
31 Oct - Whatnight #3, Tilburg, NL
25-27 Oct - DA Festival, Sofia, BG
15-18 Oct - Tiny Noise/Kunstwerk, Cologne, DE

Final news item is that Polish noise-god Zbigniew Karkowski will give a two day composition workshop at NK here in Berlin 9-10 November, and yes my ass will be sitting in that workshop.

colin wilson-the outsider book (1956)

ryokuchi-shinsho[2006 smd]

various artists-psychedelic phinland_finnish hippie & underground music 1967-1974[2006 love records]

ben frost-by the throat[2009 bedroom community]

orthodox-sentencia[2009 alone]

om-god is good[2009 southern lord]

sleep-live at ATP 9 may 09[bootleg]

yoga-megafauna[2009 holy mountain]

pietro grossi-musicautomatica[2003 die schactel]

antoine chessex & arnaud riviere-split 7" [2009 le petit mignon](amazing printed cover by mounir jatoum!!!!)

09.08.2009 - 21 uhr - ausland - Lychener Str. 60 - 10437 Berlin

http://www.ausland-berlin.de/

This evening starts the sommercamp workshop marathon (workshops take place 10-16 August at Haus der Kulturen der Welt). Artists and workshop leaders will introduce themselves with short performances.

With:

Jessica Rylan (US)
– complex/chaotic systems in analogue circuits –
http://www.irfp.net/

Ciat Lonbarde/Peter Blasser (US)
– deerhorns –
http://www.ciat-lonbarde.net/

Hildur Gudnadóttir (IS)
Halldor Ulfarsson (IS/F)
– halldorophones –
http://www.hildurness.com/
http://www.myspace.com/halldorophone

Tore Honoré Boe (N/E)
– acoustic laptops –
http://kunst.no/origami/boe/2.3-010.html

Dave Griffiths (B)
– live coding –
http://www.slub.org/

Martin Howse (UK/D)
– EM interventions –
http://1010.co.uk/org/

Derek Holzer (US/D)
– TONEWHEELS –
http://www.umatic.nl/tonewheels.html

WORKSHOP INFO
http://www.sommercampworkstation.de/?page_id=10

Roland System-100M feedback oscillation from macumbista on Vimeo.

Synth-pr0n from my trip to London during March 2009.

Somehow, no matter what machine I sit down in front of, I always try out the same patch--a big VCO feedback system, with a little sample-and-hold noise thrown in for good measure.

Thanks to Mick Grierson and Ian Stonehouse at Goldsmiths University for access to this fantastic piece of gear!

[Sound is from built in camera mic and is pretty low, anybody know some simple tool to normalize volume of a Quicktime clip?]

Now Playing

black flag-live '84[1985 sst]
burial hex-blood between her lakes[2008 turgid animal]
ellen fullman-body music[1997]
filth-live the chaos[1990 lookout]
invernomuto-quiet village mixtape[2009 infernomuto.blogspot.com]
kevin drumm-alku tape[2009 alku]
z'ev-schoenste muziek lp[1986]

Friday 3 July, Copenhagen: The trip that defied planning. Waiting for money which has not been paid, unable to find the keys to the flat where I'm supposed to stay, phone on it's last legs, friends far away and not sure I know anything about love any more. But somehow, I woke up here:



(yes, you can click to enlarge it...)

Another place which I expect to be sleeping in the near future:



For the curious, some upcoming events:

27 Jul-03 Aug: Symposium, Star Dome, Rucăr, Romania
10-16 Aug: Sommercampworkstation, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
17-22 Aug: AVAMAA, Moks, Mooste, Estonia
07-08 Sep: Oscillations Festival, Belfast, North Ireland