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The content of this blog consists of the work of Rudan, Jin, Yuan and Jaela.
Tidy up the black cloth, spread the black cloth on the ground, make the ground clean and tidy effect better.
In order to increase the interaction between the audience and the water. Together, thread the bell onto the thread and straighten the silk thread. There were two strands of silk hanging on the water, wrapped around them. The viewer can pull the threads at will, creating sounds and vibrations that affect the ripples in the water. Add fun and audience experience sense.
Rope up the tank. The sound is placed under the tank to vibrate, so as to produce a richer water wave effect.
Try using the 2TONR effect at first. However, later tests found that if the real-time projection of Touchdesigner screen added color palette would affect the Touchdesigner screen. Projection and randomization didn’t work so they decided to get rid of it. The real time effect is ideal when you remove it.
The content of this blog consists of the work of Rudan, Jin, Yuan and Jaela.
Preparation
Selection of rooms and booking of equipment:
Jin booked some rooms in ECA and evolution house to test the effect. For example, ECA C02, E15A, E15B, B55, Photography Studio G09 (Evolution House) and so on. Taking into account factors such as shading, the effect of room size on sound, projection and so on, we finally chose E15A as our final exhibition room.
In the meantime, we hired and tested some projectors. We wanted the image to fill the whole wall, so we used a short throw projector for the main image.
Step 1:
Debug the software and change the details. For example, the intensity in Touch Designer is connected to the visual audio cable, the order of the music in Max is adjusted, etc.
Step 2:
Make the water tank, cut the PVC sheets and glue the PVC sheets with a glue gun.
Step 3:
Place the water tank. As we needed to light the tank at a 45 degree angle downwards, we needed to elevate the tank. We wanted the tank to wobble slightly to add more water wave pattern, so we decided to attach hooks to the ceiling and to the corners of the tank, using four wires to suspend the tank. We then tested the height of the tank to see if it could support the light, and the speed of the drip unit, and the weighing of the tank. Finally, we fixed the drip unit to the tank.
Step 4:
Test the projection and adjust the projection position. Our project consisted of three projection walls. In our original plan, there were four sections to be projected, so Jin used madmapper to achieve a split screen and to solve the problem of distortion in the angled projection. However, we ended up eliminating a duplicate screen. As TD can hide components after zooming in, the software border is still present and affects the final visual effect. So we still intend to use Madmapper to solve this problem. Finally, we used syphonspoutout TOP to solve the connection problem between madmapper and touch designer.
Step 5:
As the walls in the room were rather messy, we hung curtains on the walls to ensure that the projection would be effective, making the walls clean. We wound various coloured threads, and these twisted colourful threads represent the influence of the outside world on people. They are like the various rules and potential deep impressions that bind us and will always be projected on our lives at some point.
At the same time, we have laid tinfoil underneath the water tank. We hope to create a richer light and visual effect through its reflective effect.
Step 6:
Adjust the angle of the light and test the water wave effect.
Step 7:
Adjust the position of the computer so that Max recognises the projected image in real time.
Final display effect:
Interpretation of the images on the three walls (software used):
Aqual Ripple consists of three projection walls and an installation. The three projection walls are: projection of the inner world, life from the front perspective and life from the side perspective.
The projection of the inner world is a sound visualisation created by the feedback function of TouchDesigner, which is based on audio generated by the microphone received by microphone and audio generated by MAX received by Visual Audio The audio generated by MAX received by Cable shows the corresponding frequency of sound and intensity through the shape of ripple.
The audience can stand in the room and interact by creating sounds, including singing, clapping, stomping, etc., and observing the corresponding changes produced by the digital ripple.
Front Life and Side Life are created by shooting two videos with the same content but at different angles, which are processed by MAX and received through the camera as content-filled inner projection content. The footage shows a fragment of a person’s life, from walking alone, rising up after being provoked, falling down, getting frustrated, being helped by a stranger, having a friend who spends time together…
The protagonist of the frontal life has a heart-shaped mask, and projections of the inner world are filled in as content in real time via the madmapper. Meanwhile, the entire character of the side life acts as a mask presenting a more pronounced inner world.
Show experience
The images are not only created by the vibrations and intensity of the music, but also by the microphone radios that change according to the sounds made by the audience. The whole experience is fun as the audience shouts, jumps, snaps their fingers, claps, sings and other interactive ways to make the images change even more.
Because before I only shot a video of a person moving, but the projection effect was not ideal too monotonous. Philly suggested we make it more graphic. So we decided to re-shoot some of the characters and cut them together.
I use the button function in the editing software to select the text. Change the background to white. By adjusting the brightness of the curve, the figure becomes a black silhouette. After editing, I drag and drop this video into Max and apply it.
After the development meeting with Philly, Max video made some progress. Because what I want is for the real time content of the screen to only be displayed in silhouette. Philly told me that CHROMAKEYR might do the trick. I started trying, but it didn’t work.
Through continuous attempts, I finally found that I could pass the Operation! – This parameter achieves the effect I was after.
Let MAX capture the scene of the water wave screen to fill the character content, the outer outline is black. This silhouette is the external image of a person.
Test 1:
In test one I made the projection and then added the live interactive camera. Give them some interesting colors and effects.
Problem:
I don’t know how to control a live projection with just silhouettes. The only thing I can do is project the whole screen in real-time. I wonder if Max can do this. If that doesn’t work maybe I can do it in a different way.
The content of this blog consists of the work of Jaela and Yuan.
Jaela and Yuan
With the feedback received last week, tests were carried out this week with different materials and different models of sound.
VibrationTest
The first sound vibration test was carried out with the Subwoofer.
Test 1: We glued the pvc sheets together to form a square container. A suitable amount of water was poured in for the vibration test. The water only slightly produced some vibrations.
Reflection: The container was too thick and heavy for the vibrations of the sound to travel up and produce vibrations easily。
Test 2:A test using a plastic disc to produce vibrations. The water waves were very small and the overall effect was still not good.
Reflection: The container may still be too thick and heavy and needs to be replaced with a lighter container.
Test 3: A very thin plastic cup was used for the vibration test. The vibration was very strong and the water waves were obvious.
Reflection: The material of the container needs to be very thin and light so that the vibration will be strong.
Test 4: Sound vibration test with Subwoofer and Genelec-8040-speaker respectively. Using the transparent plastic plate, the vibrations are strong and the water waves are large. But splashes of water may affect the projection effect.
Reflection: The amount of water needs to be controlled, too much will diminish the vibrations, too little will produce a lot of splashing water droplets.
Test 5:Tested with a plastic bag, the vibration effect is good, but the material is too soft and deforms when water is poured in.
Reflection: The material is also too soft and may affect the projection effect. The choice of material is important in order not to affect the projection effect.
Original plan：
The speaker is placed flat under a table with a container on top of it, on the diaphragm of the speaker, and water drops are placed in the container so that the drops create ripples through the sonic Hertzian vibrations of the music. We will take photographs of the water’s shadow and light and record some sounds. These photographs and sounds will be learned by the AI, such as Mubert-text-to-music, disco diffusion, and clip interrogator, and then the AI will produce some musical compositions. Before each stage begins, we invite the audience to pick a piece of music from the three sections we provide to influence the ripples.
Modified programme：
We had a meeting to discuss our project. The original plan was to have three stages of music, a lot of pieces, but now we want to cut out the extra pieces,we can do two or three different kind of concepts and changes, Locations that kind of reflect different aspects of the journey of life right. The presentation of the movement of the characters in the picture is changed through different musical rhythms. The musical rhythm of a person walking can be steady and even. The musical rhythm of a runner should be faster than that of a walker and can be performed with a faster tempo. The musical rhythm of a fall is usually more chaotic and can be expressed by using irregular beats or by using some techniques such as staccato and pauses in the music. Life is like a long run, and we need to run persistently to achieve success. In the process of running, we may experience various difficulties and challenges, but as long as we always persist in our belief of moving forward, we will eventually reach the end of success.
we can tie into the distance sensor and use the distance sensor as a kind of responsive tool as well for the music and turn that up and down or maybe how proximity as away ，and Music .we initially intended that we could use artificial intelligence to generate audio. But then the opportunity to create dynamic, responsive work would be lost. So we would use max. and we wanted the end result to be, like
The gap between the stereo and the container can only hold small bulbs. The effect of putting a small bulb under the container to cast is not very obvious. Perhaps we could make use of the water wave footage that was recorded in advance. By projecting this footage to the ai, the scene could be projected with some of the patterns generated by the ai. Two walls could be used, one projecting the projection of the installation and the other projecting the ai generated effect. It might be more interesting for the audience to experience two different effects at the same time by touching or sensing to make the projection and the music change.
Recording equipment
l material selection
l High sample rate
l High audio quality
Recording Programme A.
Sound is a very important form of expression in a person’s life, and it can record a person’s growth from infancy to old age. It can be a valuable way of recording, as well as reminding people of past events and reflecting the preciousness and profundity of life.
Infancy: the sound of a baby crying, lullabies in a cot, parents kissing, the sound of a warm family atmosphere.
Adolescence: the sound of classes in school, the sound of activities on campus, the sound of students communicating, the sound of themselves at play, the sound of television or films.
Middle age: ambient sounds at work, conversations in the home, children playing, sounds of family activities, the sound of music when you are relaxing and resting.
Old age: sounds of family life, the company of family members, walking in the street, music while relaxing, sounds of natural landscapes.
Site reference.
Schools; meadows; sounds of people walking in the street
Recording Programme B:
Record the sounds of the natural environment at different times of the day or in different weather conditions, such as the sounds of nature, water currents, the sound of the wind on the beach, etc. These natural sounds can be recorded at different stages of life and in different situations, and can be poured into the max to create music that resonates with the audience.
Reflection
I bought a separate amplifier unit, soldered and assembled it, and ran a new test on Sunday as the previous test had not worked well.
The locations chosen for this recording were the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and portobrllo beach, where the ambient sound was recorded. We capture the ambient sound as a basis for the music and edit it in max to create an ambient music. max is obviously the most important direction we should work on.
The microphone of choice is the Sennheiser – MKH60 – Shotgun – Hypercardioid, as hypercardioid microphones are often used when you need to pick up sound in noisy environments to accentuate your voice while reducing the effect of ambient noise on the recording. Ideal for recording ambient sound. Using a portable digital recorder, we chose a location close to a stream where there was not too much background noise. After continually adjusting the direction and height of the microphone, we found a location with better sound reception to better capture the sound of the water flow. The recording was edited and adjusted using protools.
We have been experimenting with materials through pre-material shopping. This Sunday we hired a room for our experiments and worked in groups to carry out the Water-holding Installation test, the colour reflection test, audio vibration test, and MAXMSP Music test. During this experiment, we encountered difficulties and problems that we had to solve, which made us struggle but we were able to reflect on them and move the project forward successfully. After analysing and reflecting on the results of the experiment, we optimised the design of the programme, the choice of materials, etc., and laid the foundations for the second experiment.
PART ONE: Water-holding Installation
PART TWO: Colour Reflection Test
Purpose
To superimpose different color variations on the reflected water ripples.
Process
Reflections and Improvements
PART THREE: Audio Vibration Test
Test 1: Take Bluetooth speakers for testing. First, take the glass for the vibration test. The glass was placed on the stereo, and the water did not vibrate.
Reason for failure: glass too thick, stereo too small, poor vibration.
Test 2: Take a Bluetooth speaker for testing. The container of choice is a mineral water bottle. The water in the bottle appears to vibrate and change with the music.
Reason for success: the container is thin, and the vibrations of the stereo can be transmitted up.
Reflection:
It needs big speakers with great vibrations. If the container is too thick for the vibrations of the sound to be transmitted, try adding a spinning gear to the water. The speed of the gear can be varied in response to the music.
PART FOUR: MAXMSP Music Test
Reflection:
The music also needs to have some ambient and natural sounds added to it to make it more varied.
After receiving feedback from Philly on our sound design, we decided to broaden our understanding of audio-visual installation pieces and consider the following aspects:
Immersive experience: Our goal is to create sound environments that deeply engage the viewer and provide a unique experience, different from traditional visual art.
1. Creative experimentation: We are interested in exploring the possibilities of audio processing, sound structure, and spatial design to push the boundaries of traditional music and sound art and create novel sonic experiences.
2. Multiculturalism: We aim to cross-cultural and linguistic barriers and break genre restrictions by fusing different sound and music elements, achieving cross-cultural communication and integration.
3. Social reflection: We recognize the power of sound in drawing attention to and reflecting on social issues. We hope to call for social concern and change by creating socially significant works.
4. Environmental consciousness: We are interested in using sound materials from the environment to explore the sound properties and spatial nature of natural and man-made environments. Through our work, we hope to promote environmental protection and sustainable development.
Sound installation art is a unique art form that uses sound and music as its primary medium to provoke sensory and intellectual experiences in the viewer. It explores sound’s different properties and manifestations, leading to a deep and immersive artistic experience.
Project One: “Towards the reproduction of sound”
In the video Mediation: Towards the Reproduction of Sound, Hill starts sprinkling rice on a speaker and then speaks through the microphone himself at the same time, his voice emanating from the speaker’s loudspeaker, and the grains of rice bounce along with the sound waves, with different vibrations of rice in both high and low tones, as if they were many small intelligent creatures dancing as a whole under the direction of the artist’s words. Towards the end of the video, the rice grains completely bury the speakers of the speaker, covering the sound.
In this work, Hill is burying sound while talking to himself. The language of sound that he emits through the speakers actually describes this visualisation process. He uses the simplest of words to say things like “sound, speaker, hand”, and then these simple images of words appear to the viewer. Hill uses this experiment to show the audience that sound as a substance is real and can be seen and touched as the speakers you see in front of you and the artist’s hands.
“Sonic Water” is an interactive installation experiment by KYMAT Laboratories in Germany that studies the visualization and vibration of sound and their ability to express sound aesthetically, transforming it into a fascinating visual experience.
Sonic Water is unique in its form and presentation as a sound installation. The artist has created a distinctive sound space and experience by combining water flow and sound. The work is also highly interactive, allowing viewers to alter the sound and form of the work through gestures and movements.
In terms of reflection on water resources, Sonic Water’s creative process involves using a significant amount of water resources. As we become increasingly concerned about environmental protection and sustainable development, it is essential to reflect on how to better utilise and protect water resources. Moreover, we should focus on how to use the process of creating artwork to call for environmental protection and promote awareness about water conservation.
Reflection：
For the sound installation of water droplets, focus on using the characteristics of the exhibition space and environment to build a more intimate and deeper relationship with the audience through the experience and perception of sound. The above similar works also make use of sound vibrations. Sound installation art is an art form and a process of creation and exploration. Using the sound of water droplets to stimulate human perception to create resonance and emotional resonance. By creating an organic sound space, the viewer can experience the power and emotion of sound through the auditory sensation of physical change. The work is driven and changed by the actions and reactions of the audience.
