I’ve had a long think about what is actually required of me to create an exhibition that is akin to what I have in my head. A model railway, multiple speakers (possibly single point source for each sound object?) lots of DIY circuitry (oscillators, filters, VCA’s), several tape loops and some sort of interactive controls for the viewer, possibly LDR’s under the train tracks to trigger some of my sources.
This is a lot of work.
I should begin soon.
And refine my idea to set realistic parameters/goals for myself.
Time ticks ever onwards. (10 days until we begin install)
In light of these revelations, I’m cutting back my idea somewhat to make it a more realistic target. In Milo’s last lecture he talked briefly about distilling your idea to a single-dimension – what is the most central thing about the idea? For me, that’s the railway. Everything else is an add on. In terms of audio content, either I go with recorded sound or synthesized sound. If it’s recorded, the easiest way for that to be done reliably (by me) is by using tape decks. If it’s synthesized I would like to construct a few simple oscillators with VCAs, perhaps a filter or two if I can manage that (although it’s occurring to me now that speakers are a form of filter – cones have limited bandwidth and I can use that to my advantage via routing). How practical is the idea of constructing my first ever synth in under 10 days? I’m unsure. But I would like to push myself.
Distilling my idea means removing all unnecessary things. The railway stays, and I must either decide on synthesizers or recorded audio. The easiest synth I can imagine is an oscillator and a VCA power amp driving a speaker cone, with the CV input being ‘pinged’ by something. That something could simply be a pair of naked wires hanging in the path of the train, with a conductive strip of metal on the train bridging the gap momentarily as it passes. This could help to signify the fragility of memory.
Still gotta procure a model railway from somewhere, too.
And modify that slightly, perhaps.