Transducer and Sound Tests
November 14, 2022
Being interested in infrasonic sound, and sound as touch/listening as being touched, this week I did a few experiments with transducers. I also got my stethomicrophone to work by finding the right adapter.
I
Space and Sound
Sending my mac’s mic into the transducer and feeling the sounds I make through the vibration is somewhat intruiging - I feel more attenuated to what’s happening in the room.Space and Sound
II
I found that tapping a contact mic can create heartbeat like sensation that I find compelling. It doesn’t sound like much here but it feels like being tapped when touching the transducer.III
IV
I found that breathing with contact mic on my neck doesn’t send much to the transducer. (Maybe I could change the pitch or filter things out.) But breathing into my mac’s microphone with some reverb added in ableton does do something interesting. At a certain volume or impetus of sound a resonant tone is created. Compared to the resonance that I created in the Spring show installation, this is less tinny, more airy, more churchlike.Little sounds of swallowing and clicking and little high pitched sounds are also intruiging to me. It sounds like being in a storm drain, a circular space I associate with concrete and subterrain-ness.
V
So up til now I’ve not been vocalizing, but I wondered what it would be like if I wanted to vocalize in a performance or space. I often imagine a figure doing a walking meditation far upstage in a dance as other things happen downstage. Here I chant as I learned from a Vipassana meditation retreat in 2015.VI
A certain amount of volume from movement can also create resonance. Adjusted just right this resonance fades off after silence. This would be better done with contact mics on the floor.These feel more airy, less ‘shear’ or sub, more... suspend?
My stethomic worked with the correct adapter, but also picked up radio signals.