Digital Sensory Perception

This project is the third in a sequence which began with The Phantom Ball and followed by Navagio 12. They were both part of an academic programme which embraced a number of new (moist) technologies, in which there was a high degree of collaboration by the participants. Technological innovation (such as arduino & Processing) sat alongside art installation and philosophy.
This particular project focused on audience behaviour in social media, such as Twitter and Instagram. Over a number of months images and articles related to this website were uploaded to both sites. Analytics in relation to audience responses were collected and collated. The resulting data were allocated to audio samples stored in an archive (where each digit was allocated to the same sample number in the archive). There are seven core samples (usual consensus among electronic afficianados):

Drum loop

Bass loop

Percussion loop

Synth melody line (aroeggiated)

FX of some kind (weird noise)

Vocal (optional)

Pad (keyboard sounds)

Kick Drum

The twelve top (most popular) responses were selected. Each one was then matched with a sub-genre from the world of electronic music. The tracks listed here are the results of this experiment. The titles are a nod to the original uploaded images or features. Loading the separate samples into the multi-track took ages, with each composition being in excess of six minutes and with NO sequencing of any audio tracks by computer. So, loading often took a cumbersome two or three hours, especially where synching drifted from the bpm with long samples. No pain, no gain! The good news is that some tracks seemed to work out of the box. Serendipity! Doo dah!

Elemental (Watson) by The Jeremy Brett Fanclub (130 bpm)

The Jeremy Brett Fan Club strikes again, with some cracking beats and jaunty melodies for the dance floor. Bounces along like a beaver on speed.

Entropic Prince (140 bpm) by Eskallonia Kwiksilva

“You better get out!” The urgency of being urged, eh?

No Bell A (or B or C) (160 bpm) by Batshit Fruitcake

The sound of techno emanating from the depths of the ocean, submarine sonar and all.

The Drude Of Skellington by Eskallonia Kwiksilva (98 bpm)

A funky groove (almost a crawl compared with the rest) with downbeat dubby jazz saxophone, psychedelic flutes and scorching trumpet (Chet Baker, eat your heart out!). That fella Kwiksilva has buried my Garson-esque piano in the mix. Currently being mooted for a soundtrack.

La Belle et La Bete by Batshit Fruitcake (120 bpm)

Great bass lines and a gorgeous pad provide the instant hook. Some great singing provides the coup-de-grace. The instrumental version is mad.

Charonic (125 bpm) by The Jeremy Brett Fanclub

“Movin’……Movin’….” as the insistent dancefloor rhythm collides with mangled woodwinds and brass. Crazy.

King Arthur’s Paw (140 bpm) by Batshit Fruitcake

Reminds me of footballers singing, ‘Kolo! Kolo! Kolo!’ Bizarre. Perhaps more soundscape than electro. Coming along nicely, with some Sonorum & delayed Apollo!

Infected (180 bpm) by Batshit Fruitcake

Industrial tones and mad timpani betray the jolly racing rhythms as everything gets a bit weird.

Optostatic (140 bpm) by Eskallonia Kwiksilva

“All droids to manual weapons!” Indeed. Some truly fantastic hypnotic vocals from The Futurettes on this one. A cracker.

Arachnid (140 bpm) by Eskallonia Kwiksilva

A strange homage to a great, with its quirky chanting and house-style vocals. The brutal synths curdle the mix.

Castellabate by Eskallonia Kwiksilva (140 bpm)

Calabrian techno with some Neapolitan zest. Santa Maria’s finest brew.

Minotorn by Batshit Fruitcake (180 bpm)

Insanely fast, dramatic and very strange. Minotaur porn, maybe? It’s turned out an absolute belter.

So, all twelve tracks have now been mixed. All are around seven minutes in length. Maybe it was foolish not to use a sequencer, but, hell, no pain, no gain!