The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I am in Berkeley!

I don't know who this Berkeley gentleman is, but I'm sure he's very pleased.

I put up an installation of whatwesaidwillbe today. I also took a pretty big spill trying to get let inside the building. I hauled all of my heavy cases of equipment up the stairs only to be told that I should go around back to the freight elevator. So I did, and while setting them down I lost my balance and, since I didn't want to drop a projector and computer and such on the hard pavement, I took the brunt of the fall, and I think I messed up my wrist, and I also hit my head on the ground. So I'm sore all over.

Anyway, after several hours of going up and down a tall ladder and setting stuff precariously on a high shelf, I finally got things set up, but the curator is unhappy with how the audio looping doesn't meet her expectations. But there's only so much I can do with the acoustics of the room, you know?

Of course there's no way to tell how it'll sound with the actual gallery opening because the ambient noise characteristics will be totally different. And I might have to climb up the ladder in the middle of what's going to be a high-traffic area to change the levels and EQ on the fly. What fun that will be.

At least I'm getting over my fear of ladders.

fluffy wrote:I also took a pretty big spill trying to get let inside the building.

I don't know who this Let gentleman is, but I'm sure he's very pleased.

Hope your wrist and noggin are ok. Question, can't you put your key pieces of equipment that you may have to adjust, like the EQ, wired to a location the doesn't require getting up on a ladder? If it's a matter of needing it out of the touch of the public, maybe a locking case of some sort?

Also, what was the curator's issue with the audio looping?

Billy's Little Trip wrote:

fluffy wrote:I also took a pretty big spill trying to get let inside the building.

I don't know who this Let gentleman is, but I'm sure he's very pleased. :P

Hope your wrist and noggin are ok. Question, can't you put your key pieces of equipment that you may have to adjust, like the EQ, wired to a location the doesn't require getting up on a ladder? If it's a matter of needing it out of the touch of the public, maybe a locking case of some sort?

My wrist and hand are still a bit sore and stiff. I think I managed to bruise a couple of finger joints pretty badly. I'll be okay but I won't be playing guitar for a few days. And my head isn't any worse off than usual.

As far as the shelf placement, ask Spud. :P Well, no, mostly the shelf is to hold the projector, and having the computer and its gear as close as possible makes a lot of sense (since that reduces the amount of cable-running that has to happen). Also the room is going to be pretty crowded since it's where the bar is. Which will also be an interesting test of the audio looping. :)

Also, what was the curator's issue with the audio looping?

Well, first, it was hard to get her to understand that the delay was 15 seconds - she kept on saying stuff into the mic and then expecting it to be repeated back immediately. Then when she noticed it was repeating every 15 seconds, she got really frustrated because she "has a history" with this. I offered to change the loop length and she insisted that it's fine. So, I dunno.

Also, she wants the looping to be Perfect and Loud but of course that's impossible and part of the point, since it always degrades, and making it loud enough to keep its volume means that the background noise (which there's a LOT of) would add up quickly and turn it into a really loud feedback. So the acoustics of the space really work against it.

She seems a little strange, which I guess is part of the territory with someone who volunteers in a contemporary arts organization. Like, when I was reintroduced to her, she reminded me that we'd met briefly a couple months ago, and I said, "Oh, sorry, I'm terrible with faces," and she said, "Well, I'm an apostle." Okay...?

fluffy wrote:Like, when I was reintroduced to her, she reminded me that we'd met briefly a couple months ago, and I said, "Oh, sorry, I'm terrible with faces," and she said, "Well, I'm an apostle." Okay...?

Lol. I was going to make a funny that if you thought someone was strange, she must be really peculiar. But damn, that's not even in the same solar system.

The opening went pretty well, aside from petty bullshit that I don't feel like airing in public. Here's a temporary gallery. The video at the very bottom was a nice spontaneous thing that happened. And as far as I know, neither of the people talking about and experimenting with it had any idea that I was the artist. :)

it's cool seeing people discovering how to affect it.
-bill