life-saving tips

the top 2 rules for working with digital media:
1-always save to a folder on the desktop...
never save directly to your flash-drive or g-drive
2-back up your project in at least 2 different locations

What this means:
-When you begin working on a project, create a folder that serves as a container to hold your project files. Set scratch disks (see post below) to save to that folder.
-When you finish working for the day, COPY THE FOLDER FROM THE DESKTOP to your flash drive AND g-drive, CD, or other media.
-When you return to work another time, insert the flash-drive into the computer and DRAG THE WORK FOLDER ON TO YOUR DESKTOP.
-Always eject your flash-drive, do not just yank it out of the USB port.

student art club meeting

Monday, Feb. 5 at 8 pm in the painting studio with free pizza.
Email Monica at mlmilstead@smcm.edu if you are interested or just show up to talk about art activities like a field trip to NYC and the art club film series.

audio project due 7/8 Feb

31 Jan/1 Feb: written proposal due
7/8 Feb: final project due for critiques

The concept for the sound art project is to create a JOURNEY from one place to another. These could be imaginary places or real places, but you will need to have them defined before you start working. Consider the wide range of choices, from the planet Mars to the St. Mary's River. Brainstorm the possibilities for sounds that might represent your places, and what the listener will experience along the way. See http://soundtransit.nl/book/ for inspiration, as well as the links to other projects that address SOUND+PLACE, below.

Technical Requirements:
1-The piece must use at least one 10 second (or longer) clip of a sound that you recorded yourself, either vocals or concrete sounds.
2-The piece must use at least 3 tracks.
3-No songs or music unless you recorded it yourself.
4-You may use additional samples from Freesound, but you may not add any clips that are not under an appropriate license (no copyrighted material).
5-Final mix-down should be at least 1 minute long, but no longer than 3 minutes.
6-Burn your piece as a playable (not data) CD, and bring your project folder with all work files on flash drive. Include one version of your mix-down as a WAV.
7-Post an MP3 version of your project to your blog.

SOUND+PLACE links for inspiration:
Sonic Postcards
Location-Dislocation
Listening to Nature
Falling Echos - Bill Fontana
I am Driving Through Sound Space
Silence of the Lands
Sound Transit
Sonic City
Audiomobile
LocoSound
Broadcast your Podcast

making sure Audacity works for you

Tutorials due for Wed/Th: http://www.edhsonline.org/other/audacity/
Always work from the desktop, not from your flash drive and never from the G-drive.

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE.1- BEFORE you open Audacity, trash your preferences. This means that you will remove any settings and configurations from previous work sessions, so that you can start with a clean slate every time. Go to your HOME directory > LIBRARY > PREFERENCES > Audacity Preferences. It is a stand-alone file. Send it to the TRASH! (See above screen capture image for an illustration of the path).

2- Open Audacity directly from the applications folder, not from the dock and not by double clicking on your project file. Then open your .aup file through FILE > OPEN.

3- CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE.
Before working in Audacity, EVERYTIME YOU OPEN THE PROGRAM, you need to set your scratch disks. This process tells the program where you will be storing your work files. Go to PREFERENCES > DIRECTORY and choose the FOLDER that you created on the DESKTOP for your project. You may have to restart the program, but you will not have to re-set the scratch disks until the next time you log on.

4- Save early and often.
5- Check the forums for advice

When you record:
++ Remember, you will need a stereo mic and a stereo XLR-mini adaptor when you check out a microphone from Media Services.

questions from the first reading

These were questions and observations generated by the group from the Bourriaud reading. They relate to the underlying concepts behind new media and so we will revisit this discussion many times over the course of the semester.

• Is there an "original"? What does it mean to make "new" work?
• When is it OK for an artist to appropriate material from other sources?
• What rights of ownership do artists have in work that uses reproductive or appropriated material?
• What is the difference between the ready-made and the sample?
• If artists are working with recombinative processes to cite creative works from a vast archive of history, how will anything new be added to the database of works that can be borrowed, quoted, and sampled for the future?
• What is post-modernism?
  

contemporary Situationists + detournement

David Rees - Get Your War On + my new filing technique is unstoppable
Barbara Krueger
Glowlab - artist collective
In the Flow, art exhibit

Link to the documentary about the Situationist International

http://www.ubu.com/film/si.html

sound art links

William Burroughs sound cut-ups
William Burroughs film cut-ups
Yoko Ono - Cough Piece 1961/63
John Lennon - Radio Play
Milan Knizak - Broken Music Composition, 1979
Laurie Anderson - Two Songs for Tape Bow Violin, 1977
DJ Food - Raiding the 20th Century, 2004
Gregory Whitehead - various
DJ Spooky - Radio Radio
Steve Reich - live concert, 1970

schedule for 24/25 Jan - 7/8 Feb

W/Th 24/25 Jan
-Bart Simpson audacity tutorial due. Unless you are working from home on a PC you can skip the part about installing the program.
-blog about one of the sound art projects listed above, under "sound art links"
-in-class: intro to audio principles slide show and digital basics, continued

M/Tu 29/30 Jan
Mon. Jan. 29, 4:30 pm LIBRARY 321 - Lance Winn: drawing, robotics, sculpture
exercise 1 due: an audio re-mix using 3 samples from The Freesound Project. You will need an account to download the audio files. Requirements: You may only use .WAV or .AIFF files - no MP3s. Final mix-down will be at least 30 seconds long, with at least 2 tracks of audio. Bring your WAV/AIFF file and the original 3 files to class saved to your flash drive. The attribution aspect of the Creative Commons license requires you to give credit to the original authors, so you will need the names of the users who provided the files for your project. The easiest way to keep track is to make sure that you don't re-name the files you download from Freesound.

W/Th 31 Jan/1 Feb
-writen concept summary + proposal for audio project due - post this to your blog
-Lynda.com tutorial fee due

M/Tu 5/6 Feb
- Gather sounds for your project. Equipment may be checked out from Media Services for recording.
- Post to your blog about the Janet Cardiff radio interview (#1 below) and respond to how she uses the three-level spatial structure in her piece (#2 below). This is described on the class handout. Do not multitask while you do this. Treat it as if you are studying an essay. Folding your socks is possible, but trying to write email or do other homework while you listen is not OK.
-in class: discussion about Janet Cardiff & studio time to work on projects
1- radio piece about Janet Cardiff
2-her project for Whitechapel Gallery in London

W/Th 7/8 FEBRUARY
final audio project due (see post with project description)