32nd meeting, Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
Wednesday, April 24th
18:00-20:00
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Spring is finally springing, so this month we take helikoosolek:tartu out of the museum and into the streets for a series of autonomous city soundwalks led by our regular host Patrick McGinley. We will explore the soundscapes of the city of Tartu, focusing on both the recognition of those environments and the surprises therein when approaching them with ears open are eyes closed.

Participants will explore the city in pairs, one with eyes open and one with eyes closed, each working their way through 4 directives: leading with eyes open, following with eyes open, leading with eyes closed, and following with eyes closed. The walk will last approximately an hour, after which we will gather again at ERM to discuss our observations.

Please come on time so we can begin our walk promptly at 18:00. Please wear comfortable soft-soled shoes, and dress appropriately for the weather. The forecast is good, but we will have an alternative indoor program in case of rain.

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 18:00-20:00 at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu Linnavalitsus, and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/helikoosolek/
http://www.moks.ee/
http://www.erm.ee/

31st meeting, Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Stefano Pocci
Wednesday, March 27th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Our March meeting features Stefano Pocci (Italy), who will present the work and ideas of American composer John Cage by means of audio, video, textual and performance materials.

During last year's John Cage Centennial (1912-2012), Stefano Pocci was guest at Ptarmigan in Tallinn where he introduced the Italian publication A 1000 and one note for John Cage edited by independent magazine of arts and literature [dia•foria, of which he is a co-founder. Such publication will be soon released as part of the upcoming Cramps Records John Cage Centennial boxset. Moreover, in August, 2012 he opened the online resource www.johncage.it, a site that aims to celebrate the links between John Cage and Italy.

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum and Tartu Linnavalitsus.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com 
http://www.facebook.com/helikoosolek 
http://www.moks.ee 
http://www.erm.ee

30th meeting report

thanks to everyone who joined us for our contact microphone-making session yesterday. everyone managed to leave with their own functioning mic, and we even had some time to try them out and make some initial experiments - pretty good going for only two hours. here are a few images and some extracts from the recordings we made. at the bottom you will also find, as promised, details of the playlist of recordings we listened to during our meeting, with links for more information on each artist. for those of you who were with us: please don't hesitate to contact any of these artists if you have any questions of comments about what you heard, i'm sure they would all be more than happy to hear from you!

these are extracts from recordings made on the handful of audio recorders we had at our disposal. these ranged from hard disk recorders to digital dictaphones to even one microcassette recorder. you can listen through, or try creating your own mix. this first recording was made with the microcassette recorder, and the strangeness of its sound comes not only from the medium but also from the compression as the sound was transferred from cassette to computer.


of course one of the most attractive things in a room full of people with contact microphones is a piano.


although we also had some percussion on the room's ventilation covers.


these are the sounds inside the sound system's amplifier.


and the sound of a chair being rolled across the floor.


and at least one person made it out of the room to record the bathroom sink.


and of course the toilet.


and the playlist:

• emmanuel costantini
  http://www.ecsound.net/
  - trying to sleep in a cold cradle…
• gregory ovendon
  http://www.thesoundfarmer.com/
  - wind through fence
• holland hopson
  http://hollandhopson.com/
  - rime accumulation
  - squeaky chain
• jez riley french
  http://jezrileyfrench.co.uk/
  - ants eating apricot
  - as (urfaces) as001 extract
• lee patterson
  http://www.myspace.com/therealleepatterson
  - b229 br 1.1
  - t.ings wire ext 1
• mikel r. nieto
  http://mikelrnieto.net/
  - hormigas
  - prat slain
• milos vojtechovsky
  www.sonicity.cz/
  - 091124204543
  - 121129001417
• pablo sanz
  http://www.pablosanz.info/
  - fabrica puignero, estructura
  - traffic, structutal transduction
• patrick mcginley
  http://www.murmerings.com/
  - dieppe fence
• peter cusack
  http://www.petercusack.org/
  - rail contact hoverfly
  - rail contact pass trains
• rubén garcía villaplana
  http://www.observatori.com/
  - totem
• sala
  http://alas23.blogspot.com/
  - juosta
  - kvass
  - ledas
• sebastiane hegarty
  http://www.sebastianehegarty.com/
  - resistance 4
• simon whetham
  http://www.simonwhetham.co.uk/
  - ba tank03
  - ja cnt03
  - jy bellsnt01
• subscape annex
  http://www.subscapeannex.com/
  - machete
• udo noll
  http://aporee.org/maps/
  - prag belohorska trampole 1
  - prag belohorska trampole 2

30th meeting, Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Patrick McGinley
Wednesday, February 27th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu



RSVP via the facebook event here!

This month, after January's concentration on microphone specifications, polar patterns, and usage techniques,  we will continue our explorations with the construction of our own simple contact microphones.

A contact microphone is a microphone that records audio vibration passing through solid objects, rather that passing through air, as with a conventional microphone. Contact microphones can be used to explore hidden or unheard sound in any resonant structure (such as wire fences, walls, support cables, ventilation...) or can simply be used to directly amplify musical instruments (as a pickup for an acoustic guitar, for example). In our short meeting we will have the materials for each participant to construct a simple functioning mono contact microphone with minijack output, for use with any recording device. We will also discuss further more advanced construction options that can be continued at home, make some initial recordings with our new microphones, and listen to a playlist of recordings from the international field recording community made with such microphones.

Participation is free, and participants will be able to keep their microphones. Materials and space are limited, and will be allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis, so please come early. Please bring your own sound recorder and headphones if you have them.

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum and Tartu Linnavalitsus.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

29th meeting, Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Patrick McGinley
Wednesday, January 30th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Welcome to the first meeting of helikoosolek:tartu for 2013! We have great plans for the new year, so we hope you haven't forgotten about us.

Our January meeting will feature an introduction to microphones and microphone techniques by your regular host, Patrick McGinley. This will be the first step towards constructing our own microphones, a long-requested activity that we will finally be getting to in the coming months.

We will discuss and explore different types of microphones (condenser, dynamic, electret, ribbon, contact, hydrophone, geophone), their polar patterns (cardioid, hypercardioid, omnidirectional, figure 8, directional), and the recording techniques for which they are used (AB, XY, ORTF, SASS, binaural, mid-side, jecklin disc). we will have first-hand experience of many of these as we try out different mics while listening directly through headphones to the differences between them and the various techniques. we will experiment with the various techniques and explore placement of microphones on objects, instruments, and bodies. Using these techniques we will make a first series of collective field recordings in and around ERM.

If you have microphones of your own, a sound recorder, and/or headphones for listening, please bring them along! If you are a musician you are also welcome to bring your acoustic instrument.

Patrick McGinley is an American-born sound, performance, and radio artist who has been based in Europe since 1996, and in Estonia since 2009. In 2005, he began working closely with the artist-run organisation MoKS, and has been organising helikoosolek:tartu since its beginning in 2010. Most recently McGinley has been giving presentations, workshops, and performances based on the exploration of site-specific sound and sound as definition of space. In live performance his interest in field recording has developed into an attempt to integrate and resonate found sounds, found objects, specific spaces, and moments in time, in order to create a direct and visceral link with an audience and location. For more information on his work see http://www.murmerings.com.

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum and Tartu Linnavalitsus.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee/

28th meeting, Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Veljo Runnel
Wednesday, November 28th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

This month's helikoosolek features a return visit from biologist and nature recordist Veljo Runnel, who will present to us the revival and redesign of the online portal for Estonian animal sounds, Kõrv loodusesse (Ear into Nature).

The portal was launched in 2000, with as its main purpose the offering of online multimedia resources to schools. But as feedback has shown, the website has been used not just for educational purposes, but by many general listeners seeking a connection to nature when time or opportunity does not permit them to go there themselves. The website has had the same design and build more than ten years and with all the advances in web technologies it became apparent that it was time to modernize the Kõrv loodusesse portal.

In helikoosolek we will look at what has been done and why:

• scientific database
• quiz module
• new look and feel

Plus a general discussion on topics such as:

• nature sound databases - concepts and functions.
• How to use amateur nature recording for scientific purposes.

Veljo Runnel is a biologist, but also studied psychology at the University of Tartu. He started sound recording in 1999, with as his main interests the sounds of animals and natural soundscapes, but also auditory perception in general and the interpretation of  the sonic world. He has been running workshops for teachers and nature interpreters for learning about biodiversity in nature, and also workshops in nature photography and sound recording.

He has released several nature sound CDs with The Estonian Fund for Nature.

http://www.loodusheli.ee
http://naturesoundscapes.eu
http://estlander.soundcloud.com

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

27th meeting, Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Martins Rokis
Wednesday, October 31st
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Martins Rokis works with sound in different contexts/forms combining interests in so-called computer music and sound art. His work is a blend of generative strategies and improvisation exploring digital sound synthesis, spatiality and multimodality of human perception. In 2012 he founded duh-noh, an small-scale independent platform for digital and physical releases. He mostly works with open source software and operating systems, programming his own tools, using his computer not as a cheap and easy solution for simulation of already existing musical practices, but rather as a tool for modeling physically impossible situations and exploring the ways that this medium and working conditions changes, influences or even controls ones aesthetic choices, and perhaps let’s one think about sound in ways that aren't possible using other existing methods. Often by means of processes that intensify perception, he is specifically interested in constructing situations in which the audience is not just passively hearing some kind of fixed “audio reality” but also actively participating in it's creation through the act of hearing.

http://www.martinsrokis.com
http://duh-noh.com

For helikoosolek we will be exploring themes such as:

• software as artistic medium
• how software can enable (or disable) ways of generating form and translating ideas
• role of tools we use in our creative process or why technological objects are never neutral
• core differences between physical and digital instruments
• live coding, performance and different notions of “liveness”

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/helikoosolek
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee