:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 ::

Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?

"We experience spaces not only by seeing but also by listening. We can navigate a room in the dark, and "hear" the emptiness of a house without furniture. Our experience of music in a concert hall depends on whether we sit in the front row or under the balcony. The unique acoustics of religious spaces acquire symbolic meaning. Social relationships are strongly influenced by the way that space changes sound. In Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Experiencing Aural Architecture, Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter examine auditory spatial awareness: experiencing space by attentive listening. Every environment has an aural architecture."



"Eusebio Sempere, a respected minimalist 20th century Spanish artist, created a sculpture composed of a three-dimensional array of polished stainless-steel tubes that rotates at its base, as shown in figure [above]. In addition to its provocative visual effect as the moving surfaces reflect in the sunlight, it was also a sonic filter that blocked transmission of particular frequencies. A listener on one side heard a tonal modification of those sound sources located on the other side, the visual equivalent of colored glass prisms. This sculpture is an aural embellishment because it changes sounds that propagate through it."



As referenced in Trevor Cox's Sound Architecture: Spaces That Speak programme on Radio 4 last week, unfortunately no longer availble on the iPlayer. (Although I do have an MP3 rip. Get in touch if you really want to hear it.)

Labels: Acoustics, Literature, Radio4

:: Dan 24.3.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Jazz legend Lyttelton dies at 86
Veteran jazz musician and radio host Humphrey Lyttelton has died aged 86. The chairman of BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue recently had surgery in an attempt to repair an aortic aneurysm. The latest series of the quiz programme was cancelled after Lyttelton was admitted to Barnet Hospital in north London on 16 April. BBC Director General Mark Thompson described "Humph" as "a unique, irreplaceable talent".

quote:

Hello, & welcome to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

In the 19th century, the docks became central to Bristol's industrialisation, and two great monuments to this period remain today - the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and the SS Great Britain. With its mighty stone block towers and steel rope construction, it's little wonder the ship sank on her maiden voyage, after she was hit by a huge paddle-wheel that fell off the bridge. In those days, clocks in Bristol and the West Country were between 10 and 20 minutes behind London, but with the coming of the railway, these had to be 'regularised'. Some towns refused to comply, however, and to this day when it's 12 noon in London, in Weston-Super-Mare it's still...1963.

In 1910, Britain's first commercial aircraft factory was established at nearby Filton to manufacture the 'Bristol Boxkite'. Despite the Boxkite's limited range, commercial flights soon began, with routes going as far as...the string would stretch. In the 1950's, the factory turned to making luxury cars such as the 'Bristol Bulldog' and the 'Bristol 401', which still have an enthusiastic following today. Every summer, the owner's club meets to display their classic vehicles, and while they chat and swop stories, members' wives proudly clean and polish their Bristols which are then displayed and judged by the mayor.

Labels: Radio4, RIP

:: Dan 27.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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"American researchers have pieced together a 10-second audio clip of a French folk song which they believe is the oldest recognisable recording of the human voice. The recording appears to be of a young woman singing a couple of phrases from the 18th century folk song Au Clair de la Lune. It was made in 1860 by Edouard Leon Scott de Martinville, a Parisian typesetter and librarian, on a Heath Robinson-style device he called a "phonautograph". But in successfully playing back the clip [134KB MP3], the team from the University of California's Berkeley Lab, may have robbed their compatriot Thomas Edison of the honour long accorded him as the first man to successfully record sound."

Edit: Story causes giggle attack on Radio 4 Today programme [600KB MP3]
[thanks James]

Labels: Audio, Radio4, Recording

:: Dan 31.3.08 [Arc] [1 comments] ::
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GoatLab Radio with Dan Gusset, Anarchist606 & special guest Dr. Richard Wigglesworth - November 2007
Direct link [61MB MP3]
Tracklisting:
1. Pitchshifter - Underachiever (Earache)
2. Richard Wigglesworth - Ethereal (unreleased)
3. Microphyst - Taking Chances with Oncoming Traffic (Proboscus)
4. Gusset - Maniac Gene Time (Death$ucker)
5. Richard Wigglesworth - Hampton Court (unreleased- but was on future music cd aug 2007!!!)
6. Rabbit Junk - Start the Riot (oops!! DHR cover on DTrash)
7. AFX - Cilonen From Analord (Rephlex 2005)
8. DHC Meinof - Revolution Action (DHR cover on DTrash)
9. Gusset's slAYer MeGA miXXX!!!lol (feat. Doormouse, Duran Duran Duran, Atari Teenage Riot, John Williams, Slayer, Dokaka, Skimall)

Mary Anne Hobbs had a live session from Amon Tobin this week and also played a dubplate of the forth coming Meat Beat Manifesto on Planet Mu (a match made in electronic music heaven!), which sounds like pumped up dubstep influenced versions opf the RUOK ...in Dub material. There's a tracklisting and links to a two part rar of the show here.

Kraftwerk: We Are the Robots documentary from Radio 4 [stream]

Electronic Explorations
"Electronic Explorations is a weekly 2 hour podcast that promises totally exclusive mixes from the cream of the electronic world; deviously crafted patchworks of carefully sewn rhythms, sonic contortions and delicate melodies - dubstep, minimal electronica, techno and anything else that’s pushing the boundaries of electronic music."
Guest mixes include: Milanese and Marlow (available to download now) and coming in the future Vaccine, Tes La Rok, Herd, Datach'i, Ranking Records, Bitesize Beats, iTAL tEK, Somatic Responses, Surgeon, Vex'd, Geiom, Forensix, plaNt, Panda, Reso & osymyso.

Last Wednesday was No Music Day again, although I missed it this year. BBC Radio Scotland embraced it - didn't play any music and had loads of interviews with Drummond all day. Thanks to Taras for this recording of the interviews [Rapidshare 37MB MP3]

Terminal 11 - Birds (Eustachian Remix) [1MB MP3]

Labels: GoatLab, Gusset, MP3, Radio4

:: Dan 23.11.07 [Arc] [1 comments] ::
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I mentioned Trevor Cox's new acoustics programme on Radio 4 last week. If you missed it you can listen again here: The Sounds of Science.
[13MB MP3 from podcast]
The second (and final) programme is on tonight at 9pm GMT.

Labels: Acoustics, Radio4, science

:: Dan 31.10.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Heads up for:
The Sounds of Science: Bad Vibes and Good Vibrations
Wednesday 24 October 2007 21:00-21:30 (Radio 4 FM)
Trevor Cox investigates the science of sound research.

"Why do we find some sounds pleasant while others grate on the ears? The answer leads unexpectedly to the origins of music via some Tamarin monkeys, a remote tribe in Cameroon and the home of JS Bach."

I guess this is going to be similar to the acoustics for kids presentations he was doing earlier in the year and will probably make use of the results of the Sound 101 experiment.

I like to see acoustics getting some media attention and explanation – too many people regard it as some sort of black art – and Trev is very good at explaining these things to the public.

Labels: Acoustics, Radio4

:: Dan 22.10.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Listen to yesterday's Talking Politics from Radio 4 for an incisive debate about the workings and biases of the BBC.

The ease with which they use the phrase 'groupthink' brings Orwell's Newspeak just a little too close for comfort.

Labels: BBC, Politics, Radio4

:: Dan 5.8.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Speechification:
"A blog of Radio 4. Not about Radio 4 but of it. We point to the bits we like, the bits you might have missed, the bits that someone might have sneakily recorded. And other bits of speech radio might find their way here too."
[via lmg]

Labels: Radio4

:: Dan 17.7.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Songs Your Godmother Should Know
"When Times classical music critic Hilary Finch confessed on national radio that she had never heard Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, her goddaughter Tamasin decided to compile a CD of songs a godmother really should know."

Roger Linn's Drum Machines
"The remarkable story of Roger Linn, inventor of the drum machine. The son of an opera singer and a music professor, Linn's invention revolutionised popular music. He has inspired artists as diverse as Herbie Hancock, Heaven 17, and the Wu Tang Clan. Exploited by shady businessmen, Linn has been a reclusive figure for decades."

The making of the Dr Who theme [YouTube]
It's the 1980s Peter Howell version not the original Ron Grainer one.

Labels: Music, Radio4

:: Dan 4.6.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Freegan.info
"Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed."

Sounds great in principle but I wouldn't recommend going as far as eating out of supermarket bins. When I worked in a supermarket you couldn’t open the lid of the bin without retching. Given the choice I wouldn't go near one of those again never mind scamper around inside it like the image on the website gaily depicts.

Interviews from Radio 4:
"Tom Feilden reports on the political creed known as Freeganism which is based on the conviction that pretty much ever area of economic activity is based on some form of exploitation." [About 20 mins in here]
"We continue our discussion on Freegonism and are joined by Kevin Hawkins the director general of the British Retail Consortium." [About 10 mins in here]
And as an aside, "Research being conducted at the University of Hertfordshire suggests that robots can help children with autism form relationships. We speak to Dr Ben Robins who is leading the team." [About 10 mins in here]
[Real Audio links]

Dear Today programme,
Why have you stopped putting individual story links on your website? The half hour chunks are nowhere near as useful when sharing stories with others. Thanks.

Labels: Food, Politics, Radio4, science

:: Dan 31.5.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Andrew Marr's Start of the Week on Radio 4 this morning was particularly interesting. It included discussion with chess master Garry Kasparov about his new book How Life Imitates Chess (added to wishlist), Prof. Jeffrey Sachs giving a hint of some of the subjects he'll be covering in this year's Reith Lectures (starting Wednesday), and Norman Lebrecht on the classical music record industry. Worth a listen. The MP3 download trial [17MB] and the podcast seem to be down at the time of writing but the streaming version is working (see first link, above).

Edit: Download and Podcast now working

Labels: Academic, Chess, Radio4

:: Dan 9.4.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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