I'm an award-winning composer, engineer and historian of technology. I present talks, make radio shows and perform live with Spacedog - my band of humans, theremins and uncanny robots.
Edison phonograph advertisement (source: Library of Congress)
I’ll be getting out the camel hair brush and putting my 1904 Edison Standard Phonograph through its paces at the Catalyst Club, Brighton, 10 December 2009. Hear some commercial wax cylinders from the early 1900s and witness a live recording of a voice from the audience, straight onto a blank cylinder of carnauba wax.
I’ll also be talking a little about Edison’s life and his interest in the supernatural – particularly his thoughts on capturing the voices of the dead.
Hosted by Dr David Bramwell, the Catalyst Club is a monthly Brighton event that pays tribute to the old traditions of French Salon, debating societies and Gentleman’s Clubs.
It’s an awkward position to be in: you need the sound of vomit but don’t have any of it handy. This is the problem I was facing in 2003, when I created a small exhibit for the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester.
It all started when I was approached by acoustician Trevor Cox to make an exhibit about unpleasant sounds: fingers down the blackboard, babies crying, ringtones, the sound of someone slurping their dinner and other ghastly delights. I persuaded Trevor to turn the exhibit some kind of test – a booth where visitors could test their endurance of the ‘worst sounds in the world’. A simple idea – but one that hit the buffers when I started hunting around for library sound effects – the kind you can buy in packs of 200 on CD. I don’t know who library tracks are made for but I have to say they don’t cut the mustard if you’re looking for something that genuinely puts your teeth on edge. So I decided to spend a couple of days, in the company of some actors, making my own recordings. Here are the details for making one of those sounds – simulated vomit (please don’t venture any further if it’s teatime):
The sound of vomit – here’s one I prepared earlier
How to fake the sound of vomiting
You will need
1 tin of baked beans (any make will do)
1/2 litre of tepid water
A plastic bucket
A mug
An actor with a sterling constitution
A sound recording and editing system with reverb
Instructions
1) Pour the beans into the bowl and mix in the water to make a sloppy broth.
2) Scoop out a mug full of the broth.
3) Holding your mic just inside the bowl, empty your mug into the bowl, while you record the sound. Make sure you record every part of the action – including the moment when the mixture first hits the bowl.
4) Repeat step 3 several times. Experiment with different amounts of broth. Also experiment with slow and fast emptying of the mug. Try and get some recordings where the broth hits the bare plastic of the bowl, others where it hits the broth that’s already in there. This extra effort will pay dividends later.
5) Ask your actor to make some retching sounds, as though he is about to be sick. If you are working with a method actor, you may find it helpful to let him smell or touch the broth at this juncture. Record the sounds he makes. It’s especially good if he can imitate the sound of a small piece of onion being stuck in the throat.
6) Now you have your raw materials, it’s time to edit them together to make a convincing vomiting sound. Listen to the recordings you have made and cut and paste the best takes to make a sequence of alternating retches and broth falls. You may like to start with some more delicate sounds that build towards a climax. Make sure you leave a hiatus between each retch and broth fall. And remember, you’re simulating a natural function here so don’t bee too metronomic about the placing of the sounds (unless you’re trying to beat match this to some music). Vary the pattern as much as you like – be creative!
The reverb plugin in Logic
7) Your sound effect is almost complete but a little reverberation will help to stitch the two elements of your sound together, convincing the listener that the two are taking place in the same space. A reverb of around 3.5 seconds should be ample for a domestic toilet but feel free to experiment here. The larger your imaginary room is and the more tiled its surfaces are, the longer the reverb will be. Most reverbs have a knob that lets you adjust the amount of ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ sound. Here, ‘wet’ sound is the sound that has been given the reverb treatment, ‘dry’ sound is your original sound. Start with a wet-to-dry ratio of around 30% but increase this if you want to give the impression your actor is further away. You may find you can increase the perception of distance by cutting the high frequencies a little.
Some related sites
Bad Vibes project website (sponsored at the EPSRC)
In December 2006, Spacedog assembled a group of musicians in the reverb chamber of the UK National Physical Laboratory. This room has one of the longest reverberation times in Europe.
These videos show you what happened – you can read more about the project on these page. NB In these videos, the people you see on camera are the only musicians playing – no sounds have been added after the event (except during the purple intro sequence). The extra sound you’re hearing is the long tail of reverb that follows each note, as sound bounces for up to 30 seconds around this highly reflective room. You hear this tail, before you hear notes, on videos that are playing backwards.
A primer on reverbation
Reverberation or ‘reverb’ is what you hear when sound bounces off the walls, floor and other surfaces of a room, creating a mush of echoes that slowly die away. Acousticians judge how long sound bounces around the room by measuring the ‘reverberation time of the space’. Technically, this is how long it takes for the sound to decay by 60dB. The easiest way to make a rough judgement of the reverb in the room is to pop a balloon in there, or clap your hands. If the sudden impulse of noise – the pop or clap – dies away almost instantly, your room has a very short reverb. If it rings for some time afterwards, you have a long reverb.
If you’re sitting in a small, carpeted room right now, it’s likely that your reverb time will only be around 0.5 secs. That’s scarcely enough for you to notice the sound that continues after you stop speaking. A hall that has been tailor-made for orchestral concerts might have a reverb time of around 2 to 3 seconds. A large, tiled bathroom might have a reverb of 5 secs or so. St Paul’s Cathedral has a reverb time of up to 13 seconds for bass notes.
The reverberation chamber of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) outstrips all of these. Low bass notes (around 100Hz – roughly the pitch you get on the bass string of a ‘cello) reverberate for over 30 seconds. This long reverb is no surprise when you see how the room is constructed: The room is an empty chamber with concrete floors, ceiling and walls to keep the sound bouncing around. Extra plastic panels are hung from the ceiling to add more reflective surfaces. And the walls are non-parallel so echoes bounce in all directions (this prevents the build-up of standing waves).
National Physical Laboratory
On a visit to NPL in early 2006, I met acoustic scientist Dr Richard Lord who showed me the company’s new reverb chamber. He popped a balloon in there to show off its amazing reverb. As soon as I heard this, I knew I wanted to take some of musical instruments in there. I play various musical oddities, including a waterphone and musical saw, and I thought my sounds might find a home in this strange acoustic. NPL agreed I could come along, with some other musicians, on a day when the chamber was empty.
Recording a take in the reverb chamber of the National Physical Laboratory. The longest notes on Stephen's 'cello reverberate for over 30 seconds when the room is almost empty.
Juice for the Baby, Spacedog's debut album, is here! I'm ducking out of the Kinetica Art Faire this year but am huddled indoors, writing, sleuthing (investigating a recording in the archives) and devising a new biologically-inspired musical instrument - all will be revealed soon.
News: December 2011
Juice for the Baby, Spacedog's debut album, launches in mid-December. Join us for the launch gigs at the Marlborough, Brighton, on 9 December and the Horse Hospital, London, on 14 December.
News: November 2011
A busy month writing and editing the forthcoming Spacedog album - stay tuned for news.
News: October 2011
I'm focusing on my writing this month (so am quite the hermit) but I'm squeezing in the occasional live performance here and there.
I'm looking forward to working with Helen Keen in her Spacetacular on 20th. I'm writing a code-based work for the new label Chordpunch and some owlish music for that fine wordsmith Professor Elemental.
Spacedog are booked into the studio at the end of the month to complete work on our album.
News: September 2011
A busy month writing, preparing a get-together of maker musicians for the Brighton Maker Faire After-show party. I've also been electrifying a teapot for the Chi-Tek - an exhibition by MzTek of female tech artists at the V&A. And with my fellow Spacedog Stephen Hisock, I made an appearance on the 10th Anniversary edition of BBC Click.
News: August 2011
The Spacedog song For Laika is now available on iTunes (and the album is on its way). Meanwhile, we've been busy preparing our set for Green Man, including the first outing of our torch song for Tommy Cooper.
I'm procrastinating over a teapot which I'm going to electrify for a MzTek event at the Victoria and Albert Museum in September.
I took a short trip to a very rainy Edinburgh Fringe where I played at an event for Edinburgh Skeptics in the Royal Observatory and made some plans for a Spacedog show next summer.
Apart from that, I've been busy writing. More news on that shortly, I hope...
News: July 2011
I'm interviewed by Leila Johnston in this month's Wired UK magazine and will be appearing with my fellow Spacedogs at a Wired: The Future of Music on 20 July.
I've rounded up a bumper crop of links and soundclips for my BBC Radio 4 doc The Bird Fancyer's Delight, which is broadcast on 5 and 9 July and is also available on Listen Again. Thanks for all your cheery emails about the doc, to ProjectMoonbase for mentioning it in their podcast PMB038 and for the many national papers who gave the documentary such lovely reviews - I'm glad people enjoyed it! On Sunday 10 July, the doc was featured on Graham Seed's Pick of the Week (Radio 4). A good week!
My latest collaboration with Richard Wiseman is a free and fun magic trick for your iPhone. It's called Paranormality and it's been put together for the launch of his book by the same name in the US. Thanks to Phillis on Derrren Brown's blog for giving the app a mention - thousands of people have now downloaded it and are busy bamboozling their friends.
News: June 2011
Playing theremin for Louise Colborne's homage to Loie Fuller (pioneering cybernetic dancer c1900) and composing sounds for Sonus, an homage to the analogue age with Spacedog, ArtHertz, Rushes Soho Shorts Festival and Ridley Scott Associates. Discovering how easy (or difficult) it is to publicise events in 2011 without Twitter - will report back!
Getting ready for BEAM - a brand new festival of electronics and music at Brunel University (24-26 June). I'll be speaking, running a workshop on optical flow and performing live with my fellow Spacedogs. I'll also be playing a short theremin set at the Speaky Spokey, a new arts salon in Brighton (Wed 22 June).
Putting the finishing touches to a sonic-themed BBC Radio 4 documentary, with producer Neil McCarthy, due for transmission on 5 July 2011.
Presenting a workshop for Hack Circus at Interesting, in the Conway Hall, London, 18 June, and performing theremin at a family day at the Science Museum, 19 June.
It’s an awkward position to be in: you need the sound of vomit but don’t have any of it handy. This is the problem I was facing in 2003, when I created a small exhibit for the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester.
You will need
