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You can now find our update/S and follow our rambling tangent/S at SightSoundMusic.com

New York and Sulfur and Twitter and Never a Dull Moment

I’m sure many of you have been wondering what Adam has been up to in the land of sky scrapers and hellish traffic.  That answer is multi-fold, but today we’re going to take a look at his work with Pioneers Go East Co.  They’re putting on a multimedia theatre installation called S 16 Luna Nera, based on an early 20th century Italian novel, and they brought Adam on board to design the soundscape.

Now, I say “design the soundscape” instead of “write the music” because this project encompassed more than just musical phrases and ideas.  The piece is about miners who are so isolated that some have never even seen the moon.  As explained on S 16’s site, "the world is created with smoke, seen through plastic screens and mirrors, using live camera feeds projected on actors' bodies to create an intimate experience of the desperation and psychological isolation of sulfur miners."

Sound like a Sight/Sound piece to you? 
And before you say "That sounds really cool, but I don't live in New York :(" the performance Sunday at 5:30 will be streaming live on the theater's website. 

Anyone familiar with “Rupture” knows that Adam can definitely do alienating and isolating music.  The director especially liked Adam’s “Dream World” and “Rikai (Brainstorm Redux)”, pieces that evoke scenes and feelings.  “Dream World” takes some acoustics mixed with a technique known as “found sound,” which means Adam took samples recorded in and around his hometown of Farmington, MI, and presented them as something completely different.  It creates, as the title suggests, a world (inhabited by Aisaka Taiga) that Adam can only glimpse at in dreams, feeling both foreign and familiar.  He’s been exploring this technique extensively for S 16 by processing his found sounds “to hell and back” until they barely resemble the original sounds.  


“Rikai (Brainstorm Redux)" uses similar mixing techniques and significantly more electronics to build the concept of comprehension.  To make the Brainstorm Redux, Adam dropped the breakbeat track of the original, enhancing the piece’s ambient qualities.  S 16 also features a soprano soloist, so Adam’s piece "Fairfax" (brought to its pinnacle as performed by Lily Guererro) was another point in his favor.  



Although S 16 is primarily Adam's project, there's been some Daniel involvement as well. Initially, Adam used a percussion kit developed by Daniel in the first scene, but now scene five is an adaptation of a piece the two co-wrote for another large scale event happening this summer. More on that later, though, because it's time to get to the Twinterview.  Because that is apparently a word. Somehow, through the use of hashtags and tweetchat.com, Adam was interviewed for S 16 via Twitter.  So without further pre-amble, here’s the transcript of  Adam talking about music and answering our questions.
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PGEC: What kind of sounds are used in the project?

Adam: I threw everything in here. There are iPad synths, amped trumpet sounds, heartbeat samples…Also recorded some big noise from inside a Starbucks, reversed and transposed the audio of the CD playing.

PGEC: Wow! Where else did you make/find the sounds?

Adam: For the first few scenes, I'm trying to make the texture really dense to emulate mine claustrophobia, so thick synths, and chopping up samples into tiny pieces can allow for lots of strange rhythms. There are also a lot of natural rhythms, like recordings of footsteps, rustling branches, items falling onto rocks, stuff that isn't in "time" persay. You can make 3 or 4 beat loops out of sounds that aren't in time for a skipping sort of effect. It can make curious rhythms.

PGEC: That's interesting. When listening to the sample, what are elements to listen for?

Adam: Hm, well every sound comes from a different place, but I tried to obscure the original sources. Watery sounds aren't actually water, for example. They're just synth beeps with different types of processing. The director wanted to stay away from programmatic sounds, actual cave sounds for in the mines, so I had to get creative.

PGEC: I see, how else do these elements relate to the piece without being too literal?

Adam: I wanted to use sounds that invoke the feeling of working in a claustrophobic mine without blatantly giving drill sounds... There's almost a discomforting feeling in the first scene, but in spite of that I want to make a deep world of sound with lots of different things going on. There are many many sounds and I hope everyone will pick up on something different. I picture a whole environment with weird fauna and flora that make strange sounds while the miners work. Maybe it's fantasy?

PGEC: The piece is quite fantastical! Do the sounds continue to evolve during rehearsal?

Adam: Absolutely. Watching the actors gives new ideas on the continuity between sight/sound. I tweak stuff after every rehearsal. Between the actors' motions and fitting movement to sound, I often find that some ideas I had didn't work like I expected so it's constantly evolving through observations and criticism, both from myself and the PGEC teammates.

Mark: Hi Adam...How does this piece differ in both style and substance from other your other pieces?

Adam: This music is more about creating an environment. The actors are the ones telling the story, so my job is to give them a world to exist in, rather than telling a story or conveying my own emotions, which is a usual job for a composer. It's refreshing actually - writing for a new purpose and function. Certainly more spacey and ambient than my usual stuff, but it's giving me new ideas, certainly.

Jillián: Building on that, how does creating an environment differ from writing a Sight/Sound piece that will have a video component?

Adam: Actually very similar. In this case, the sight existed before the sound, backward from sightsound stuff. Also feels more encompassing than a Sight/Sound video since people will be walking around the stage freely.

PGEC: That's what I call living, breathing art! What inspires you/who are your influences?

Adam: John Cage is a big hit for me for this. His philosophy that all sounds are interesting insinuates that anything can be music if it is organized with intent. The result can be strange yet refreshingly unique.

Mark: Which style do you feel offers more creative freedom?

Adam: Hard to say - this sound design has certainly allowed me to use sounds I'd never expect to use in music. Composing is all about setting up parameters and working within them. In this project, the parameters are the setting and scenes in the play. In composing for concert hall, the parameters could be an emotion, etc. so eventually, you'll need to set your parameters regardless, so it's just a different way of aiming your trajectory.

Jillian: Sounds YOU've never expected to use in music? What kind of sounds would that include?

Adam: My favorite weird sound so far is a recording of people setting cups down @ Starbucks w/ the indie music radio. There's also me singing into my trumpet amp while being processed by Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig. It's grody and awesome.

Mark: You mention parameters. How much do these parameters change from conception to completion?

Adam: The parameters that are set at the beginning are constantly narrowing with every decision you make while writing. it's kinda like chess: eventually you can't move certain pieces, and other pieces become more active. The queen might be not move until the endgame and she suddenly becomes the rockstar. it's like that with sounds too. There was one sound I meant to have at the beginning, but there was no place for it until toward the end. Other sounds are prevalent throughout. Parameters change as the writing process advances. Keeps things pretty fun, really.

Abby Felder: You have a varied bio, do you prefer working in one medium (ie theater vs dance) over another?

Adam: Good question, leaning towards no preference at the moment. i like the opportunity to write from a blank slate every time. I’d rather not write 10 tunes in the same style. experimenting leads to hit & miss but I think it's the best way to feel out new mediums.

Mark: You've written many pieces. How much self evaluation do you do after each project?

Adam: Probably too much. I try to pick out what I like/dislike from each finished project, helps decide what next.

PGEC: Wow, this has been a great conversation! Thanks for your insight! looking forward to the show April 6-8 @ La Mama ETC

state of the forward slash

I think we've dawdled enough at this point, and it's time to get down to business.  Not that "business" can encompass all that happens around S/S, but we're not here to play semantics.  Having laid the ice with post number one, let's start breaking it (with or without that wrench).

What the @$#% is Sight/Sound?

Well, that's the same question we all asked when the posters first went up around Grand Valley's campus back in April of 2010.  You probably would, too, if you saw student recital posters that looked like the one on the right.  All we knew was that this recital would probably be the answer to the question, "what the hell have Adam and Dan been up to, and why did the composition studio get to commandeer a practice room indefinitely?"

On the surface, Sight/Sound is a recital series.  Adam and Daniel get their pieces performed, their friends and colleagues get to perform new music, and everyone else is reminded that music continued after the Romantics.  The progenitors of /S, however, cannot be satisfied by surface depth, which actually brings us to how and why /S began.

Much as we'd like to believe in "art for art's sake," the collegiate music experience prepares students for the business of orchestral music.  That means setting up shop in a practice room and playing orchestral excerpts until face and/or fingers are numb, and playing said excerpts the "official" way that will win an audition.  Sure, there's artistry involved, especially on solos, but they still have a pretty set repertoire.  Does that system work for some?  Sure.  Does it mean they get to live the dream of making a living playing incredible, timeless music?  Certainly.  Does it even hint at what's happening in the world of new music?  Not a chance. (And what is happening?  Stay tuned; more on this later.)

Adam and Dan on the set of a video for /S 2.0.

This leads us to 2008, where our protagonists join forces.  Disillusioned with the business of resurrecting the ghosts of symphonies past, Cuthbért and Rhode took a machete and a chainsaw to the untamed wilderness that is modern composition.  They and the rest of the comp studio brought elements of the new music world- such as electrified trumpet, bowed electric guitar, modern takes on traditional ensembles, and the idea of the laptop an instrument- to their more classically predisposed cohorts.  Music played on the inaugural Sight/Sound show ranged from haunting piano melodies, to clarinet quartets, to trumpet and breakbeat, to cello ensembles, to a rock band closing the show.

Adam and Daniel also allied with J.D. Forslin to form the integral "Sight" portion of the pieces.  See, Sight/Sound is rarely a mere auditory experience.  Almost every piece includes some kind of visual component, be it an artistic interpretation of Comprehension, a stop-motion video of melting ice, the destruction of your couch, or perhaps the camera spinning in circles in downtown Grand Rapids (truly, the perfect companion to a piece called "Vertigo").  Sure, either component could stand on its own, but we can’t resist the synergy (and why would we want to?)  The original Sight/Sound even had dance ensembles, and /S 2.0 involved a bit of on-stage demolition.  Adam and Daniel have become more and more involved in video as time goes on, which has led to some insane results, the least of them not being the live video mixing in several of their shows, and their DJ/VJ rave act, known as sight\sound(underground).  There was also that piece from /S 4 that had a cult leader bouncing around 11 different TVs in the band room, telling us all that we should come with him before the earth is recycled... actually, on second thought, let's not discuss that right now, because his eyes are still creeping me out nine months later.

Setup for /S 4.  Note the web of cords and the cult guy on TV.

When Daniel and Adam still lived in the same state, West Michigan got a taste of the first few Sight/Sound raves.  Originally, they planned to hold Sight/Sound/Underground in their basement at “the haus”, but after a particular rehearsal incident involving flashlights shining into the upstairs window and half hour of some important-ish, law-enforcing type people knocking on the front door to no avail, Adam and Daniel wisely decided not to tempt fate and noise complaints.  Instead, they sought and gained the official OK to keep GVSU's Performing Arts Center open until 2 in the morning, and they held the first Sight/Sound rave in the band room.  I'm still not sure how they pulled that one off, honestly.

Nothing is off-limits when it comes to Sight/Sound.  I've been typing my hands off about their exploration of new genres and technology, but Adam and Daniel have both written some fantastic pieces for more traditional settings, as well.  I first learned about Adam's composer side in the GVSU symphony orchestra, when we played a piece of his inspired by neoclassicism and video game soundtracks.  They've also ventured into the world of popular music with rock bands and occasional rap, with a slight hint of dubstep.  Orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber strings, clarinet quartet, they've almost done it all.  (I say "almost" because my college brass quintet never touched a Cuthbert or Rhode original, and yes, I might still be pouting almost two years after the fact).

Hard at work at "the haus."  Try to find all the instruments in the room.

But the Sight/Sound name has always been more than the core of Rhode and Cuthbert.  Every /S show includes work from others in and out of the GVSU composition studio.  They've also arranged and performed other works from the new music world, such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Radiohead, and the /S version of Charles Amirkhanian's "Churchcar" with live video mixing.  /S' fifth installment featured the GVSU New Music Ensemble playing pieces from a number of new composers, a commission from Daniel, adventures in sound painting, and several "In C" remixes arranged by Adam.  Lately, Sight/Sound has spread beyond mere performance.  In an effort to, as Daniel put it, "lure all my musical friends away from playing video games and laying out at the beach," the duo invited everyone over for a weekend last spring to simply enjoy making music.  Sight/Sound/Record amounted to about a dozen of us holing up at “the haus” for a weekend, improvising on a variety of instruments, recording experiments, and producing for "West River Road," a folk piece by our Sarah Stuk.

In essence, Sight/Sound is a showcase for collaborative arts.  Electronic and acoustic.  Music and video.  Pipe wrench and printer (again, more on that later).  It is performance.  It's a show.  It's a wild ride, and I'll do my best to dictate and narrate for whomever comes along for the adventure.

a genesis

How does one commence the inaugural post of the sight/sound blog?

On one hand, I could recreate the original Sight/Sound performance, how it started with Adam sitting down at the piano in the darkened dance studio and plunking out a not-quite-soothing but still-not-unpleasant melody, or when Dan fired up the remix about the up and coming "Detroit: City on the Move", or how the closer was amazing and literally deafening, so much so that those of us in the front row only felt slightly guilty covering our ears.

But we'll get there eventually.

Then again, it might be more informative to go back and talk about how musical higher education teaches us all to do the same things that everyone's already done and play the same things and the same way everyone' s played for hundreds of years, just because that's what you do and that's what higher music is, and if you're trying something new or taking a chance then you're doing it wrong and then we have the saxophone all over again.

But that would only explain what sight/sound is not.

I could talk about the day when I realized that Adam and Dan were really running with something. They told me about some of their ideas ("It'll be the computer and two snare drums, plus the kickdrums on every huge hit- WHAM!"), showed me some works in progress ("...and this right here is going to be Mike just going crazy on apocalyptic sax for a full two minutes"), and it hit me that these guys had an honest-to-God vision.

But for now, I think I'm just gonna leave this here.  You'll understand later.