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
