Collaborators

MrHay

Please see the following list, here as much for me to remember as for you to have a look through, of people I have worked with, collaborated with, recorded, mixed, advised and so on during my time in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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TAKING THE MICHAEL – Audio Mix

MrHay

This was definitely a post production audio gig with picture sync. Matt and Ian approached me to do the cleaning, editing, mixing and general ‘buffing’ of the audio matched to the final cut. Please read on for more details about the project and if I do say so myself they made a beautiful and quite poignant movie. It isn’t required at all, but it always makes it easier when you work on a project you genuinely believe in.

 

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TAKING THE MICHAEL
HD video, 78 mins
2012
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‘Taking The Michael’ is a crowdfunded artist’s documentary following one man’s unlikely odyssey through ancient and modern Albion.

The film follows the reunion of the artist/filmmaker with an enigmatic but puzzling former acquaintance. The film starts at the point of their reunion and traces their subsequent faltering progress down the St Michael’s Ley Line through South West England – from Avebury in Wiltshire to St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. Travelling in a pedal-powered 1968 Bond Ranger on ancient byways and green lanes, the pair’s curious pilgrimage is a surreal post-peak oil exploration of this green and pleasant land.

Using a combination of pure documentary, anecdotal oral history, and total myth, the film is, among other things, a field investigation of the rich and varied pagan, Christian and mystical heritage of Britain, a search for new ways of considering our collective future, and a vigorous testing of the relationship between documentary maker and subject.

Completed in late Autumn 2012, the film was screened across the country in a wide range of venues throughout 2013, from commercial cinemas and galleries to post-industrial warehouses, converted barns and willow living structures. It was selected for Sheffield Doc/Fest Videotheque 2013.

It is currently available for screening and is available on DVD for £12 plus p+p or to download for £5. Email info@outsidefilm.org.uk for details.

A trailer can be viewed here and a review by Wayne Burrows for Nottingham Visual Arts read here.



‘Running Under Bridges’ Live @ The Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh.

MrHay

I was approached by Raymond and asked whether I would like to document the live performances over 3 separate dates. This was an interesting live recording, due to the long reverb times of the gallery space, being sensitive to the live audience and musicians alike.

DPA 4060’s taped to the rear walls provide the ambience mics I felt were required without having to have massive ‘over head’ mic stands in the way, blocking sight lines and making a mess of the visuals. Spot mics covered the rest for the close ups and we were good to go.

I edited, mixed and mastered each of the sessions, at the Reid Hall Studio and what follows below is one performance taster and some further text describing more about the project.

The Running Under Bridges exhibition at Talbot Rice Gallery is the latest outcome of an ongoing collaboration between Professor Raymond MacDonald (Head of Reid School of Music) and Josephine Ganter (Lecturer in School of Art).

By co-authoring a series of original prints and musical compositions, they test the possibilities of images as conductors of sound and sound as a compositional tool for images. By trading their specialist understandings of music and visual art respectively, they explore the possibilities for creative learning and play outside conventional disciplinary boundaries.

Raymond and Josephine’s process starts with hand drawn ‘grids’ and photographs. These then form the basis for the development of more intricate images that will later become graphic scores for musicians to perform – as well as being artworks in their own right.

The images are developed in many different ways. “Sometimes we work on them together in a studio, sometimes we work through remote collaboration using scanning and digital editing, and sometimes we work on them in a live setting during rehearsals with musicians,” said Raymond, “This organic process allows both the music and the visual outcomes to vary each time the score is played.”

The exhibition traces the development of Raymond and Josephine’s collaboration and their changing approach to co-authorship. Some of their previous work will be on display in the upper gallery, which includes three graphic scores that were created by Josephine in response to existing music by Raymond and Marilyn Crispell; these scores were extended through Josephine’s creation of responsive animations.

‘Straya Sounds!

MrHay

Whilst travelling down the east coast of Australia from Fraser Island to Sydney, I decided to take a trusty Sound Devices 722, a pair of DPA 4060’s and chucked them inside my Rode Blimp and wombat! Have a listen and let me know what you think. Most of these were made either at sun up or sun down and yes I suffered from being eaten alive by sand flies and mosquitos. All part of the fun… Listen carefully to spot the occasional ‘thong’ sound (flip flops).

World of the Zodiac

MrHay

Matthew Pountney A.K.A ‘D.J. Rubbish’ A.K.A ‘Leftwing Idiot’ a longtime musical collaborator and bringer of interesting ideas approached me with this one. He and the incredible Jess Thom A.K.A ‘Tourettes Hero‘ were planning on making a serious of horoscope readings using Jess’s incredible talent. Of course I’d be up for this one! I’ve worked with Matt and Jess over the years and once again we’d be brought together to share our ideas and skills and see what we could dream up.

This I guess I’d file under post-production work, I cleaned some rough set sounds, added some effects, mixed and edited as usual and it’s also my creepy airy voice reading out each star sign. I hope you enjoy and of course there’s 12 to choose from.

Latrikunda German, Serrekunda – The Gambia

MrHay

Once again I was working with Dee Isaacs on another uplifting yet challenging project. We were in Serrekunda in The Gambia working with local school kids and teachers using music as a means to teach. This is quite a new idea out there as it is in the UK and as ever our budgets were thin. This time I was the ‘audio guy’ with my trusty location gear making an audio documentary of the event.

Above are just a couple of samples of what came on a couple trips. One by foot and another by local taxi. Both of these are binaural recordings so if you can please listen using good headphones.

‘SkypeBack’ performance @ Inspace. The Edinburgh Science Festival 2013

MrHay

On Saturday the 6th of April Tam Treanor and I were lucky enough to be invited to perform ‘SkypeBack’ at the Edinburgh Science Festival 2013. The venue was the fantastically modular and somewhat THX inspired, in my opinion, Inspace. With their fantastic array of projectors and flexible routing matrix we were able to up the visual side of things and explore the use of light within this performance piece. To blend in with the colour palette of the space we also purchased and put on some neutral white outfits, which transformed us in to moving projection surfaces. Please have a look at the edited short version of the video.

 

Below is the full live audio recording taken from the concert.

Here is the short edited live audio recording taken from the concert.

 

The pictures below were kindly taken by our friend and colleague Tracy Foster:

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B.Y.O.B

MrHay

Just a quick post to say that Tam Treanor and I revisited ‘Feedback Study’ and a scaled down version of ‘Skypeback’ using only mobile phone calls last Friday the 30th of November. The venue was The Glue Factory, Glasgow, Scotland and man was it cold. Nothing quite like a huge empty warehouse in November to chill you to your core but also provide you with a fantastic night of interesting visuals and sound.

We were invited by the lovely people @ BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) which is a series of one-night-exhibitions hosting artists and their projectors.

Anyone can make a BYOB exhibition. It’s very simple:

– find a space
– invite many artists
– ask them to bring their projectors

Bean eater?

MrHay

Firstly I offer the Windy.app. A wind sound thingymajigy made from filter, modulated white noise with a few user tweak-able parameters. It might just be me, but sometimes I like just leaving it on whilst I’m wandering around the house doing other things to make me feel like I’m on the top of a big ol’ mountain. Is that weird? Have a go and see what you think…

It’s Mac OS X (Intel only) I’m afraid not out of any real choice other than that’s where I work these days. Please let me know what you think… This little ditty was very much inspired by the master of Procedural Audio Andy Farnell.