Silence: June 2010

Where to start??
Where to stop??!
I have so much to blog! =D
ohkay, I shall start with this first.

Nicolas Collins :: Workshops, Talk and Performance - Closing 28th May

New York born and raised, Nicolas Collins studied composition with Alvin Lucier at Wesleyan University, worked for many years with David Tudor, and has collaborated with numerous soloist and ensembles around the world. He lived most of the 1990s in Europe, where he was Visiting Artistic Director of Stichting STEIM (Amsterdam), and a DAAD composer-in-residence in Berlin. Since 1997 he has been editor-in-chief of the Leonardo Music Journal, and since 1999 a Professor in the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The second edition of his book, Handmade Electronic Music – The Art of Hardware Hacking, was published by Routledge in 2009. Collins has the dubious distinction of having played at both CBGBs and the Concertgebouw. More information: http://www.nicolascollins.com/

Electronics and Hardware Hacking for Musicians (Basic)

No prerequisite

Saturday, June 12

8 hours

FREE for Elder Conservatorium Students

Note: students maybe required to bring a number of cheap / free electronic items

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Electronics and Hardware Hacking for Musicians (Advanced)

Prerequisite: Electronics and Hardware Hacking for Musicians (Basic)

Sunday, June 13

8 hours + Post-Workshop Concert

FREE for Elder Conservatorium Students

Note: students maybe required to bring a number of cheap / free electronic items

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Please note:

+ We appreciate the workshops are being held during the major assessment period, as a result we will grant a 3 day extension (2 days for the workshops + 1 bonus day) to any student attending both workshops. The extensions apply only to music technology courses whose assessment is due during or after the workshop in semester 1. This includes the following courses: Creative Computing 1 / 2 / 3, Audio Arts 1 / 2/ 3, Perspectives in Music Technology 2, Audio Studies (C4 and Diploma), MIDI Studies (C4 and Diploma), Sound Engineering (Studio) (Diploma), Music Technology Forum (Diploma Only). Course lecturers are aware of the situation but you will need to inform them of your participation and request for extension.

+ Places at the workshop are limited - there are not enough places for all students - first in, best dressed.

+ If you are interested you must email me by 5pm, Thursday, May 28th to register your place

+ Current and former (enrolled) music technology students are given priority access to places at the workshop. After the registration cut off date free places will be opened up to other students for a short period; and then additional paid places will be made open to the public - if you know someone who is interested, get them to contact me and I can provide details as they become available.

+ I know some of you would have already covered some electronic hacking in various courses, but I would still encourage you to attend as the workshop content will differ. Further, Nicolas Collins will be able to offer a unique insight - he did after all.. write the book. :)

+ A detailed schedule of events including the artist talks and workshops will be released soon.

In closing, if you have an interest in any of the following: making sound, electronics, hacking, tinkering, making your own instruments, building your own effects processors (distortion, preamps, pitch trackers), experimenting with noise, sound design, performance etc, then these workshops will be invaluable and are a very rare opportunity!

YES! this is the workshop that I attended. Music Tech students wud go.. awh man! this is such a rare opportunity! and the rest wud go.. just like my first reaction. ...... erm.. who? or... who the hell is this guy? and wht is this about? It was crammed with my assignments, exams and all, and since our lecturer STRONGLY suggested that we should go, I think that this must be stg GOOD.. REal GOoOD. though I have no idea wht;s gonna happen at that moment. HAHAZ!
It's a two days workshop and we got three days extension for our assignment for whoever that's attending this workshop. People wud go.. wow! that's great, but if we really do the maths, it's trading off one day, BUT!!! u get a ReaL experience that will change your life. =)

Nicolas Collins. Must be a star to many sound engineers or music tech related people. I suppose others would surely go.. OH MY GOSH! it's Nic cOllINs! (0.0 erm.. yea.. it is him. HAHAZ!) and I might be one of them in the future after attending his workshop. =) =) =)
It widens up my view so much and showed me so many possibilities once again.
I guess why music is my thing is because it fits my personality that gets bored easily and it's always stg new with music, there are no boundaries, no limits but just full of possibilities.

ANYWAY! this is really exciting for me that I wanna record this down~
ohkay, so... on those two days, basically.. I've transformed from a *music student* (^^hehehehehe!^^) to an electronical engineer. (wooooooooooooooooo~~~HAHAZ!)
(this is just to feed on my small little fantasy.. tsk tsk tsk ._. reality is.. am nothing close to that. HAHAHZ!)
Neways, let's continue..
This workshop. is really a workshop. 0.0
HAHHZ! for the whole two days, we have been working and doing and soldering and fixing and matching and tearing and cutting and and and burning and.. 0.0 yeap.. basically working.. which makes it a workshop. we were taught to make our own amplifiers, own microphones, hacking toys etc etc from scratch. ( man, he is such a genius. 0.0)
and so! now I have my very own amplifier, and microphone! =D

we were suppose to prepare a list of things to bring to the workshop, but many of them, I din have it, thank god, I met my classmate in the lift and he eventually lend me a lot of things. Thanks Al! =D even the most important thing of all, raw speakers. really thank god that he's there that day, or else I couldn't have survived without having all the things and wud be such a wasted opportunity, but god knows what's best for us. =) Thank god. =)
The next day I even bought my own soldering tool from dick smith, and thank god for that. =)

Emotions..
honestly, having gone through this workshop, before and after and in between, my emotions are rather peaceful, I would say, not as dramatic as how I wrote it. hahaz! Nevertheless, I learnt a lot and this would be one of the things that I would never forget in my life. Thank god for this wonderful experience and really, widen my view. Though tiring, it is yet so fun. =) and I would say, the tiredness is ntg compared to what I have gained. Thanks Nicolas Collins (a remarkable character), Thanks Christian (for opening up this opportunity) and Thank God. =)

P.s. I wanna thank EMU department for your hard work and the sincerity of lecturers even though it's just a small department. you guys are awesome. =) And thank god I'm here in Adelaide, learning music under such great lecturers. =)

=during the hols, hopefully I'll video some of my "product" for memory. =) and hopefully I can create more fun stuff. though it's hard. HAHAZ!=