Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Timothy V: Jay and I came together because we both had a problem
that we wanted to solve.
We're both composers, performers and music technology enthusiasts.
And we wanted to come up with a way to combine those elements,
giving a performer full control over the output of their sound,
as it's being modified electronically
using just the movements of their body.
Jay L: So there've been plenty of times
when I've been playing on stage:
I have my flute and the microphone, the speakers, the soundboard,
maybe there's even a sound technician.
And while I've been improvising and playing,
I think to myself:
"It would be great if I could add the sound
of some water behind this solo",
or "Maybe if I could add some extra echoe in this section".
But there'd be no way to actually add
those sounds in the middle of a performance.
TV: And in the past, I'd worked with a performer who was a dancer.
And I was able to take her movements
and allow them to manipulate pre-recorded sound,
but I was missing that improvisational element
that you get from a live musician.
So, Jay and I came together and we made this piece:
"Limbic Hemispheres, an exploration of the physical space".
JL: So we met here at Stony Brook
right over in Staller Center.
For about a year, once a week, we got together
and sketched out different ideas
and set some parameters of how we wanted
to organise the space, and what sounds we wanted to be able to produce
by moving through that space.
TV: So, I took those parameters
and I started working with the Microsoft Kinnect.
The Kinnect seen here is a 3D depth sensor
and actually, at this time,
Jay is going to get calibrated with the Kinnect system.
So, the way that this works is
the Kinnect is using infra-red
to see everything that's happening in front of it.
And when Jay stands in the callibration pose,
the Kinnect maps finite points
on each one of the joints in his body, allowing him to use
those joints to control the piece.
JL: So, right now I'm callibrated,
the system's reading me.
And for me, it's a dream come true
because right now I can move around the space,
it's a grid we have here on the floor that we've organised,
and, depending on where I am in the space,
I'll be playing music within a different sonic atmosphere.
TV: And, as Jay's moving around the space,
he'll have full control using his elbows,
using the orientation of his body,
his height and his head to control finite
musical parameters of the effects of the sound.
JL: So, besides that, Tim also has his own set-up
of sound here, he has some pre-recorded music
that he's going to trigger and modify while I'm playing;
and he has a keyboard that he'll be playing some chords on
to accompany the music.
TV: So the trajectory of our talk is a performance of our piece.
So, without further ado,
we're going to move in the place
and present to you our piece, Limbic Hemispheres.
(Music)
(Applause)