May 26 & 27, 2012, Time 11-19 +, Presentation May 27 @ 20.00

SOUNDBOXES with DEREK HOLZER

Presentation + live Macumbista set: Sunday May 27 2012, Time 20.00
Presentation Venue: O’Tannenbaum, Sonnenallee 27, Berlin Neukoelln

Discover the hidden sonic qualities of objects from our everyday world in this workshop, combining the arts of electronics, noise, sculpture and collage. The basic elements of this workshop are a wooden box, a speaker, a small audio amplifier, and a contact microphone. To this, brave box-builders will add their own found objects, graphics, images, memories and ideas to create a unique electroacoustic cabinet of curiosities.

No previous electronics experience is necessary for this workshop. Each participant is required to bring several items to the workshop, please see below.

TIMETABLE

Day One: Introduction to simple noise/electroacoustic electronics, circuit soldering.

Day Two: Box-building, decoration and collage, experimentation with found objects as sound sources.

Final Presentation: All participants will present their finished soundboxes to the public at the end of the second day!

WHAT TO BRING

I will provide most of the tools and materials necessary for constructing the box, however there are a few things you should bring yourself:

1)A BOX: This should be made of thin wood or very strong cardboard. Plastic can be also used, but it doesn’t sound very good. And please, no metal! It is too difficult to cut and drill with the tools we will have. This box should be a minimum of 10x10x4cm, or bigger if you want to use a larger speaker or have more room to decorate and add objects. Cigar boxes, small suitcases, instrument cases or jewelry/silverware boxes are all good things to look for. At least one side of the box should be no more than 5mm thick, to allow the hardware to be mounted.

2)A SPEAKER (OPTIONAL): I will have a selection of speakers for participants to use. However, if you have something special please bring it along, but please make sure it fits in the box you have chosen!

3)FOUND OBJECTS: Please bring as many found objects as you can to decorate your soundbox or use as a sound source via the contact microphone. Bones, shells, small sticks, bells, strings, wires, springs (especially!) or anything else made out of solid yet resonant material make great sound sources. Photographs, cloth, leather, paper or any other kind of material can be useful for covering the box and making collages. Paint, markers and pens may also be useful.

4)EFFECTS PEDALS (OPTIONAL): Any kind of battery-powered effects pedals, such as distortions, filters or delays, can be very useful in creating more nonlinearities in the feedback loop.

FURTHER INFO:

You can see videos and photos from previous SoundBoxes workshops here:

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=1897

Or use the “soundboxes” tag to see all posts related to SoundBoxes:

http://macumbista.net/?tag=soundboxes

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Derek Holzer (1972) is an American sound artist based in Berlin, whose current interests include DIY analog electronics, sound art, field recording and the meeting points of electroacoustic, noise, improv and extreme music. He has played live experimental sound, as well as taught workshops in noise art technology, across Europe, North America, Brazil and New Zealand.

http://macumbista.net/

BASIC INFO:

Fee: EUR 35 (participation) + EUR 10 (materials) Registration is required and can be done by sending an email to info@nkprojekt.de with the subject line “SoundBoxes”

Number of Participants: Minimum 6/Maximum 14

Location: NK Projekt Elsenstr. 52 2HH 2Etage 12059 Berlin
+49(0)17620626386