Restricted Setup Challenge (now released!)

[.bzr]

I thought we could have a "competition" where one should create a 5/10 minutes work with a limited predefined setup.
The setup would include most common pieces of gear (mics, mixer, distortion...) so that every one can participate.

Winners will be granted eternal respect from the rest of the board's members and why not his/her track on the fifth IHM compilation...

We have to define together what the setup will include, where/how to post tracks and some dates of begin and end.

It's fun to have fun, so let's have fun together.

Fun.

mod edit:

Released!



Various Artists - One Object
http://abrash.org/abrash003

Edit with the rules we came up with...

1) Maximum length: 10 minutes

2) Limits on gear: One "non-musical" object (basically, no "traditional" instruments), one cord (a stereo RCA cable is ok and counts as one cable), one microphone, and one recording device (tape recorder, computer, etc). You don't have to use all of these, but you can't use more than this (for instance, if your recorder has a built in mic, you might not need a microphone). The focus should be on the object rather than the microphone / recording technique. No software instruments - computers can only be used to record, unless you want to use it *as* the object (say, using a telephone mic to pick up the actual sound of the computer). The recorder can't be used as a multitrack device - it should just be one take (no stacking of several recordings).

3) No after-the-fact manipulation/mixing/mastering besides basic normalizing. Cutting the beginning/ending of a track is ok, but no snips in the middle. No effects or playing with the recording device's settings while it is recording. If you have a mono track, you can make it stereo by copying it to both sides of a stereo waveform - no stereo DSP effects to simulate stereo. If you send the track to me and specify that you'd like me to do this for a mono track, I'll do it for you. If you use a tape recorder and have to bounce it back into the computer, a stereo RCA cable with any necessary adapters is OK.

4) Due date: May 10th at 12 PM EST. Please submit a .wav or .aif to steveflato@gmail.com via sendspace, mediafire, or your public dropbox folder. Please, no direct attachments to the email - use a file sending service, and .zip it up if you can. Also, include a picture of the setup! This will be used on the final page.

Read through the thread to get an idea of some of the gray areas, or feel free to ask a question in the thread! Thanks to .bzr for getting this going. This will be its own little mini-compilation, and I'll host it on my webspace.

-snailed

Also, I really recommend reading some of the questions/clarifications on page two of the thread, especially regarding intentions/accidents, etc.

[flies]

u cd also restrict the #'s of pieces of gear rather than naming particular items...

[horaflora]

Yeah, like only 1 laptop.

[horaflora]

That was a tad snarky, I only meant to illustrate the relative difficulty of restricting the modern setup.

This would be a fun project to participate in, I think, if the guidelines of restriction could be somewhat normalized.... Like, everyone could only use a shoe, or something.
Their shoe.
Huh.

[RFKorp]

Their shoe.
Huh.

No, I think we should mail a particular shoe around among all the participants to make sure the playing field is even.

-------

More seriously, this sounds like fun.
Something like....
maximum setup components (not including audio cables):
2 microphones or pickups, 2 speakers, a mixer, a 6-pack of beer, and a jar of pickles.

[Charon]

1 microphone, 1 cymbal

[.bzr]

Glad to see there is some interest in the project.

If we are to include a shoe in the setup, I guess a pierced Nike Air Max could produce some nice sounds :p

Horaflora, you're absolutely right in what you said about laptops, we should exclude computer as sound generators, they must be restricted to recording (with no post treatment allowed apart from volume levelling, if we're ok).

A mic appears to be essential, do we all agree to include it in the final setup?
I'm also ok for a cymbal, but should we restrict it to a particular kind of cymbal (crash, ride...)? And moreover, does everyone own one?

A pack of beer is cool and potentially pretty productiv, and it's easy to get one! Well, I hope it is for everyone... But do we include the bottle opener and the burps?

[billygomberg]

Glad to see there is some interest in the project.

A pack of beer is cool and potentially pretty productiv, and it's easy to get one! Well, I hope it is for everyone... But do we include the bottle opener and the burps?

i guess this depends on how you all would want to restrict recording technique as well.

[Wombatz]

I think there should be something site-specfic, so a cymbal, an unspecified amount of beer, and 10 pm outside your window would sound perfect to me...

[Moon]

If I don't have a cymbal, can I make one out of shoddy materials?

I like the specific location too, like contact mic + anything you'd find in a kitchen. Or bow + anything in the house that's not an instrument and has to be attached to the house. Ehm.

This is a great idea!

[Wombatz]

Since this thread has already made me remember that I have a (totally trash) cymbal (from a miniature kid kit), but what's more exciting: suddenly I know I want to play that against cymbal sounds from my drum machine, why have I never thought of that: I'm not enough of a musician to face a restricted setup challenge. But I'd definitely participate if this was about setting up rules and finding a way around them. So if we say cymbal, drum machine would be okay also, sampling would be okay, lid pot also. If we say beer, then sound from out the window (as suggested by me above) would be stupid, but sound of your fridge would be cool (hey, that's THE eai in joke anyway innit?). Hook it up any way you want to (or pretend you even have a fridge). Let's have a competition of fridges. It makes no sense to me to restrict the imagination. It could be like: if four people agree on a set of rules, then it's on, but we should deliver quickly, within a week, say?

Something like that would absolutely help me do something about my limited vocabulary and I'd be an enthusiastic contributor. Frankly I don't can get myself to believe it'll happen, people have other things to do, I have, but it's a fantastic idea . . .

[bryan]

So..

contact mic
+ refrigerator (or a window or a book or a bottle of beer)
at night

no effects/processing, no edits?

there could be further restrictions too, like no sustain type sounds longer than 1 second OR only sustained sounds, etc..

this is like a recipe

i have a little gong but i was thinking that not everyone will have some things, like a sampler or tape recorder. does everyone at least have a contact mic? i have extra contact mic elements if needed. it could be restricted to contact mic + some common household item(s).

[Charon]

no contact mic here, and a very very quiet fridge... but 2 cymbals

[Hal McGee]

I think you might get more people to participate if you just limited it to two/three pieces of gear, aside from the device to record it, and connector cables/cords.

Examples:
a mini mixer, one pedal, an amp.
a contact mic, a refrigerator, a hammer.

[bryan]

I think you might get more people to participate if you just limited it to two/three pieces of gear, aside from the device to record it, and connector cables/cords.

There's an idea right there, too... it could even just be

recording device + cable.

So the only input would be the cable itself (nothing plugged in the other end).




And I'm serious about giving away contact mic elements for anyone who wants one. It's just the element, needs to be spliced to a cord of some sort. PM me if interested.

[Hal McGee]

If you are going to go that route I would suggest:
any recorder with any microphone

[beefbeefmeat]

i like the idea. reverb might be nice if one effect was allowed but i suppose that would really take away from the "restricted" title... hmm

[snailed]

If you are going to go that route I would suggest:
any recorder with any microphone

I think this might be a nice idea. A recorder, one microphone (contact mic, telephone mic, a regular mono condenser mic... stereo microphones like the Rode NT4 would be OK, as long as it's one thing), and one physical object (a shoe, a fridge, a beer can, a violin, a cello). That means one object - if it's a violin, then no bow. If it's an electric guitar, then no amp. A fridge is ok, along with all the stuff inside it. Just your body playing it and the microphone. However, you can't choose a place - (ie. a house, a football field, Australia) although obviously using a microphone, the sound of whatever surrounds the object will be included. It has to be one physical object that is self-contained for the most part. More suggestions: a piece of paper, a seltzer bottle, a computer (perhaps amplifying it with a telephone mic, but not actually using the computer to manipulate any of the sounds digitally besides basic recording).

[Moon]

The rules are coming along nicely!

I think a computer is a bit greyzoney since you could record using it (pressing buttons) and the electromagnetic field, which you could program (booting up, switching on and off cpu-eating software, etc.)

But if we make a proposal and ok it before submitting, that shouldn't be a problem.

I would also like to request a deadline after fourth of may since I have many thousand dissertation words to write before that. I won't feel bad for being left behind, though. You non-deadliners have your fun!

[snailed]

So, .bzr - since you initiated this, what do you think of the rules I proposed? Anyone else? It seems restricted enough, but also open to plenty of interpretations. I should say that, in lieu of a microphone, if the "object" is (for example) a DIY synth you made, a microphone won't do much good - so a direct input to the recorder is acceptable in place of that. No post-production besides normalizing the volume, and cutting off the beginning/ending of the track. No slices in the middle. We should have some limits on the amount of cables and things like that - I think, personally, that only one audio cable should be allowed (the output from the instrument, or the XLR cable from the mic going directly into the recorder. This would pretty much eliminate any no-input mixing board stuff (which requires patch cables), unless the internal circuity had been modified in some way or another.