img noise

becomes

this noise from one pass through the img

and

after 10 passes through the img

This is a very stripped down image analysis. I'm just converting the rgb value of each pixel into either a -1, 0, or 1, and then sending it into a buffer. I have a phasor object that takes a second to tween from one sample to the next, hence the rhythmic nature of the noise. These two mp3s are only playing blue and green values.

it ended up sounding like a dot matrix printer... more experiments to come.

Curated listening

I have made a few selections of sound/music that I found inspiring for various reasons.

The first is a song by the band Bowery Electric, called Out of Phase. They play with texture primarily and stretch the musical experience out in a droney, luscious fashion.

The second track is by a band from the UK, called Broadcast. The song title is Minus Two. Broadcast are well known for their ability to manipulate sounds into all kinds of textures and melodic strings.

Next is a recording I made myself of an escalator railing at the subway station in the middle of Times Square. It's a virtual symphony of mechanics.

And finally! There are a couple of selections I'd like to play from studies done by Mark Whittle, a professor at the University of Virginia. Analyzing Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation data, he was able to sonify the first 100,000 million years of the universe after the Big Bang (which, according to him, was actually the Big Flash, as the beginning of the universe started with silence, rising to a dull scream as matter pushed out ever further.. pretty neat!). This BBC article has some concise reporting on it.