Tides is an electro-acoustic composition for piano, laptop and quadraphonic speaker system. This work was trying to combine a scored instrumental part with laptop processing in real-time. I wanted to emphasise parts of the piano sound that I find enjoyable. The gradual decay of chords, dense clusters of sustained tones, the fading of vibrations to near-silence, the low frequencies of the piano and using harmonically vague progressions via adding and subtracting tones. The computer part involves a 4 head tape delay module, circular spatialisation, sine tone generation based on pitches the computer hears. Also very important to this piece is the amplification, diffusion and compression of the piano – enhancing the sound of the acoustic instrument is critical to hearing the level of detail that I was trying to achieve.

As with most of my works, the score is still in a rough state, but I have a recording from mid-2009 that reasonably captures most of the work. Piano by Ben Hamblin, live laptop by Kynan Tan.

( Images are sketches I made with jitter while experimenting with generating planes )

Tides – movement one (4.00)

tides_mvt_one

Tides – movement two (3.50)

tides_mvt_two

Floating Spires was my first sound installation. It was created as part of my second year of the Music Technology course, after about 4 months of learning max/MSP. The work is interactive and utilises a combination of aeolian instruments, audio processing and audience participation. Here is the bio I wrote for it at the time -

Floating Spires is an interactive sound installation created by Kynan Tan, premiered on the 3rd of June 2008 at Spectrum Project Space in Perth, Western Australia. It features a room filled with wind chimes which are suspended from a lattice of red rope, hanging from the ceiling. The sounds of the room are captured by 4 microphones, which were also suspended, and processed through a laptop running Max/MSP. The sounds created by the laptop are a combination of sine tones of the harmonic frequencies of the wind chimes and also recorded sounds of the room played at altered speeds and pitches. Several floating speakers and also 2 monitor speakers amplified these sounds, producing a spatial, immersive environment of varied sounds and timbres.

The Interactive Sound Installations exhibition ran for 3 days and audience members were invited to play, create, investigate and instigate these sound devices. Featured works were from the artists Brett Murray, Ben Hamblin and Cherie Lebrasse, under the direction of Cat Hope and Stuart James.

Floating Spires (excerpt) 2:00
Floating Spires (excerpt) 2:00

Floating Spires from Kynan Tan on Vimeo.

Please enquire if you would like more information about Floating Spires or if you would like the work to be installed at a specified location.

This work featured as part of my third year recital, Threads / Hallucinations. I had the idea to try and use pre-recorded sounds and manipulate and spatialise these live from listening to the fantastic works of Bernard Parmegiani, who composes his works in the studio and then performs them by re-arranging and diffusing these live. This work was designed for eight speaker array and features custom panning software adapted from Tim Place’s 8spatialiser.

The sounds used include -
water dripping
bubbles in a sink
rain falling on ground
processed drum samples
computer generated electronic tones
an ambient recording of a park (water, birds, people)
scraping and friction sounds of found objects
a bell tone
bowed guitar
wind up toy

The patch for this work basically has six sfplay objects which basically just read the files from the beginning at normal speed. It also has 4 banks of rapid file players which read in the forward or backwards direction, can create dense textures and “splash” sounds around the eight speaker array. Each of these is loaded with a different sound file.
Once the files are played back they can be passed through a number of effects and processes – multiband spatialisation, eight head tape delay, reverb with different panning. Each sound file also takes it’s own panning module.

My main focus with this work was to heavily concentrate on the spatialisation aspect and begin to question the arrangement of the sounds in the space. There is essentially no looping (a part from the delay module) which is refreshing. I took all the concerns about timbre and sound sources out of the question and replaced them with a focus on which sounds which interact with each other, layers of rhythms and narrative structures that juxtapose and suggest multiple lines at once.

Paths Cross in Draped Veins (10.06)

paths-cross-in-draped-veins.mp3

Stretched Limb from Light is a composition for clarinet and live laptop processing. It has been in progress since mid 2008, with the most recent performance at my recital – Threads / Hallucinations in November 2009. Both clarinet and laptop read from a score, with the live clarinet notes being extended and altered by the computer processing. This sound is projected among an eight speaker array, creating layers of harmonies which occupy different spaces within the performance space.

The computer part uses a custom max/MSP patch which is capable of recording samples and using them as a source for granular synthesis, creating textures of constant sound or tiny particles, irrespective of the rhythm of the original sound. The patch also features an eight channel a-rhythmical delay, a pitch following sine tone generator, pitch shifting and eight channel panning algorithms. The audio is routed using a matrix to control inputs to recording and dry / synthesised signal paths.

Stretched Limb from Light (stereo recording) (5.48)

stretched-limb-from-light.mp3

Hello! I am very very bad at updating a blog regularly so I have decided that after it is all done I will do a series of non-linear posts about the trip. This way I can make up for losing my camera, not remembering things correctly and maybe somehow describe the overall trip and how it has been a crazy weird surreal experience. A little

Hello all! Taking time to chill out in Osaka, and I remembered that this review was published on resonate a few days ago.

http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/black-drapes-white-shoes-pink-ink-blots-waapa-music-technology-graduates

” Each of Tan’s five works this evening were composed to capitalise on his eight-speaker array, and to enable audience members to immerse themselves in the sonic space. The composer also sought to fuse together live electronic music and sound art installation, using acoustic and electronic input ”

” I enjoyed closing my eyes and becoming completely absorbed ”

” Converging red lines, pink and purple inkblots and fuzzy distorted particles were all clearly reflected in the accompanying soundtrack, which demonstrated Tan’s dedication, determination and skill in bringing this concept to its successful fruition ”

Many thanks to Kelly Curran who is definitely doing her best to encourage and promote new music, and can write a damn good piece of music. And congratulations to Ben and Cherie for all their hard work in getting the recital as good as it was.

Hello from Japan!

I have been in Tokyo for four days, and am now in Osaka. Show last night at Hokage went well! Everybody is really nice here. Hokage is an incredible venue, one small room with a very big PA and downstairs there is seating and incredibly cool bar.
I left my camera in Tokyo so I have no pictures just yet, they will be coming soon! People have been great so far, I am staying with Cuckoo from Psychedelic Desert who are a viscous free improv, guitar-drums-theremin outfit. I think I’ll be playing bass with them at the next couple of shows. Go Tsushima who also plays in the band has been really helpful with getting me shows, meeting me in Osaka and generally being a great guy. Thanks so much to Kouhei Harada, Go and Cuckoo who have been really generous so far.

I have given out a few CD’s so far to some record label people, other musicians, and anyone who has been interested in the sounds I am making. I am going to put the CD up for free download while I am over here. Please go to the music page and grab it while it’s free!

More updates soon!