Nature by Numbers by Cristóbal Vila

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Even if you don't understand the math behind this, the visuals are incredible.  It's amazing how much math there is in nature.  Read more from the artist here.

One of my very first UX designs from 2007

I found this while reworking some of my portfolio things.  I built it in flash... this is probably one of the first user experience things I ever created.   And boy is it crappy... but the loops are fun!

Loops created using the RC20-XL Loop Pedal during 2007:

Balinese Gamelan Documentary

Here is a copy of a short documentary I helped make this past fall. It was created for a course on ritual and media at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It documents the 2010, November 7th Gamelan performance at IMIG music center.

Gamelan is the "why" of life, it is as important as food. I Made Lasmawan instructs the group as well as many other gamelans across Colorado and the US. This film was made in iMovie for simplicity and in collaboration with a group.






Check out the other documentary I made this year The 1996 Ute Mountain Ute Bear Dance.

Obligatory Nightime Exposure

Runaway

So long exposure shots at night are bread and butter for photography... for whatever reason.  This is a new take on the concept; these are exposure shots from an airplane of the city and runway lights at dusk.  You can click on the pictures for more detail.  Of course I turned off all electronics before takeoff...

Going up?

The Latchkey Kids lost album

Back in high school, me and my (still good) friends started a music project called the "Latchkey Kids".  We wrote a bunch of songs and played at a few venues, but we never did the serious recording we wanted to do.  We tried to organize sessions, but sometimes, its just hard to get it done.  Fortunately, our very first (acceptable) recordings turned out pretty good, if I say so myself.  They were tracked on a Boss BR-1180 before any of us knew what we were doing.  Anyways, have a listen... leave a comment (you can do it on the media player!)... Enjoy!



The songs we never finished... I think they still sound pretty good.

EJ Posselius - Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Piano
Mike Bedard - Guitar, Songwriting
Charlie Ballas - Guitar, Organ, Percussion
Jon Swihart - Guitar, Percussion
Carly Smith - Vocals (LnC)
Laura Stratton - Guitar/Vocals (LnC)

I also added a soundclip to Narcissus, a really interesting flute and electronics piece.

Audio for Narcissus

There is a lot more information about this performance in the original post.

Scoring for Film

Instead of adding this back to the Long Neck Big Heart post, I decided to make a new post about scoring for film.  During the performance, there is a stop-motion video that required music.  As the sound-designer for the show, I decided to try my hand at it.  There are many challenges to scoring for film.  You really have to understand what the picture is saying, and putting that to music is difficult.  This short piece is a dream about a man and his relationship with his blue robe.




The Beast of Dreams from EJ Posselius.

New Blog Direction for 2011

So I haven't been using this blog very effectively. I haven't been updating posts on time, and haven't been devoting enough time to my own projects. That said, I'm going to start posting more of my work in this blog on a frequent basis. (cross fingers). I signed up for a Vimeo account that allows 500 mb/week of video upload. So one of my goals is to meet that limit with quality video projects. I'll also be working on rounding out my portfolio, including adding more media to this blog.

Additionally, I'm going to experiment with sharing interesting articles and books I discover. Hopefully I can share some of the resources I've been able to take advantage of. Of course, I'll continue to talk about events and performances that I attend and am a part of.  I've also added a lot of media to past posts, so it may be worth going back to watch some videos, see some pictures, and listen to some samples.

Here's a little sample of more to come:





 Energy Force from EJ Posselius.

Useful Websites of 2010

Here some of the sites I frequented this past year... I thought I'd share them:

Flickr and Vimeo :: These have been a great way for me to share my pictures and video. Flickr needs to be paid for to have any real value, but Vimeo lets you upload 500/MB a week, which is enough for me for right now.

CreateDigitalMusic/CreateDigitalMotion :: These two blogs moderated by Peter Kirn are some of my favorite sources for cutting edge technology news. The articles are informed and and the comments are filled with educated discussions. Definitely check these out.

Make Blog :: This blog is amazing in that it updates very frequently, with some very interesting posts. There are a a number of very different topics covered that are worth checking out. My favorite is the Math Monday section.

HackADay :: This blog also updates frequently. The articles here are fairly technical, but have a lot of great ideas. As with any good info-blog, there are lots of pictures and videos.

Sparkfun :: A great (local - Colorado) resource for electronic components. Additionally, they have an excellent library of tutorials, weekly refreshing inventory, and really interesting contests.

Creativeapplications.net :: I just recently discovered this site, but they showcase a lot of very interesting applications and installations that have recently been developed. I wish they updated more frequently, but I still enjoy the pictures and video each contains.

FlowingData :: Data visualization is one of my recent interest, and this site provides a number of very interesting data representations. I have gotten a lot of inspiration from this site.

OpenProcessing.org :: This, albeit unorganized, site lets users show off their Processing patches to the ever-growing community. I particularly enjoy that users can share their source code, so there is much to be learned.

I have a degree in what...?

Go ahead... ask me. I can explain it to you, but the best way to understand it is to experience it. But that's the best part! Anyone can experience ethnomusicology, if they have some interest in learning about music and how we as humans interact with it. That is essentially what ethnomusicology is.  Now, who here doesn't like music? Moving on.

I graduated with a Bachelors in Ethnomusicology with certificates in Music and “Technology, Arts and Media” from the University of Colorado Boulder. While it took five years, I learned a lot during my progression from engineer to musician to technologist. At each step I learned a little more about how they are all related. What’s next?

I’m currently thinking about some graduate schools, as well as just jumping into the workforce. Either way, I am going to take a little time to clear my head from school and work on projects I’ve had to put off for so long now. Projects that will ultimately show up in this blog...

(Seriously if you want to know more about ethnomusicology, email me)

ATL&S Fall 10 Shows

 These were some of the most technically advanced shows to come through ATL&S in my time.  It was also my last semester here, and my skills were pushed to their limits.  In addition to my usual sound duties, I did a lot of projection work for many of the shows.

There are links to more information about each program.  There are pictures and information in the links.

2010.07.30-31 & 08.05-07

CU New Opera Workshop 

"Sister Carrie", "Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead", "Autumn Orchard" 

Leigh Holman, Andrew Metzroth, Hally Albers, Robert Aldridge, Herschel Garfein, Daniel Kellogg, J. Michael Martinez

  

2010.08.27-29

Dangerously Safe

Gemma Wilcox and Liz Barron, Betsy Tobin, Jessica Bynam, David Ortolano

2010.08.10

reConstruction

Ryan Wurst

2010.09.17-18 & 24-25

Disappear Here

Nathan Montgomery, Kim Olson, Ana Baer Carrillo, Jessica Bynam, David Ortolano

2010.10.03

Stockhausen Festival

Paul Miller, Bryan Wolf

2010.11.18

UNA

Katie Key's MFA Dance Thesis Performance

Kristin Dalleske, Autumn Bjustad, Rebecca Holley, Esmeralda Kundanis-Grow

2010.12.12

Bridging Imaginary Boundaries

real-time collaboration between CU, NYU, IUPUI

John Gunther, Synthia Payne, Cole Ingrahm

Bridging Imaginary Boundaries

Broadcast Station

Back in March, Synthia Payne and John Gunther organized a telematic music event "Memory and the Internet".  This was a collaboration between CU, NYU, and KAIST in Korea over Internet2.  Gunther and Payne returned this Fall for another installation of the event, "Bridging Imaginary Boundaries".  I feel these remote performances are truly on the cutting edge of music technology, so I was very excited to have another such collaboration.  For this version, we changed a few things, and collaborated with IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue at University of Indiana) as opposed to KAIST.