Experimental music artist Graham Dunning plays with how music can be created through a mix of found objects and sound experiments. In Mechanical Techno Demonstration, he rigs up multiple layers of sound-making interactions on a turntable. From his site:
Several looping records spin on the same axle, ensuring they stay approximately in time with each other. I layer up locked groove records, audio triggers to analogue sytnhs, mechanically played percussion such as a cowbell or a cymbal, and mechanically triggered drum machines…
The technique is inherently clumsy and delicate, leading to frequent and multiple mistakes and accidents. The chance elements and unpredictable aspects lead to compositions I would never think to deliberately make.
You can see many of his “sketches” of the experiments in shorter clips on his YouTube channel. Check out his automatic cowbell:
Brutal autoreturn, in which a weight on the record knocks the tonearm back to an earlier part of the recording:
This laser cut plywood contact/stylus creates different rhythms over different patterns of adhesive copper on a record:
And in this one, entitled Music by the Metre, Dunning’s mix of contraptions make more of an irregular yet jazzy sound:
On this site, enjoy CYMATICS: Science + music = audio frequency visualizations, Hit the Beat: A drum machine sound experiment, Beat Blox, and an easy-at-home audio exploration: Lullatone’s Experiments Around the House.Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.