In this workshop we will be working on personal projects that are live audio-visual performances. We will be using using Ableton Live as a sound and data source, and will make it communicate with MaxMSP. We will be exploring advanced audio-analyzing strategies, and will be analyzing specific music data. Then we will be learning how to use this data to generate & alter visuals in a live performance context. This information will give an insight on how to use these kinds of setups for autonomous audio-reactive visuals and installations.
{ Day 1 } Introduction to main features of Ableton Live & MaxMSP software, including examples related to an audio-reactive visual system design. Preparation of a global liveset and a basic Jitter patch for starting communication.Soundflower & Jack inter-application audio-routing, MIDI Yoke & IAC Bus.
{ Day 2 } Designing small visuals systems in Jitter. Using pre-existing videos, webcam flow. Using 3D realtime rendering.
{ Day 3 } Generating and altering visuals: Using music data (MIDI, Tempo, OSC); extracting and using sound descriptors (centroid, frequency peaks, noisiness & much more).
{ Day 4 } Optimizing data & sound routing specifically for live performance.
{ Day 5 } Finalizing our systems and preparing for a small audiovisual performance.
{ Requirements }
Please bring your own laptop. Mac or PC.
We will give you more information about how to prepare your computer and which software to install a few weeks before the beginning of the workshop.
Apart from your laptop you will also need all of these:
– Headphones,
– Network cable (Cat 6 ethernet cable) + ethernet port on your computer,
– You are free to bring your own MIDI controller too.
Julien Bayle is also Ableton Certified Trainer. Each participant will receive a certificate signed by the trainer in the end of this workshop explaining that she/he attended his workshop.
{ Software }
MaxMSP is a software development framework using visual paradigm and runs on Mac and PC computers. It provides interactive programming and it is made for creating custom applications dealing with signals and sound, generating video and visuals and much more. From generating to processing, MaxMSP can handle any kind of data and can connect everything from data networks to sensors, DMX and any serial devices using USB (including Kinect). It offers a proper and stable environment in which one can map everything to everything. With all its features, MaxMSP is used by artists, sound and visual designers, researchers. It is one of the most used frameworks for designing custom systems for live performances, art installations, scientific prototyping, experimental environments and interactive applications.
{ ALPHA }
ALPHA is a live performance merging sound and visuals into a dense and immersive matter. Julien Bayle designed and composed the first version during the summer 2014 by using a very new creative process. Julien progressively grew music structures and designed the visuals generation system at the same time. The visual system analyses sound in real time and dynamically generates the elements and structures displayed on the screen during the performance. Artist created the sound analysis system in order to extract the meaningful elements from the sound at each moment of the performance, feeding the visual generator with information about the noisiness of the sound, its spectrum content and basic time-based data. The visual generator is a complex system I wanted to be able to react to the sound each time differently. Julien left room for chance (he is talking about “constrained chance”) as a part of the performance. There are no pre- recorded footages used in ALPHA, only 3D rendering, with the idea of producing and generating each time a new matter.
{ JULIEN BAYLE }
Julien Bayle is a multidisciplinary and independent artist based in France and working at the juncture of sound & visual. He merges visual art, music composition, physical approach of sound art and data visualization by creating advanced programmed installations and audio/visual live performances. He tries to address the question of disrupted continuum, interferences and representation of concepts by using physics of sound and error/artifact magnification. His work is based on both experimentations and programming, using concepts of complexity and chaos as guidelines. He depicts a world saturated by meaningless informations, societies complexity through a positive-nihilist kind of deconstruction of processes, structures and results.
He performed his audio-visual live performances in international festivals like ELEKTRA in Canada, or sound:frame in Austria and exhibited his work in galleries in Europe. Julien Bayle is also an art teacher and provides advanced technical courses about the place of technology in new media creation. He has been invited by different art schools in Europe. He co-leads the Bordille Records art label with François Larini, works closely with & records for Canadian imprint Yatra Arts and is also part of SHAPE Network during 2016.
