Carol Chiu | Winter Paper 2009
Working Title: Plunderphonics
In this short essay, I attempt to explain how I arrived at my proposed thesis product. It includes pointing out my weakness, addressing these problematic areas, precedents, development of thesis, my contribution to society, target audience, and proposed production plan.
First of all, I will address two personal weaknesses. The first weakness is over sensitivity to criticism. This means every time I present and receive feedback, I want to restructure my thesis concept. An example, over winter break, I presented my project to family members who work in the medical industry. They showed major concerned my thesis project does not solve problems and suggested me to connect the work to my personal sleeping problem. I created a larger problem by taking this suggestion when none of my prototypes clearly address sleeping disorders. The solution I propose to myself is to not show unaccomplished thesis work and remove the therapy and sleep disorder out of the equation.
The second weakness is my speech, writing, and prototypes lack an overall cohesive clarity. This means after I present, my speech and prototype can be confusing for others to understand. To address this problem, I visit the University writing tutor on once a week. The tutor corrects my grammar and probes questions that help me clarify thoughts. To address the presentation problem I present to my peers while recording myself. This way, others can point out what is unclear and I become more confident to present.
Moving onto thesis content, it begins with my accessibility to record at home. It is easy to contribute a variety of audio content, but amongst scholars, who has made significant contribution to the academic world yet inspires me personally? My most influential precedent artist and DJ include: John Oswald and DJ Shadow.
The introduction of John Oswald's essay titled Plunderphonics published 1985, "Musical instruments produce sounds. Composers produce music. Musical instruments reproduce music. Tape recorders, radios, disc players, etc., reproduce sound. A device such as a wind-up music box produces sound and reproduces music. A phonograph in the hands of a hip hop/scratch artist who plays a record like an electronic washboard with a phonographic needle as a plectrum, produces sounds which are unique and not reproduced - the record player becomes a musical instrument… in effect reducing a distinction manifested by copyright." My thesis work supports this quote.
Most plunderphonics artists argue this art is the practice of fair doctrine. This means if I, as a plunderphonic DJ, sample other works, I am entitled to credit the samples for scholarship and academic review. A question I attempt to answer through my experience at Parsons Design, what is the contribution of knowledge to the larger picture? And how does my work progress the arts?
One of my previous audio mash up titled, "It's So Cold Outside, Lets Dance Inside" are mash up dance beats layered under pop artists vocal Britney Spears, Rihanna, and Janet Jackson. I did myself a mistake by programming visuals to this dance mash up and turning it into a youtube video. This semester I realize it would be unwise to program visuals to audio data because my strength is audio production. My focus this semester plunders only audio because the user experience should be moved by sound, not sight. This audio mash up experiment attempts to progress the arts but fails because with 455 views, not one comment is made. This comment-less failure sharpens the goal. The audio works produced must be catalysts for comments and conversations from audiences. Which is why it is important to release my audio works through sound based platforms.
If the turntable can be seen as a musical instrument, while playing copyright media, how does the DJ play the turntable to create a new composition of the past? I respond, as a turntablist [1] by manipulating the rate of the audio playback, this reduces the original distinction. The sound of forward and backward audio media is known as scratching the record. For the past twenty years, turntablists [1] challenge the definition of an instrument. Turntablists [1] and DJs recycle past audio media and form new compositions. This forces the listener to hear the past as if it is new again. The process of mashing up media intrigues me because the new sequence is the new meaning. Reviving the old gives the audience a new way of listening. Click here to view a past experiment titled Gangsta scratch feature Snoop Dogg and Larry King. This work progresses the art form of plunderphonics because the time code vinyl [2] can be programmed to playback digital audio files. Where as traditional vinyl is constant analog signal. By embedding time code in vinyl, it can play the audio files from personal laptops, thus allowing an infinite selection of audio samples.
I propose that I create a pod cast show where I exercise the fair doctrine through this method of plunderphonics. The technology is Ms. Pinky time code vinyl, which is a third party of MAX MSP Jitter. The show format is plundering the most popular voices on TV, film and internet. Some of these TV celebrities include: Judge Judy, Hank Hill, Barak Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Chappelle, Kat Williams, Margret Cho, Cartman & Butters, Beavis and Butthead, Rosie O Donnell and Homer Simpson. The internet plunder include rising internet celebrities: Tay Zonday, Grape Lady, talking dogs, angry cat, Boxxy, Leave Britney alone Chris Crocker, and Keeping Your Fridge Stock Gets Many Woman by Mr. Chi city. I aim to create a cohesive dialogue while layering over hip-hop beats. This goal progresses the art form of plunderphonics by reproducing copyright and popular media sounds.
What is the target audience? The target audience is known as the “bored at work network.” This network is driven by a work force who hold a standard schedule 9am to 5pm. They are described as mature responsible adults, but there are times when boredom surfaces in the office. Trapped in this moment of boredom, they seek to pass time by entertaining themselves online. This audience tends to be aware of popular culture and use keywords to search for entertainment. Fully understanding and strategically applying keywords will help generate an audience to follow my project.
What media format is best for releasing audio mash ups? My proposal steers back to the technology of pod casting. The advantages of pod casting are control, choice, and convenience. The user has control to turn on/off and adjust the volume. Also the user can create their own selection and most of all, it is convenient to add into one's portable music player. I plan to share my work by pod casting and marketing these pod casts.
Production Time Line:
Feb 2: List audio media, write a few pages explaining why I select the audio samples, sign up for open scratch session at Scratch Academy, clarify how I plan to release the pod cast by writing a few pages
Feb 9: Produce / plunder these audio media and record, play back this audio media for peers at Parsons, thesis advisor, and DJ peers at Scratch Academy, collect feedback
Feb 16: Release last weeks work through pod cast and market it through social networks including facebook, twitter, and other blogs
Feb 23: List audio media, write few pages explaining why I select the audio samples, practice/record scratching these audio samples at Scratch Academy, collect feedback
March 2: Release last weeks work through pod cast and market it
March 9: Write few pages explaining results, explain how my work supports my thesis and it’s contribution to other bodies of work
March 16: List audio media, write few pages explaining why I select these audio samples, practice and record these audio samples at Scratch Academy, collect feedback
March 23: Spring break – market pod casts and website
April 6: Network, socialize at events and venues where I can perform and demo plunderphonics
April 13: Network, socialize at events and venues where I can perform and demo plunderphonics
April 20: Network, socialize at events and venues where I can perform and demo plunderphonics
April 27: Prepare for peer review
May 4: Finals
Notes:
[1] Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer
[2] Ms Pinky's vinyl records contain special signals meant for the "ears" of a computer. As the needle traces the groove, Ms Pinky's software listens to the sound coming from the record player and calculates instantly the velocity, direction, and physical position of the needle on the surface of the record.
[3] Just in time (JIT) is an inventory strategy implemented to improve the return on investment of a business by reducing in-process inventory and its associated carrying costs
