Freesound Forums

Hi there

I would like to ask you to do a little action for me at ur home, if you want and have the time.

Instructions (3 steps)

1- Download this sound http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=18616

2- Place it on ur portable mp3 player, cd player, etc... go to the shower and play the sound there

3- send me an email to (plagasul at gmail dot com) with your name, date, time and location of the action.

Easy!

So, if u feel like, please do it and send me the email, and if u feel like, invite ur friends to do it too.
Thank you very very much for your help.

May I ask why you want people to do this?

*smile* which glorious idea - the big showerpower ...cu

tro

Halleck
May I ask why you want people to do this?

Sorry for taking this much time to reply, i didn't see it before.

I research on sound and arts. Being "arts" a bag.word, that you can fill with mostly anything.

I am doing some works conducted by email and other forms of internet communication, where i ask people to do certain things related to sound (sometimes not related to sound)

This one didn't get people's attention, it was misunderstood, some people believed that they had to play the sound while they shower,... wich is actually interesting too. Having to register in freesound to download the sound was a problem for non-freesounders too.

Most of the interest of the thing , for me, is in the simulacre, the repetition and the multiplication of the object.

Imagine you make a field-recording , from your window, then you upload it, then we all download it, then we put our speakers right on our window and we play the sound of your window on our window.

If we do that , various things happen. First, there is a multiplication of the object, the sound of ur window, then there is some sort of multi-displacement of that source sound, then there is a substitution or simulation performed by making my(our) window(s) sound like yours.

You know, like live music playback.

Something in the same simulation line would be to go to the zoo, take off the lion of it's cage and replace it by a recording of the sound he produces. So, when you take your son to see the lion, there is no lion, but you can approach ur ear and listen to it's grrs his steps his roars, like he was there.

As i said, some people misunderstood the thing and believed they had to play the sound of the shower in top of them taking a real shower, and that's cool, it's like a playback in top of the real thing.

Imagine now we don't take the lion out of the cage, but we record it's sound and loop it on top of the real lion.

On a similar line, imagine we record the noise produced by one thousand parrots and then we reproduce that sound on a cage where there is only one parrot. Can you make the image in ur mind ? imagine the cage , with a parrot, in a room, and the sound of thousands of them coming from that cage ?

I was trying to give a different use to Freesound. Is it greatly interesting the possibilities it gives, not only as a sound source, but as an organic system, built upon a community.

I mentioned the "multiplication of the object", what i am talking about is the reproductibility of the digital sound. It's a very contemporary subject of discussion, u know, CreativeCommons, Copyleft, the presence of technology gives to the masses the possibility of copying, duplicating and spreading any kind of digitalized "object".

Freesound is right in the frontline of this subject, we unite in one project: the power of worldwide internet based networking, a non commercial effort, a database of digitalized sounds that can be streamed-downloaded-duplicated-modified-reshared etc

Reproductible media displaces the power from the elite to the mass, is somewhat of a "democratic" medium. Just like the invention of photography and (later) cinema (confronted to painting as a reproductible medium confronted to a unique hard-to-reproduce medium) produced a displacement of the authority from the elite to the mass. What i am saying can be easily understood by looking around: the most popular mediums of the masses are video/tv/cinema, photography and music. Mostly everyone haves a certain oppinion on the music, cinema, photos (s)he likes, and there is a big production on all that mediums, wich is popular oriented, produced for the mass, following the oppinion and interests of that mass . On the other hand, painting has always been a matter of an elite, academicists, art authorities and intellectuals. The penetration of painting on the masses is not as profound as with the other mediums commented.

Production of painting is still quite expensive and time consuming, while u can photoshop something in 5 minutes, or sequence some fun stuff quick with a copy of a music software u got from a friend, or buy a cheapo digital camera and fill ur flickr with pics that u'll show to ur friends.

The tools for producing, reproducing, copying and distributing digital image, sound or video are available to most of us. That's one big reason for the triumph of that practices.

You know, Flickr, Youtube, Freesound/CCmixter/Netlabels on one side, and all the whole "illegal downloading" pack on the other side, copying and distribution of all kind of media trough peertopeers.

Even software is a bit like this, with the only problem that one needs quite some knowledge to create software, wich stills makes its democratization a bit hard. It's production is not that popular (but there are many DIY not-so-elitist possibilities PureData, PlogueBidule, MaxMSP, Audiomulch, Synthedit, Reaktor, or even a more general one for children like the amazing Squeak) But on the other hand the demand on software, and it's popular USE (not production), ended up with GNU-like, OpenSource initiatives, where the elite free the product, and the masses adopt and replicate it/distribute it, but that's another story, and i am not the mosst indicated to explain it.

The basics of this ideas i am talking bout, were presented by Walter Benjamin on that text called "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction"

Here:
http://www.efn.org/~dredmond/ReproducibilityTrans.html

Or Here:
http://bid.berkeley.edu/bidclass/readings/benjamin.html

On the other hand, we have the repetition. I do propose somewhat of a performance (like this shower in the shower) that can be reproduced by many people, in many places, with tools that most of us have at home, but this is not really an object, as a photo, is an action, so it can't be reproduced but repeated

On repetition, someone (i don't remember who, philosophist) said that repeating is remembering forward, or as in positive, confronted to remembering wich is in some way a negative, backwards repetition. One is productive, produces experience, the other does not. To repeat is to experience again, to do, to (re)construct.

I don't believe in creativity as in things coming out of the blue, but as in recombinations of what we've been learning since we were born. We are not creators, but recombinators. This change of point of view is a change also on the supposed source of the creativity.

If we create from nothing, then our ability to create comes from some sort of a mystic place... the creator as in God, the master creator. It makes no sense to think on a god that remixes stuff that was there before him(her)self. The figure of the recombinator, the remixer, the dj, the plunderphonic, is less mystical, divine, than the figure of the creator, the genius, the unique. The power of the unique creator comes from upstairs, it's some sort of a possesion, the artist possesed by the devil or the muses. This is somewhat of a platonic idea, the artist: an illuminated that is connected with the TRUTH.

If creating means "repeating" or "recombinating", then we can't create without the other, there is not a high power that validates our magic creating powers, there is a society from wich we learn and a mass of information that circulates trough it. The source is at the same level than the recombinator. It's more democratic, it consideers that nothing can be possible without the previous existence of other things, then, none of our ideas could be possible without part of the ideas that appeared before us, and that we learned, so, we need the others, and our ideas exist because the ideas of others existed In this scenario is much more difficult to justify "intellectual property".

So, again, what i am asking for is a repeteable action, that can be done by mostly anyone reading this forum, using a CC sound, and working around the idea of simulation, fiction, or even augmented reality.

And i think it's fun to do something unexpected from time to time, you know, to play again, to remember positively the times when we were children by repeating it.

Maybe i don't really answer your question but, i just keep doing stuff i believe can take somewhere, following my intuition. This stuff uses to have to do with things i am learning or thinking about, and playing.

Thank you for reading.

Btw, feedback, comments etc. on the subject would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much.

Take care.

Hi plagasul. I've just read your post and I like your ideas about freesound's new uses, reproductible media and such.
I like the idea of the shower, although I must confess I also misunderstood it the first time. I somehow imagined you wanted people to play the shower sound while taking a shower and simultaneously recording the whole thing, then passing the recording to other people who would add their own shower sound to the sum. At the end it would be like taking a shower with hundreds of parrots in a cage. :wink:

Talking about "displaced sounds", wich is the part I am most interested in, I'd like to do a little experiment (maybe it's silly. Maybe it's been done hundreds of times, I don't know. It's just an idea):

I'd like to record someone doing some routine action (washing dishes, or getting out of home, or taking the garbage to the container, etc. whatever) and upload those sounds. Then, the idea is to download and listen to the sounds while performing the same actions.
It would be like pretending you are someone else. "stealing" or spying a small part of someone's life. Or just hearing how does people life sound like, trying to imagine those places, people, etc. I don't know, I just would like to try.
For instance, I live in a really small town. It would be cool to walk the street at night (usually nobody there) hearing the traffic of a big city. Or vice-versa.

Anyway, I agree with you about the need for others in order to create. Maybe I'm trying the shower thing tonite...

Interesting read Plagasul, and an interesting experiment indeed. Your ideas and those of Bebops make me recall a somehow similar experiment done by Neurosis on the 'A Sun That Never Sets' DVD. They recorded the album on tape, replayed it in an empty room, recorded that sound again on tape, replayed in the same room... repeating this process thirty times. The end result is - what they call - the essence of the creation, pure distorted harmonics.
Now, borrowing on Bebops idea, wouldn't it be great if we could make a chain of recordings with a user downloading the sound, playing it in his or her bathroom, rerecording it, uploading it to Freesound and then having the process repeated by someone else? After 50 or so recordings you end up with... what? Something very strange that has been in many bathrooms around the world! It can show the power of recreation rather than bland (identical) copying.

Well, just my thoughts on this (interesting) subject.

- LG

Hi there, thanks you two for ur comments, let me reply them:

Bebops

to play the shower sound while taking a shower and simultaneously recording the whole thing, then passing the recording to other people who would add their own shower sound to the sum

This could be nice. Could be done.

I'd like to record someone doing some routine action (washing dishes, or getting out of home, or taking the garbage to the container, etc. whatever) and upload those sounds. Then, the idea is to download and listen to the sounds while performing the same actions.

This i like a lot and i say, go for it!! do you have recording equipment? man... do u live in Girona, jo soc de Barcelona , ok but better not talk Catalan here, others won't understand. If you have the equipment, go for it, record ur walks or any other action, and i will walk with your sound, or sleep, or was dishes,(have sex? jeje) . Maybe others can repeat the process and we can collect a series of emails that state the names, places and times when the thing was done.

Let's get started ?

LG

wouldn't it be great if we could make a chain of recordings with a user downloading the sound, playing it in his or her bathroom, rerecording it, uploading it to Freesound and then having the process repeated by someone else?

I'm totally up for this too, it resembles Alvin Lucier's - I am sitting on a room performance, check wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Lucier#I_Am_Sitting_In_A_Room

If you want to start it, we can start a post and start the chain.

Anyone else interested on Bebops and LG proposals ?

Take care.

Hi Plagasul - ok, good plan. I'll start and record your shower in my shower and upload it to Freesound, probably on Thursday or Friday. I'll let you know when it is uploaded. Should we start a seperate thread for this? Or just keep all announcements here?

And yes, I realised the Lucier-connection here but we can do something he (or Neurosis for that matter) couldn't do, namely sending it all around the globe. But yes, he is the inspirator for this.

- LG

plagasul

This i like a lot and i say, go for it!! do you have recording equipment?

plagasul

man... do u live in Girona, jo soc de Barcelona , ok but better not talk Catalan here, others won't understand.

plagasul

Maybe others can repeat the process and we can collect a series of emails that state the names, places and times when the thing was done.

plagasul

Let's get started ?

wouldn't it be great if we could make a chain of recordings with a user downloading the sound, playing it in his or her bathroom, rerecording it, uploading it to Freesound and then having the process repeated by someone else?

I'm totally up for this too, it resembles Alvin Lucier's - I am sitting on a room performance, check wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Lucier#I_Am_Sitting_In_A_Room

If you want to start it, we can start a post and start the chain.

Anyone else interested on Bebops and LG proposals ?

Take care.

I love this idea too! Count me in!

LG
Hi Plagasul - ok, good plan. I'll start and record your shower in my shower and upload it to Freesound, probably on Thursday or Friday. I'll let you know when it is uploaded. Should we start a seperate thread for this? Or just keep all announcements here?

And yes, I realised the Lucier-connection here but we can do something he (or Neurosis for that matter) couldn't do, namely sending it all around the globe. But yes, he is the inspirator for this.

- LG

Ok, once u upload it start a new thread explaining the process with a link to this thread and a link to the sound, and let's see if we can work it out, and there is interest.

bebops

Hola , well, i am waiting for the first sound, let's make it roll. If you can, start also a new thread explaining the thing. It would be nice if the first action is performed by many people on freesound, so.. if you record your walk, it would be nice that many of us do the same walk, and we collect forum posts or emails in this form:

"My name is Jaume, i walked listening to bebops walking, December 24 2006 at 21h, around the Gracia district in Barcelona"

If you want, just upload the sound and i take care of setting up a nice thread.

I am going to start various experiences like this one, and i am conducting some by email right now, if u bebops, and LG want, i can add u to my list. Yes ?

Thank you.

Anyone else interested in this experiences ? say something !

Let's give a new dimension to Freesound.

Take care

plagasul

Hola , well, i am waiting for the first sound, let's make it roll. If you can, start also a new thread explaining the thing. It would be nice if the first action is performed by many people on freesound, so.. if you record your walk, it would be nice that many of us do the same walk, and we collect forum posts or emails in this form:

"My name is Jaume, i walked listening to bebops walking, December 24 2006 at 21h, around the Gracia district in Barcelona"

ok, I'm on it.

plagasul

I am going to start various experiences like this one, and i am conducting some by email right now, if u bebops, and LG want, i can add u to my list. Yes ?

of course! please!
I've sent you my email by private message

wouldnt it be interesting to make a sound.... (not a recording!!!) wich is similair to an other sound... lets take the shower for example.... then do the same "experiment"...

i wonder if people would notice it isnt a real sound of a shower but something else(eg created out of white noise)

with this you create a surreal realness..... making a sound of something without making it on the it should have been maded...

thereby you are the creator of something that seems a copy.....

like a painting who wants to give you the idea you are looking at the real thing that the painter saw....

Wow, interesting stuff! I like the chain idea... It will be cool to follow this sound as it evolves (kind of like the infinite cat thing.)

I am going to start various experiences like this one, and i am conducting some by email right now, if u bebops, and LG want, i can add u to my list. Yes ?

Yes please, it is fun!

Recording of shower in the shower should be up somewhere tomorrow!

- LG

Sounds very nice!

Too late to join in?

Best regards, Morten, who would like to show the rest of the world what sleeping in copenhagen sounds like (for all the lonely people out there maybe? hmm).

By the way, im new here. Great initiative (in general), great forum and great samples...!

Hey

No, not late at all.

As far as i know we didn't start yet.

ok, what need yet to be done in order to start the experiments?

ok, what need yet to be done in order to start the experiments?

Well, wait until I've uploaded the first step...

Plagasul: sorry being absent and not recording the sound as promised. I just got married and the new wife and I were on holidays! Exepct the sound any time soon.

Ok, superr. (and many congratulations from here!)

I just got married and the new wife and I were on holidays! Exepct the sound any time soon.

Shower in the shower could take on a whole new dimension!