Tag Archives: video

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Fixed and Fallen audio visualizer example

This is a demo of an audio visualizer I created in Flash called Fixed and Fallen. It can generate a kind of map of the overall rhythm and dynamics of a piece of music.

Every fraction of a second, the loudness of incoming sound is analyzed while a grid of colored circles is generated. The size and color of each circle is determined by the degree of loudness at the moment it is generated (large & red = loud; small & blue = quiet). The entire grid also pulsates in realtime in response to loudness. After a while, each fixed circle eventually falls or drifts off the screen.

I used an excerpt of Brian Eno’s “Ambient 1: Music for Airports” in this example because of its long stretches of quiet punctuated by piano notes.

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Running Wild music video

I recently co-directed a music video with officerfishdumplings. It’s for Running Wild from the album “You Will Be Rescued” by our band Odds of Survival. Digital download is available from bandcamp. Click the settings to view in fullscreen HD!

Editing & image processing by Shawn Feeney
Cameras by officerfishdumplings, Shawn Feeney, Cari Levay and Scott Roy
Thanks to Moncef Belyamani for the use of his camera

“Running Wild” written by Scott Roy
Produced and arranged by Odds of Survival:
Scott Roy (vocals, guitar)
Shawn Feeney (drums, vocals, vocal synth)
officerfishdumplings (guitar)
Altay Guvench (fiddle)

Mixed by Tyler Wood
Mastered by Joe Lambert

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The Adam “MCA” Yauch Memorial Jack-o-lantern

Adam Yauch (August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), MCA of The Beastie Boys, rapper, bassist, activist. In middle school, my friends and I would lip-sync every word to “Paul Revere.” In high school, Paul’s Boutique changed the way I thought about musical construction, and nothing was as satisfying to play on my bass guitar as MCA’s killer line from “Gratitude.” And in college, tracks from Hello Nasty were always in the air.

In addition to his musical pursuits, Adam founded the independent film company Oscilloscope Laboratories. Using the pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower, he directed many of the Beastie Boys’ videos. A practicing Buddhist, he supported the Tibetan independence movement. He succumbed to salivary gland cancer at age 47.

Thanks for the music MCA, and may we never rock the mic with the pantyhose.

See the time-lapse carving video here.

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Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise – Realization

I uploaded an electronic realization of Cornelius Cardew’s massive graphic score, Treatise, that I made back in 2002. Sine waves are generated from the black areas of the score as it scrolls from right to left, with the y-axis corresponding to pitch. An imaginary vertical line in the center of the screen is the “sounding membrane”. Cardew created Treatise in 1963-67. This fairly literal realization is fifteen minutes long, which you may find maddening or mesmerizing.

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The Dio Memorial Jack-o-lantern

The time has come for the annual Memorial Jack-o-lantern, commemorating an artist who has died since last Halloween (and I decided I’ll keep focusing on musical artists). Selected from the notables this year – including Vic Chestnutt, Alex Chilton, Guru, Hank Jones, and Eyedea – was Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), the consummate heavy metal vocalist. He was the voice of bands such as Elf, Rainbow, and his own eponymous group, Dio. Following the departure of Ozzy Osborne, he became the front man of Black Sabbath, always greeting the crowds with devil horn hands. Starting in 1979, Dio was involved with the organization Children of the Night, which is dedicated to rescuing America’s children from prostitution.

Thanks for the music Dio, and may we never settle for less than metal.

A time-lapse video of the carving is on the Memorial Jack-o-lanterns page.

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30 Second Science

Ariel Hart created a very cool animation about the buggy origins of alcohol using a song of mine called “Sunrise-Stained Porch”. The video is called 30 Second Science, check it out here.

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Drawing Mr. Tambourine Man – Video

A time-lapse video of my Mr. Tambourine Man drawing, of course referencing Mr. Bob Dylan. This drawing is part of the Musical Anatomy series, on display at CounterPULSE in San Franscico April 6-30. I’ll post more images to the site soon!