Thanks for Listening is a live coding performance, a process created by a body, cables, a midi device, a microphone, a sound card, Sonic Pi, speakers, memories,desires, discomforts and vulnerability.
The urgency that nourished this project were questions such as:
How do we embody gender by the ways we use our voices? How gender binary categorises bodies depending on their vocal frequency behaviour?
How sound production and instruments when located in cis-heteronormative spaces potentially amplify biases?
Or how can they strengthen reparative processes for those bodies marked by gender?
In this performance, I position my body as an extension of sound and sound technology.
I create voice through my phonatory system, which gets modulated in controllable and uncontrollable ways.
A midi controller which receives data from a live coding software is pitching, stretching and looping the voice through knobs, faders and buttons.
#heyy can you hear me?
#do I reach you?
#do I wanna reach you?
#do you want to be reached by me?
#I am so happy that you are here tonight
#I am so happy that you came here to listen to me
#Thank you, thank you so much
#I would like to be bigger
#i don't know what to do with all this energy
#i was taught to be scared of it
#I am a small creature
#Trapped inseid a eh eh ehe eh eh eh... body
#What do you think?
#What do you think of me?
#They wanted to put my head into the ground
#They didn't want us! They don't want us!
#I can stay in the corner and observe
#I can stay I can open my ears and listen
#We have learnt to hide
#It's hard to not be recognised
#It's like you don't exist, but you exist hahaha
#You have a body
#I like to adapt A LOT that's what i do in life
#I just adapt my voice
#What ? What ? Whaat? What the fuck is this?
#STOP STOP STOOOOP
#What do you do usually? Do you adapt? Do you resist? Do you fight?
#DO you fly? Do you stay??
#i want to be regulated
#i want ot be filtered
#How do you filter what you hear?
#FILTER MEEEEE
#but did this even happen this way?
#Did she say this did she love me or i don't know
#I wanna go in the corner and suck my thumb
#do i need to be stronger?
#do i need to be oversized?
#do i need to shrink?
#do i need to be something more?
#do i need to be something less?
#do i need to stand out? maybe
#is that ok?
#i am sorry, don't leave me
#thank you i love you
#thank you that you came to listen to me
#adding amplitude level
with_fx :level do |le|
#adding low pass filter
with_fx :lpf, mix: 0 do |l|
#adding pitch shifter
with_fx :pitch_shift, pitch_dis: 0.001 do |p|
#adding echo
with_fx :echo, pre_mix: 0, decay: 2 do |e|
#adding reverb
with_fx :reverb, pre_mix: 1, room: 1 do |r|
#for latency prevention
use_real_time
#inserting the microphone to the system
live_audio :mic
#a live_loop for mapping the midi faders, buttons and knobs with the above effects
live_loop :process do
#for latency prevention
use_real_time
#the variables cc and val are syncronised with the midi machine i use
cc, val = sync "/midi:5-_zero_mkii_0:1/control_change"
#the numbers that cc corresponds with are the different faders, knobs buttons
if cc == 23
control le, amp: val / 127.0
end
if cc == 24
if cc > 63.5
control p, pitch: (val - 63.5) / 1.7
else
control p, pitch: (-val + 63.5) / 6
end
end
if cc == 25
control e, pre_mix: val / 127
end
if cc == 26
control e, phase: val * 0.1 + 0.000001
end
if cc == 73
control e, decay: val / 5 + 0.000001
end
if cc == 75
control r, pre_mix: val / 127
end
if cc == 70
control r, room: val / 127
end
if cc == 20
control l, cutoff: val
end
if cc == 14
control l, mix: val /127.0
end
#create a buffer of 10 seconds
if cc == 77
with_fx :record, buffer: [:voice,10] do
print "record recording"
use_real_time
live_audio :mic1
end
end
#play the buffer
if cc == 95
#print "play recording"
sample buffer[:voice,10]
end
#small stretch of the buffer
if cc == 7
control sample buffer[:voice,10], rate: val * 0.1 + 0.000001
end
#bigger stretch of the buffer
if cc == 10
control sample buffer[:voice,10], rate: val + 0.000001
end
#reverse stretch of the buffer
if cc == 22
control sample buffer[:voice,10], rate: -val * 0.1 + 0.000001
end
#create a buffer of 100 seconds
if cc == 82
with_fx :record, buffer: [:voice2,100] do
print "record recording"
use_real_time
live_audio :mic1
end
end
#play the buffer
if cc == 83
print "play recording"
sample buffer[:voice2,100]
end
#small stretch of the buffer
if cc == 74
control sample buffer[:voice2,100], rate: val * 0.1 + 0.000001
end
#bigger stretch of the buffer
if cc == 71
control sample buffer[:voice2,100], rate: val + 0.000001
end
#reverse stretch of the buffer
if cc == 85
control sample buffer[:voice2,100], rate: -val * 0.1 + 0.000001
end
end
end
end
end
end
end
#creating a second channel for my voice.
#this one is for the moments that i want the signal created by my vocal chords to be as not altered as possible
with_fx :level do |le3|
with_fx :pitch_shift, pitch_dis: 0.001 do |p1|
live_loop :process2 do
use_real_time
cc, val = sync "/midi:5-_zero_mkii_0:1/control_change"
if cc == 72
control le3, amp: val / 127.0
end
if cc == 92 and val == 0
use_real_time
live_audio :mic3
end
if cc == 92 and val == 127
kill live_audio :mic3
end
if cc == 19
if cc > 63.5
control p1, pitch: (val - 63.5) / 1.7
else
control p1, pitch: (-val + 63.5) / 6
end
end
end
end
end