Bevor einer Umgebung ein Audiosignal sinnvoll hinzugefügt werden kann, müssen verschiedene Parameter berücksichtigt werden. Zu den Parametern zählen der vorhandene Schalldruckpegel und das Ergebnis einer Szenenanalyse. Um diese Informationen zu erhalten, muss vor Ort eine Aufnahme mit adäquatem Equipment durchgeführt werden. Die Aufnahmen müssen dann anschließend mit verschiedensten Programmen wie Ableton, Audacity und Matlab aufbereitet und analysiert werden. 

Ort: Augenklinik Uni-Klinik Graz 
Datum: 29.11.21 
Uhrzeit: 10:30 

Mit folgendem Equipment wurden vor Ort zwei Audiodateien aufgenommen: 
Mikrofon: Behringer ECM 8000 (omnidirektionales Kondensatormikrofon) 
Datenspeicher: Macbook Air 
Aufnahmeprogram: Ableton 
Interface: Steinberg UR 22 
Schalldruck-Kalibrator: Cirrus 1kHz Calibrator (Research plc) 

Am Anfang beider Aufnahmen wurde das Gerät mit einem Sinuston von 94dB im Aufnahmeprogramm auf -26dB kalibriert. Danach wurde im Gebäudeinneren eine 15-minütige und eine 20-minütige Aufnahme im Außenbereich durchgeführt. Diese Aufnahmen werden in den nächsten Wochen analysiert. Diese dienen dann als Grundlage für die Gestaltung der Audiosignale.  

Wie schon in den vorherigen Blogeinträgen angesprochen, müssen für die Gestaltung der Audio für das Leitsystem z.B. die akustischen Eigenschaften der Location und die Bedürfnisse der besuchenden Menschen berücksichtigt werden. An der Universitätsklinik für Augenheilkunde in Graz werden Menschen mit Sehbehinderungen behandelt. Also muss bei der Konzeption der Audiodatei der Umstand der Patienten eine wesentliche Rolle spielen.

It is well known that the reception of auditory stimuli plays a very important role in the functioning of people with visual impairment. Hearing is of paramount importance for the spatial orientation of blind people. (Mlynxki/ Kozlowski/ Adamczyk, 2021, S.1)

Ideen für die Sonification:

Für den Sound Icon wird eine Übersetzung der Brailleschrift angedacht. Hierbei wird der ersten und zweiten vertikalen Reihe ein Akkord zugeteilt. Zudem bekommt jeder Punkt einen Ton. Die Vertrautheit der Sehbeeinträchtigten mit der Brailleschrift könnte bei der Rezeption der Audiodateien ein Vorteil für die Patienten sein.

In den nächsten Wochen soll die Funktion und die Umsetzbarkeit unter Berücksichtigung aller anderen Rahmenbedingungen evaluiert werden.

Quellen:  Mlynxki/ Kozlowski/ Adamczyk, 2021,  S.1, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052630

During my research on Google Scholar, I came upon the following journal article called “The Electric Guitar: An Augmented Instrument and a Tool for Musical Composition”. I found the content of this article highly inspiring since it deals with the history of sonic augmentation of the electric guitar and is thus also highly relevant for my project (which, of course, also seeks to extend the range of sound possibilities of an electric guitar).

According to Lähdeoja, Navarret, Quintans and Sedes, the electric guitar can be considered a highly augmented instrument in itself since it is basically an acoustic guitar whose sonic possibilities were and still are extended by electromechanical and digital means. Obviously, at the beginning of the electric guitar stands the acoustic guitar since – as far as the basic physical qualities are concerned – an electric guitar is very much based upon an acoustic: (physical) features such as metallic strings, a glued or screwed neck, strengthened with a truss rod, tone woods (maple or mahogany necks with a maple, rosewood or ebony fingerboard) as well as metallic frets and a chromatic scale were all transferred from the acoustic onto the electric guitar. However, with the invention of the solid body a new era began, introducing a major extension of sonic capabilities through electric technologies of amplification. With an electric guitar, the actual sound source of the acoustic guitar becomes part of an electro-acoustic chain that additionally comprises a range of analog and/or digital modules that are necessary for producing sound, thus giving the electric guitar a modular property. Of course, the electrification of the guitar sparked a whole new way of thinking and creating sounds, leading to the development of new playing techniques.

While “the electrification of the guitar is probably the most important modification the instrument has undergone in the twentieth century”, the instrument and its sound possibilities continued to be intensely advanced in the following decades, with the developments driven by guitarists, instrument makers and the requirements of different musical styles. The afore mentioned modularity of the electric guitar that includes the selection of tone woods, pick-ups, amplifiers, effect chains, etc. provides the guitarist/musician with a lot of freedom as far as customizability is concerned. However, it is the case with every instrument that along with the increase of sonic possibilities and corresponding control interfaces, playing the instrument gets more and more complex as well, potentially overburdening the musician’s (physical) capabilities. In order to avoid the latter, most control interfaces for electric guitar have been conceived with simplicity in mind, featuring relatively simple controls and traditionally being conveniently placed within the guitarist’s reach (e.g. an effect pedal that is (dis)activated by stepping on it). While serving its purpose of not overburdening the player, Lähdeoja, Navarret, Quintans and Sedes observe that this approach limits the possibilities for dynamic, real-time interaction with controls which leads to a status they describe as the “sonic stasis common in electric guitar playing: the player chooses a specific sound for a musical part with “on/off” effect switches, playing with the same timbre until the next “monolithic” modification”.

I think this latter notion is very interesting because it justifies my quest to identify ways of extending the sonic range of an electric guitar using only the natural movements of the player as an input source for effects. While the article states that there is currently research being done on this topic, I think that I can still add to the current research with my project and its outcomes.

Source:

Lähdeoja O., Navarret B., Quintans S., Sedes A. (2010). The Electric Guitar: An Augmented Instrument and a Tool for Musical Composition. Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies, 4(2), 37-54. 10.4407/jims.2010.11.003

Good News: Conducting thorough research, concerning extended guitar sound possibilities, during the month of November allowed me to further specify my project idea “Extended Guitar Performance”. By firstly discerning what has already been done in this area of musical research, I identified several commercials products (see the MIDI rings in Blog #6) as well as custom-made products (e.g. Blog #9 + Blog #10) that all deal with movement and/or gesture-controlled extension of guitar sounds. However, I also found that the bulk of these “gadgets” require the guitar player to move his body and hands in certain ways to specifically trigger the sensors built within the gadget. Consequently, the guitarist often needs to interrupt his natural playing movements in order to wave is hand for example. I saw this for myself when I tried to keep playing guitar in the usual way while incorporating special hand movements to trigger hypothetical sensors (having not built anything yet) – it proved to be almost impossible to maintain a typical rock groove for instance much less playing lead.

That is why I thought that it would be even better if one could extend a guitar’s sonic possibilities while at the same time not compromising the usual way people play guitar. Based on this notion, I decided to try finding a non-evasive way, restricting my idea to only using natural movements of a guitarist to trigger sensors in order to extend guitar sound possibilities.

Consequently, some changes to my previous idea will be made:

I will abandon the idea of attaching (accelerometer) sensors to the guitar body to pick up its movements because moving in a certain way again is not part of the natural movements of a guitarist.

Instead, I will focus on the “Solo Mode” effect, described in Blog #8, and effects based on the same concept since this kind of system allows the guitar player to move up and down the neck with effects adapting automatically to the fret position. During this week’s consultation session, I brought this idea before my supervisor, and he recommended looking into ultrasonic or infrared sensors to locate/pinpoint the left hand along the neck. This will, of course, be done. Furthermore, my supervisor also saw the possibility of using this system beyond switching from rhythm to lead sound. Additionally, one could define certain areas/positions on the fretboard that each give a slightly different sound, allowing the guitarist to change is sound according to fret position.

I will also further pursue the idea of placing an IMU type of sensor on the pick to pick up the natural strumming and picking movements of the guitarist. Here, it would have been practical to resort to one of the MIDI rings which are, however, quite expensive. At the moment, a custom setup is hence favoured.

Naturally, I will also continue to analyse a guitarist’s natural body and hand movements in order to come up with additional ways to harness them as an input source for guitar effects.

Lastly, upon the recommendation of my supervisor, I will not yet fully discard the possibility of using MIDI pick-ups. During my research I stumbled upon the Fishman Triple Play, a hexaphonic pick-up, capable of picking up the pitch of each string separately and converting it to MIDI data. Albeit coming with a huge price tag (300€ on Thomann), the pick-up constitutes another possibility of adding to a guitar’s sound potential without compromising the player’s usual movements. This will be given further thought.

Sources:

https://www.thomann.de/at/fishman_triple_play.htm