(Easy / Uncomplicated / Elemental) Electro-Acoustic Instrument Building – Vic Rawlings

Participants misused consumer-grade electronics to create electronic and electro-acoustic instruments.

Vic Rawlings is an improviser and instrument builder, specializing in modifications of existing instruments.

Circuit Twisting: DIY Physical Interfaces – David Nunez

Participants built their own Circuit Twisting Kit, a customizable assortment of electronic components to use for electronic instrumentation and other interfaces.

David Nunez is an art+technology designer and curates dorkbot-boston, a monthly gathering of people doing strange things with electricity.

DIY Contact Microphone – Laura Vitale

Each participant of this workshop build his or her own own contact microphone.

Laura Vitale is an artist living and working in New York City and a Fellow at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center.

Cassette Collage Experiment – Andrew Conner

Participants used handheld cassette tape recorders to exploring the urban environment. Each recorder had a specific assigned adjective and a 30 minute tape, and participants were asked to record sounds they thought best related to the adjective.

Andrew Conner is an artist living in Allston, MA.

Collective Improvisational Music Workshop – Bhob Rainey with Vic Rawlings

Bhob and Vic guided groups of sound hounds in collective improvisation. No musical background was required, just a willingness to work with others and to leave any preconceived notions about “music” behind.

Bhob Rainey is a composer, saxophonist, and electronic musician living in Cambridge, MA.

Internal Urban Landscapes – Sarah Yahm

Participants free-wrote some of the thoughts and fears they have as they navigate through cities, then created a multi-layered soundpiece reflecting the ways in which our thoughts repeat, loop, and interact.

Sarah Yahm is an independent radio producer, oral historian, and educator living in Burlington, VT.

Excerpt from her presentation:

Live?Die?Kill? – Karen Michel

On a live radio show at WMBR in Cambridge, Michel asked callers “In small towns, fishing streams, and cities: What do you live for? What would you die for? What would you kill for?”

Karen Michel is a radio producer living in upstate New York.

Listen to the full show:

Supplied by the Public – 31 Down Radio Theater

A telephone-to-radio system based on the work of Max Neuhaus. During the festival attendees called a 1-800 number to record comments, interviews, performances, or just shout-outs. These recordings were streamed on Internet radio.

31 Down creates audio-based performance work with a heavy emphasis on imagery and mood.

Ten-Thirty-One – Ann Heppermann & Kara Oehler

It’s a game. And it all starts with 10 sounds. The rules are this: 1) All 10 sounds must be used. 2) Participants had 30 minutes to edit. 2) The final product had to be 1 minute long.

Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler are Peabody-award winning public radio producers and media artists based in Brooklyn and Boston.

Sample (by Ken Cormier):

Sample (by Brendan Baker):

UpRightDown – Laura Silver

UpRightDown is a collaborative, multimedia storytelling site. Laura Silver supplied the plot (or invite others to do so) and invited participants, or performers, to interpret the plot their medium of choice.

The plot:
Dan points his gun at Louis. Then he turns the gun on himself, crying that Zelda’s gift, which Louis just broke, was dearer to him than life itself.

Louis snatches the gun, accidentally pulling the trigger. The bullet shatters a potted plant on a windowsill across the street, and a white powder scatters into the air. A man appears in that window: Bob. Dan grabs Louis and they duck. Bob, Dan explains, is Zelda’s drug dealer; if she’s dead, Bob may be behind it. Dan’s cell phone rings; it is Bob. Dan takes the call and listens, alarmed. He hangs up, grabs Louis, and they scramble down the fire escape.

They run for it, Bob pursuing. Eventually they lose him and end up in the Hassidic section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They seek refuge with Dan’s sister Hannah–but who is waiting for them there, with his goons? Bob.

Excerpt (by Ken Cormier):

Laura Silver is a professional writer and editor living in New York City.

Giuseppe Ielasi + Renato Rinaldi w/ Brendan Murray

Non-Event and the Megapolis Festival present:

GIUSEPPE IELASI started playing guitar in 1988, and worked for many years in the area of improvised music. He had long-term collaborations with Renato Rinaldi in the duo Oreledigneur, Thomas Ankersmit, Michel Doneda, Ingar Zach, Dean Roberts. More recently, his main interest has shifted to site-specific solo performances. He still uses guitars as his primary sound source, but integrates microphones and multi-channel speaker systems into the mix in order to create complex networks for sound diffusion in relationship to space. He has recent, critically acclaimed releases on the 12k imprint and his own Schoolmaps label.

RENATO RENALDI trained as an actor and began composing music for theatre, radio dramas, and video installations. He has produced several radio plays, documentaries and reportages for the national broadcasting radio. His music primarily focuses on the relationship between sound and environment.

BRENDAN MURRAY has worked with electronics since 1999 and is one of Boston’s best-known sound artists. He regards his music as a balance between spontaneous sound making and compositional rigor, with an emphasis on drones and repetition. He records and processes instruments and tapes until all traces of instrumentality are blurred, leaving only large blocks of pure sound. Murray has also toured extensively throughout the United States as a solo performer and as a member of various improvising ensembles. He is actively involved with long distance collaborations with musicians and sound artists such as Seth Nehil, Richard Garet and Chuck Bettis. He is also a founding member of the group Ouest, with longtime friends and collaborators Jay Sullivan and Howard Stelzer.

How to Cook a Radio – Gregory Whitehead

An apparently philosophical yet ultimately pragmatic taster’s menu of audioradio morsels from chef Gregory’s critically acclaimed Ideopolitan kitchen. Sponsored by Transom.org.

Gregory Whitehead writes, directs and produces radiophonic adventures for the BBC and other broadcasters.

Full presentation:

Javelin, DJ Andre Obin, free103point9 radio 4×4

Javelin

DJ Andre Obin

Photo credit: Adrianne Mathiowetz

free103point9 radio 4×4 (feat. Radio Wonderland; Tom Roe of free103point9; Ryan Holsopple of 31 Down Radio Theater; and Bryan Zimmerman of the Dust Dive)


Photo credit: Kara Oehler

Lost Film Fest – Scott Beibin

A fun mix of live performance and rare short films featuring pranks by culture jammers like The Yes Men, sexy-smash-it-up riot footage, illegal art, media archaeology, clips censored by the mainstream media, and video re-mixes.

VJ Scott Beibin is the co-founder of the Evil Twin Booking Agency which he runs with partner Liz Cole, organizing tours for Bill Ayers, Vandana Shiva, Dead Prez, and many more.

The Lothars, Die Schrauber, Radio Wonderland, Boston Typewriter Orchestra, and Peace, Loving

The Lothars

Photo credit: Wobblymusic.com

Boston Typewriter Orchestra

Photo credit: Matt Searles

Die Schrauber

Photo credit: Matt Searles

Peace, Loving

Photo credit: Matt Searles

Radio Wonderland

Photo credit: Kara Oehler

Full performance by Radio Wonderland at the 2009 MEGAPOLIS Audio Festival

Third Coast International Audio Festival Listening Room – Julie Shapiro & Sean Cole

TCF’s Julie Shapiro with special guest Sean Cole offered a sonic exploration of cities, urbanism, and the spaces we inhabit, real and imagined. Brought to you by the Public Radio Exchange.

Listen to the full presentation:

Julie Shapiro was Artistic Director of the Third Coast International Audio Festival.

Sean Cole is a radio producer who has worked for or contributed to This American Life, Radiolab, American Public Media’s Marketplace, 99% Invisible, and many more.

Tyler Mains

Amorgos – Laura Vitale

Amorgos is a very small Cycladic island from which come the water sounds in this constructed multi-channel acoustic environment.

Laura Vitale is an artist living and working in New York City and a Fellow at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center.

Bric-à-Brac – Lisa Abbatomarco & Noé Cuéllar

Bric-à-Brac is a one hour-long sound piece for radio predominated by spoken text in the form of imaginary recipes, procedures, conversions, and translations.

Full audio from the installation:

Noé Cuéllar is Texan a sound designer and photographer graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago this spring.

Lisa Abbat0marc0 is a performance artist with a c0mprehensive backgr0und in visual and perf0rming arts.

Campfire Story – Gang Clan Mafia

Campfire Story was a live, improvised sound and video installation-scape, activated in the last hours of the festival.

Gang Clan Mafia is Vela Phelan (turntable, samplers, knobs, transmissions, ∆.) and Dirk Adams (found sound, constructed sound, mic, effects).

Chorus of Refuge – Ann Heppermann, Kara Oehler & Jason Cady

Chorus of Refuge is a sound installation that transmits the stories of six refugees, living in different cities across the U.S. to six radios. The voices of the refugees are superimposed and coordinated in both rhythm and tonality to unite their narratives of struggle, survival and triumph.

Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler are Peabody-award winning public radio producers and media artists based in Brooklyn and Boston.

Jason Cady is a composer of dramatic vocal works and experimental chamber music living in Brooklyn.

Live Experiments in Human Energy Exchange – Deb Todd Wheeler & David O’Brien

O’Brien and Wheeler let the viewer determine running speed, and thus the soundscape, of a blown apart 8 track player by pedaling a tricked-out stationary bike that also functions as the power generator.

David O’Brien is an Exhibit Designer and Fabricator at Mystic Scenic Studios in Norwood, MA.

Deb Todd Wheeler is on the Graduate Faculty at the Art Institute of Boston, and also teaches in the Metals Department at Massachusetts College of Art.

WorkingStories – Karen I. Westphalen

An audio documentary about life in the the sex industry.

Listen to an excerpt from this installation:

Karen I. Westphalen is an artist, musician, and engineer living in California.

Audio (De)construction – Gregory Whitehead

Participants sat down with award-winning audio artist Gregory Whitehead for a personalized review and critique of their audio work-in-progress, project idea, and/or completed work.

Creating a Third Reality: The Visual in Sound Art – New School Faculty & Students

Panelists from The New School’s Media Studies department moderated a seminar-style discussion exploring how the visual realm is utilized in sound art works. Aural / visual coincident themes were discussed, such as: visualizing radio, device design, audio tours, soundtrack and scoring, live performance, and web radio stations.

Listen to the full presentation:

How Art and Music Can Change the World – Jean Smith & David Lester (Mecca Normal)

Through this lecture, art exhibit and performance event that has toured through university classrooms and bookstores, Jean Smith and David Lester of the underground literary rock duo Mecca Normal intend to inspire audiences towards considering political content in their creative self-expression.

Logan’s Walk: Urban Cartography in the Flyzone – Pejk Malinovski & Ian Gray

Disembarking at Logan, Pejk and Ian approached the city like every other traveler, but did it at their own speed — walking. The workshop traced the findings of this movement as an audio slideshow, performance, and conversation.

Pejk Malinovski is a writer and a radio producer, and an associate producer with WNYC’s Studio 360.

Ian Gray is an infrequent radio producer but frequent walker.

Listen to their full presentation:

Not just for Writers’ Al-maniacs: Thinking Poetically about Radio – Dennis Conrow & Jesse Dukes

Producers Dennis Conrow and Jesse Dukes led a workshop creating a sound art toolkit by examining the poet’s tools of the trade.

Listen to their full presentation:

Dennis Conrow is the assistant producer of the nationally syndicated public radio literary program New Letters on the Air.

Jesse Dukes is an independent radio producer and an Associate Producer of With Good Reason, a Virginia-based public radio program.

Practical Perceptual Ergonomics for Audio – Aaron Soloway

A practical guide to auditory perception is laid out through telling the specific story of binauralairwaves.com – a recording project that seeks to deliver the most perceptually realistic recordings in the world.

Listen to his full presentation:

Aaron Soloway is an engineer at a Cambridge-based start-up that invents technology to reverse engineer mammals’ (humans, dolphins, bats, etc.) hearing systems for a wide variety of applications, including gunshot detection.

Sonic Ethnography, or Documentary without Words: From Field Recordings to Recording Fields – Ernst Karel & Stefan Helmreich

This session presented audio work for listening and for a discussion of how audio can function in a documentary or ethnographic way without narration or voiceover.

Listen to their full presentation:

Ernst Karel is a musician, sound recordist, and composer, whose work has ranged from acoustic to electronic and from improvisation to installation.

Stefan Helmreich is a Professor of Anthropology at MIT, where he teaches courses in science, technology, and society.

WFMU’s Free Music Archive – Liz Berg & Jason Sigal

Liz Berg and Jason Sigal gave a tour on the history of copyright and the newest project by freeform station WFMU, the Free Music Archive, an interactive online library of high-quality, curated audio with progressive licensing.

Liz Berg is the Assistant General Manager of WFMU.

Jason Sigal is WFMU’s Licensing Director, and curates the station’s contributions to the Free Music Archive.

Your Phone is Your Mic: Stories and Sounds Shared Over the Phone – Laura Kwerel, Walker Mettling & Dial-A-Stranger

Using the telephone to peek into private lives: why and how. Part instruction manual, part listening party, four presenters let you in on the intimacy (and sometimes cruelty) of using Ma Bell as your mic.

Listen to their full presentation:

Zachary Kent and Mercedes Martinez started Dial-A-Stranger to highlight the stories of everyday people and to be the excitement they wanted to see in the world. They live in Austin, TX.

Laura Kwerel is a public radio producer. She lives in Fairfax, VA.

Walker Mettling is an artist/curator who drags as many people into his projects as he can. He lives in Providence, RI.

Audio Slumber Party by Ladio

A late-night slumberfest featuring Seven Minutes of Audio Heaven and other games too indecent to mention outside the confines of the sultry downtown Boston apartment that held them.

Excerpt from 7 Minutes of Audio Heaven (courtesy Acousmatic Theatre Hour):

Eliza Smith improvising a song about the last time she made out:

Organized and produced by Ladio, a group of awesome female radio producers from NYC.

Music for Circumstances – Benjamin Chaffee

A sound piece by Benjamin Chaffee for listening to on personal headphones while riding the MBTA Red Line from Park Street to Alewife. For the best coordination with the train, start the piece when the train starts moving at Park Street. The piece is available for free download from musicforcircumstances.com.

Benjamin Chaffee is an artist living and working in Boston, MA.

An Unlikely Monument – Dirk Adams

This participatory audio tour explored the making of a public work of art in a neighborhood near Harvard Square.

Dirk Adams is an artist living in Rosindale, MA and one half of the Gang Clan Mafia.

MegapoVan by Ladio

A rolling rig of audio mayhem courtesy of Ladio, a group of awesome female radio producers from NYC. The van rumbled from NYC to the 2009 MEGAPOLIS Festival in Cambridge and back again, stopping frequently along the way to pick up stragglers, engage in audio hijinks, experience chance encounters with the almost famous in the world of sound, and many other things you wish you were a part of but never ever will be because life.

Unsound Mind – Nick van der Kolk

A surreal audio tour and listening party inside an abandoned mental health ward, hosted (remotely) by a world-famous psychiatrist. This session was originally busted by security, but attendees reconvened at 2am that night to finish the tour.

Listen to the full tour:

Q&A (recorded at 4am):

Nick van der Kolk is an audio maker and co-director of the Megapolis Festival. He lives in the Bronx, NY.