Camille Robinson

Musical musings

Camille Robinson — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:42:16 +0000

My phD research is coming along well at the moment, and I thought it might be nice to share some ideas here that are arising from it. I suppose generally speaking at the moment I’m looking at how I define the ideas that underpin what I do…composing music.

So,what is…

Sound?

Vibration

Hearing?

The apprehension of vibration and its effects by the body. The traditional assumption is that this occurs only through the ears, but this could/should be extended to include any other organs sensitive to vibration or to its effects; the skin, proprioceptive apparatus, the eyes.

Listening?

Attentiveness to vibration and its effects.

An interpretive act relating vibration based stimuli to memory and knowledge of physical phenomena, methods and means of communication, context, sense of time, etc.

Music?

The cognitive result of listening.

Composition?

The act of shaping or contextualising sounds.

Pre-emptive listening, based on a knowledge of vibration based stimuli, their effects and associations for the listener.

The Location of Music?

The body of the listener.

The specifics of how I describe each of these ideas to myself varies every day, however the general theme stays the same, that notions of hearing/listening are traditionally over-focussed on the ear and exclude much of what goes on in situations where people engage with music. My aim, for the moment at least, is to address the question of how to explore composing for this “expanded listening”.

I’m aware that these definitions are very broad, but I have a hunch they need to be in the present world. For instance language could easily come under my definition of music, which I don’t think is such a bad thing, there have been lots of attempts to wrestle music into linguistic theoretical frameworks and it doesn’t fit, it’s too vague. Whereas I think there’s a good chance language could be a music, or at least it can’t hurt to think of it in that way.

Stay tuned…

Camille Robinson — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:11:47 +0000

Yet another layout change, and now there’s always something to listen to in the sidebar. Whoop!

The Morrisons play “Volvo” live at the Brunswick Hotel

Camille Robinson — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:31:20 +0000

I’m the one on the far right

Those who can, do

Camille Robinson — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:43:38 +0000

I’ve been reading Steve Reich’s Writings on Music on and off over the last couple of weeks, which for those who haven’t read it consists of program notes and a few articles written by him from 1965-2000. Anyway, predictably enough in the earlier bits there are a bunch of interesting ideas and the older he gets the more set in his ways he becomes and it starts to dull out a little, and he starts to write a few cranky middle aged man things. This includes such things as re-phrasing the age old cliché “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach” which when I read it I found quite disappointing. It’s a shame that someone of his calibre would perpetuate such an idea, even if sub-textually it seems to have more to do with his personal discomfort with teaching.

So, I have a new version of the old adage, may it catch on:

Those who can, do
Those can teach, teach
Those who can’t teach bad mouth teachers

Dedicated to the music teachers of the world and their insecure detractors.

Recording plan for a learning engineer (written by a learning engineer)

Camille Robinson — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:28:14 +0000

Mid last year after Nick Carver and I finalised recording and mixing the first Morrisons release I put together a little outline of how I’d like to approach my next recording, based on the experiences we had. I thought others might find it useful, so here it is..

Recording plan for a learning engineer (written by a learning engineer)

Analyse properties of ensemble (instruments, voices, various percussion).
Figure out in advance what a desirable sound for each instrument is. (identify reference recordings?)
Figure out the gear (instruments, amps, mics, preamps, effects)/space (surfaces, dimensions, baffles) necessary to attain desirable sound.
Do a sketch recording of song with simplest possible configuration of gear/space elements.
Analyse structure of song.
Figure out a mix narrative (points to tweak sound/instrumentation/arrangement to fit narrative of song).
Amend gear/space plan if necessary.
Figure out how the e.q. landscape is going to be covered (what instruments accentuate/are filtered out from what).
Record a guide track of all instruments in one space.
If optimal spaces for recording instruments are different, perform seperate recordings. (alternately and ideally record the instruments at the same time in their optimal spaces).
Be prepared to re-record anything and/or everything.
Figure out an order of focus for the various sonic elements (i.e. voice priority 1, drums priority 2, etc.)
Consider aesthetic of recording before beginning to mix (does it need to be loud? clean? subtle? are there genre considerations?)
Establish necessary buses/routing.
Select effects according to specific sonic/narrative objectives.
Achieve a satisfying mix on monitors.
Test on a variety of speakers, tv, hifi, pa, large, small, etc.
Identify corrections to be made, repeat.

Anyone who’s c…

Camille Robinson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:25:58 +0000

Anyone who’s checking back in here after a while may have noticed a couple of changes. Firstly I updated the look a month or two ago, I felt it needed a bit of a spruce and it seems a bit clearer and lighter now. Secondly I’ve recently integrated my social media stuff into the site a bit more, so there’s now a proliferation of “share” buttons and such. I’ve even set up a Twitter account; welcome to 2007 Camille. I have no idea what I’ll do with it yet but I’m sure it’ll come in handy.

My Honours Dissertation On Jack Ellitt

Camille Robinson — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:58:47 +0000

I’ve been umming and aahing about what to do with this for a while, and as it’s been a year and I haven’t gotten around to trying to get the sucker published, I feel like I should share it here, just so that anyone interested can glean what they can from it.

PDF ahoy… Light and Rhythm

Abstract

This dissertation examines the creative output of Jack Ellitt, a unique Australian
composer and extraordinary musical thinker and experimentalist who has been largely
forgotten by Australian history.

The circumstances of Jack Ellitt’s life are described and events in it crucial to the
development of his craft and aesthetic traced, providing a context for analysis of three
landmark works of Ellitt’s career: Light Rhythms (1930), Journey #1 (c.1930), and
Homage to Rachel Carson (part 2) (1983).

The Govett-Brewster Contemporary Art Museum in New Zealand holds a copy in their growing Len Lye research collection.

The Morrisons

Camille Robinson — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:40:48 +0000

Introducing The Morrisons, the punk rock band I play guitar in with Nick Carver, Pete McKew and Lizzie Dynon.

What more can I say? Come and be friends on Facebook.

Eastment Street Derby 2011

Camille Robinson — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:33:05 +0000

Video montage of the Eastment St Billy Cart Derby put together by Dave Rusanow, featuring footage of yours truly performing my traditional annihilation of the Australian national anthem.

Snow Hunt

Camille Robinson — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:30:03 +0000

I bit of electro business I did a little while back on a fashion film for Sans Pareil Vintage, via frequent collaborator David Rusanow