Sounds and Looks Like Life

Electronic Cottage movie and audio assemblage project

Hello Friends,

I am inviting you to participate in the
Sounds and Looks Like Life
Electronic Cottage Project

Please read all seven pages of guidelines and stipulations below. You would not want it any other way, would you?!

The project will begin on Monday, June 1, 2020 and will end on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.

Starting on June 1st and throughout the month of June, until June 30th, I want you to upload photographs, short audio files, and short video files. At the end of the month I will create a YouTube collage movie and an audio album on Bandcamp.

If you want to participate, please email me and I will send links to your own personal upload folders on Google Drive.

All correspondence related to this project MUST be done via email
— not Facebook Messenger, text messaging, telephone, etc. 

Please upload files within 24 hours of creating them.

At the end of the month I will use all of the photos, videos, and audio recordings by all of the participants to create a collage-style hybrid slideshow and video movie with an audio assemblage soundtrack. Random chance processes will be used to create the movie and soundtrack.

The soundtrack of the movie will be published on Bandcamp with a $1 minimum download price.
Each participant will receive two CDR copies and five free download codes of the audio assemblage album. The video will be available on YouTube for free viewing.

Try to use portable battery-operated devices to make your photos, videos, and audio recordings. I prefer it that way! Try to use recorders and cameras that you can fit into your pocket: smartphones, cellphones, digital dictaphones, walkman recorders, cassette recorders, and small video recorders.

You can upload as many photos and videos as you want, within reason. Be discreet and respectful and don’t overload the project with your own material. 

Photographs should be of the highest resolution possible.

I can accept short videos in many different formats. If you are not sure whether your video files will work properly, send me a brief test video before the project starts.
Videos must be no longer than 30 seconds (one-half minute).

You can upload as many audio recordings as you want, within reason. Be discreet and respectful and don’t overload the project with your own material. Audio recordings should be no longer than 30 seconds (one-half minute), and all files must be stereo and WAV format.
Basic suggested minimums
Bit rate: 1411 kbps
Sample size: 16 bits
Sample rate: 44.100 kHz

Your audio recordings should be raw, simple, un-mixed, and un-cooked. In other words, do not add effects to your audio recordings before you upload them. Please understand that your recordings will be randomly mixed with three other layers of sounds, so be sure to leave spaces in your sounds for other sounds to interact with yours. Don’t brickwall your audio sound levels. Think minimalism!

There are no minimum requirements for how many audio recordings, photos, and videos you can contribute: as few as you wish or have time for.
You can, however, contribute as many recordings and photos as you want, while keeping in mind the collaborative nature of the project: leave space and room for the other participants!

Please avoid copyright infringement. Do not upload materials that are copyrighted by other people. Please generate and record materials of your own making.

Make back-ups and save copies of all of your contributed files until after the project is completed.

Please note that this is NOT a noise work, nor is it an electronic music work per se. The movie and audio assemblage might contain noisy and electronic elements, but generally you should think of them as being dada- and fluxus-inspired multi-layered collages of sights and sounds from day to day life. Overly-harsh, obnoxiously-loud sounds will be rejected. Racket is fine, but keep it short, keep it fun and lively, and try not to make your stuff too loud so that other sounds in the assemblage can be heard.

The emphasis in your photographs, videos, and audio recordings should be on the sights and sounds of your daily life during the month of June:
spoken words, diary entries, recollections of dreams, conversations, short bits of poetry and word cut-ups, household and home, eating and drinking, appliances and machines and tools, sights and sounds while you take a walk in your neighborhood, the sights and sounds of pets and other animals, public transportation, domestic and wild flora, emergency and police vehicles, airplanes and helicopters, neighbors, construction sights and sounds, traffic, children playing, public address systems, shops and stores and restaurants and marketplaces, decay and rot, buildings, street musicians, your workplace, short instrumental improvisations (acoustic or electric), sounds of pocket synthesizers and toys and gadgets and computers and circuit bent gear, etc.

Think minimalism, raw, handheld, portable, pocket-sized, battery-operated, collage, rubber stamp, abstract expressionism.

Daily life brings with it all kinds of thoughts, emotions, and feelings, and you are welcome to share your experiences in this assemblage project.

I will say that the emphasis of this project is on the simple joys of daily life, as the name of the project suggests.

Life is already full of enough pain and negativity without us adding to the burden. I prefer that this project will increase the world’s happiness with joy, mirth, whimsy, silliness, humor, comedy, jokes, craziness.

Approach this project with relaxed enthusiasm and with the simple joy and awe of a child instead of the weariness and impatience of an adult.

I will not accept files via email or WeTransfer or any other upload service. You must use the Folders that I will assign to you on Google Drive.

Please note that this is a EC Group multi-collaborative community project.

Your name will be listed as one of the project participants in the YouTube movie, Bandcamp album info, and on the CDR cover, but the movie and album will be credited to “Electronic Cottage”.

The movie and audio assemblages will be continuous pieces with the various photos, videos, and audio recordings presented in a continuous “stream of consciousness” style.

Your individual and specific contributions will not be identified. 

If possible, try to resist the temptation to make posts or comments online about the project while it is in progress.

I reserve the right as project coordinator to reject any contributed materials for whatever reasons.

Have fun, and if you have any questions and need further clarification do not hesitate to contact me by email:
[email protected]

If you want to get a feeling for what to expect of the end results of the project, please view a few minutes of my most recent movie on YouTube