Cameron/Davison video

8/20/2018

Some video documentation from my recent performance with Allison Cameron...

C. Goff III

8/20/2018 16:13:26

Thank you for sharing William. The camera angle provides good footage of legs and heads, but I'm most interested in what you two are doing with your hands. Could you please reveal to us how you are producing the sounds we are hearing, thanks?

SIDENOTE... I observe that Don Campau's most recent EXP radio show featured a piece from your very interesting 1995 Soundtracks Doomsday Transmissions tape. I myself will likely share something from my own copy with my radio listeners in the coming months. Keep up the good work.

William Davison link

8/23/2018 09:29:54

Thanks, Charles! Yes, the angle isn't great on this video and there were numerous other problems with it too which I fixed (somewhat) in the editing. Pretty nice legs though, eh?

I can't say exactly what Allison was playing that night. I know she was using a Korg Monotron at one point, amplified with a contact mic rather than taking a signal from the headphone out (which she told me is broken). She had some small objects, also amplified with contact mics. I think she may have had a radio or perhaps some sort of prerecorded material on tape or digital device as there were voices in the performance that weren't coming from me. I think. Of course, it may have just been the voices that are always talking to me, ha ha ( really? mental health jokes? not cool, William ).

Allison likes to use an array of small Honeytone amps to amplify what she's doing rather than larger amplifiers or PA. I'm not sure what her reasons are for this but it gives her work a unique sound. More importantly, it tends to isolate and localize her sound to her specific location in the room, in the way an unamplified acoustic instrument would. It makes for a more intimate experience and one that is considerably quieter than most electronic-based concerts. When I play with her, I use a small, Radio Shack powered speaker for amplification (small, black box in the video, on my table next to the Fisher-Price record player) to keep my volume levels similar to hers. I'm used to playing loud and I'm afraid I overpowered her the first couple of times we played together, even though I was trying to play quietly (honestly, I was!).

I don't remember everything I used that night but, basically, it would have been various small objects, amplified with contact mics. I also used a Kaoss Pad (the original Kaoss Pad, which is still my favorite) for processing the sounds and I did some looping with it too. Audio from the Kaoss Pad ran out to the Radio Shack speaker. As you can see in the video, some "turntablism" was involved. I had a number of LPs, some "prepared" with stickers stuck to them for a skipping effect, and I had a cardboard LP I made with bits of paper glued to it which produces rhythmic noise when played. As mentioned, I used a vintage Fisher-Price children's record player and just used the built-in speaker for amplification.

Thanks for noticing my track on Don's show (thanks, Don!!) and thanks, in advance, for playing something from my "Soundtracks" cassette on your show! Didn't know you had a copy of that one. I should send you some more stuff.

Hal McGee

8/20/2018 18:45:53

William, I just watched this video and I would like to know what devices were used to make these interesting sounds.

William Davison link

8/23/2018 09:35:34

Thanks, Hal! See my response to Charles above.

C. Goff III link

8/23/2018 15:35:28

Thanks much William for sharing the details! This sort of enlightenment of process is a big part of what makes experimental listening fun for me, and I'm guessing that's true for a lot of others too.

Naturally I'm even more curious now, so I'll dare push my inquiries just a bit further, if you don't mind... Do the "small objects" that you apply the contact mics to have unique sonic characteristics that would catch a listener's attention if they were not modified with the Kaoss device?

And... since I was a child, I too have been modifying vinyl records in all sorts of ways to create unusual sounds, but adding stickers has generally resulted in gumming up the play needles, taking away the very properties that allow it to pick up sounds in a record groove. How do you avoid this problem?

Thanks again so much for sharing. Keep up the good work!

William Davison link

8/24/2018 11:48:12

I have a kind of "kit" that goes with me to most of my improv shows. The kit consists partly of small objects I use when I play prepared guitar, and partly of objects that produce interesting sounds on their own. Some perform double duty. The objects that have their own sounds are mostly pretty quiet and definitely benefit from being amplified (a plastic hair comb, for instance, isn't going to be very audible on its own in a live performance but slap a contact mic on that sucker and look out!). I think most of these objects sound interesting without adding effects but the effects certainly help expand the palette of sounds I have to work with.

Actually, lately I've been moving toward eliminating the effects from my shows and I've done a few gigs where I left the effects at home (this show at Spleencoffin Fest, for example - https://youtu.be/df70ao0MEmQ). I really like the work of a friend of mine, UK improviser Adam Bohman. He just uses objects without any effects and it sounds amazing! So, he's been an inspiration lately. I'm probably not going to eliminate them completely though. Maybe just for certain shows.

About the vinyl. I'm not a "turntablist" but I love vinyl records as a source for interesting sounds, either on their own, or modified in various ways. I've used records in performances many, many times over the years. Putting stickers on them isn't something I would recommend doing to records you care about and, you're absolutely right, it's not great for the turntable or stylus either! But then, none of the modifications or manipulations you or I might do to records and/or record players are really good for them. That's why I have a large collection of "junk" records (found in the garbage, bought at yard sales, etc.) that are generally in such bad condition to start with that I don't feel bad about abusing them. Same with the record players. They're not devices I feel I need to keep in pristine condition and often times are things I've built or modified myself with the intention of treating them badly. So, how do I avoid the problem? I don't. The problem is part of the art!

C. Goff III

8/24/2018 15:35:31

William! Thank you so much for indulging my curiosity. I celebrate your experiments and your artistry -- hooray! Let us tally a win for the Electronic Cottage as well -- this in-depth public exchange is a rare treat in modern communication.

Frank

8/23/2018 23:38:48

Yes, I love those legs and Allison's legs aren't bad either!

2 nice pairs of legs and great sounds... what more can we wish for!

William Davison link

8/24/2018 11:49:58

Why thank you, Frank! I'll pass your compliment along to Allison as well. :-)

W.A.Davison

W.A.Davison is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist who has been producing various forms of experimental art and music for over 35 years.

He studied fine art at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and experimental/electronic music composition with Prof. Steve Tittle at Dalhousie University before moving to Toronto in 1989.

As a composer, improvisor, and instrument-builder, Davison has performed and recorded solo (as The Bim Prongs, Songs of the New Erotics, Th W rbl r, Panic Engines, M.Stactor, etc.), in his own ensembles (Urban Refuse Group, Six Heads), and in numerous collaborations (with members of CCMC, Nihilist Spasm Band, AMM, MSBR, irr.app.(ext.), Nurse With Wound, and many others).

His work in various media has been performed, exhibited and published internationally.

Davison is also the founder of Recordism (described as "an ideospheric mutation of the meme known as Surrealism") and one half of The Recordists (with his partner S.Higgins).

See Recordism for more info.

Cameron/Davison video

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