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Hello Jeese & all loopers-i agree with yr comments on Nic Collns-hes quite a brillant composer/musician who has done so much innovative work esp his inverse guitar stuff- have you ever seen the kalvos & damien new music bazaar site? check this for a live interview & great music from Collins (as well as a wellspring of great music from many diverse composers ) & some wacky banter in between .Its a huge archive of radio shows from 5 years ago to the present-youll need real audio scroll down the page & click the programm to see the playlist--- http://www.goddard.edu/wgdr/kalvos/shows.html Oedipus Nix July 6 Nicolas Collins, 2 58 Czar Nicolas, the Tunguska Fireball June 29 42 Nicolas Collins, 1 enjoy! K At 06:30 PM 4/14/99 -0400, you wrote: >I've been hearing and reading quite a bit about Nicolas Collins lately >(who >coincidentally studied at the school I now attend, though that has nothing >to do with how I heard about him), but I haven't been able to find his >stuff >anywhere. However, Kim's remarks reminded me about an interview I read >with >him where he talks about his modifications to CD's and players. The below >is excerpted from a longer interview at >http://www.art-bag.net/contd/issue2/collins.htm#f1 > >By the way, if anyone has more info on Collins or is familiar with his >work >and where to find it, do share, off-list or on. > >*** >I started to do the CD-skipping-thing in '88 or '89, and used it a lot in >live performances, since I tend to do a lot of pieces that are based on >processing found sound material. In a nutshell, everything I do has to do >with sticking something into a machine and watching it come out different >at >the other end. I used to work a lot with cassette tapes, I put different >material in the left and the right channels and sort of distributed stuff >randomly over tape so you would never know exactly what you would get >when. >And I started using CD players because I could remotely control them very >easily, to get access to different parts. I did some modifications in the >players just to see if I could manipulate the CD the way you can an LP -- >scratching. I came up with a few very simple tricks whereby you can >scratch >and cue and this kind of stuff. > >MC: So you do the tricks on the CDs or inside the CD player? > >NC: In the CD player. In terms of history, there were a number of artists >-- >most particularly Yasunao Tone, a Japanese artists working in New York, >who >did pieces where they prepared the CDs themselves. They discovered that if >you put crayon marks or cellotape on the CD, you can get it to do all >sorts >of jingling stuff. But I went inside the CD player and looked, because I >suspected -- and I was right -- that the laser was always reading >information off the disc, even when you're on pause or moving from track >one >to track 30. It's always reading information, but the control computer >"censors" the output, decides for us what is music (i.e., the clean >playback) and what is "noise" (scratching, skipping). So I found that >control signal, marked "mute" and I simply flipped that pin off the chip >so >that it could no longer mute anything. And that opened the door to the >inner >world of the CD: you could hear anything that the CD-player was doing at >any >time. Later I got in deeper and started to turning in and off the motor >and >sled, slow it down, make things go backwards, typical screw-up things. >*** > >-Jesse > >----- Original Message ----- >From: Kim Flint <kflint@annihilist.com> >To: <Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com> >Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 1999 2:42 AM >Subject: Re: error correction > > >> >> I played around with this idea once. I think I even mentioned it on the >> list a long time ago, since it's an interesting way to get some crazy >> loops. With a little experimentation, you can get some really nutty >things >> to come out of a cd player. My favorite from those days was a bad heavy >> metal band* cd that I painted lines on with white-out. Then I scraped >some >> of the white-out off so it was fairly spotty. I think it was an >iterative >> thing, really. I painted a bunch on, played it, didn't like it, scrape >some >> off, play again, etc, until I got a good result. For me, the cd player >> would randomly skip around the disc, getting stuck in tight loops over >bits >> of audio for a while and then skipping randomly again. Sometimes it >would >> actually play a stretch for a little while before skipping off again. >> Ofentimes I'd have to press buttons on the front to break it out of a >loop >> if it stuck too long. The result sounded like some wild industrial >music. >> Intense, percussive loops would form over little stretches of bad-metal >> sound, and suddenly switch to a different bad-metal loop. Great fun. >> >> A guy I knew then who did this weird college radio show suggested >> microwaving the cds. I guess it makes lots of sparks before the plastic >> around the disk shatters, leaving spider webs of lines all over the cd >> surface. Probably that wreaks havoc on the poor cd laser. Never tried >that >> one, as I would surely starve to death if I blew up the microwave. >> >> I don't imagine it's easy to disable error correction in the player. >> Different manufacturers probably use different error correction >algorithms, >> so I would guess the results differ from machine to machine. However, >error >> correction is only meant to handle bits of dust and small scratches, so >any >> serious damage to the cd should completely overwhelm it. I don't know >how >> the guy would get pitch and timbre changes, but I'm sure you could get >all >> sorts of crazy stuff if you experimented with different cds and >> cd-mutilation techniques. >> >> I say, just grab some crappy cd's and go for it! If you destroy your cd >> player or any other home appliances in the process, please don't blame >> me.... >> >> *Meliah Rage, remember them? no? They were much better after I finished >> with them. ;-) >> >> ______________________________________________________________________ >> Kim Flint | Looper's Delight >> kflint@annihilist.com | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html >> http://www.annihilist.com/ | Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com >> >> >> >