Today Noise Orchestra worked in the archives at the National Media Museum to record the sounds of objects in the collections. Our selection was based on the potential noise making properties of each historical object. We were concentrating on mechanisms and movements; the clicks, whirrs and winds of the historical photographic and cinematographic pieces. These had to be operated and handled with extreme care and with the expert help of curator Toni Booth we were guided as to the correct way to handle and operate each item and the items were micced from a variety of positions in the stereo field With such a wide range of materials with items made from wood, metal and plastic the resonant and tonal properties we recorded were varied and told a story (through sound) of the changes of production and technology in these projection and photographic artifacts from the last 100 years.
Here is a list of some of the items we recorded;
Technicolour Video Recorder (1970s)
Kinora Viewer (1912)
Brownie Six-16 Special Camera (1938)
Nintendo Game Pads (1983)
Olympus OM1 Camera (1972)
Bell Punch Co. LTS Time Counter
Williamson Cine camera (1914) + recording
Over the next few days we will be sampling these and using Ableton Push to play different sequences and spatial arrangements of these recordings.