Feedback Loop [short story]

“FEEDBACK LOOP”

[short story] by Gen Thalz

Aux Send Line/In

4 Tape Cue EQ

3.5mm mono LPF 95%

*Alaala

“Hon, honey! Nakikinig ka ba? Kanina pa ko nagkukwento di ka man lang kumikibo.”, sita ng misis sa kanyang mister na nagmamaneho sa highway. “Ha? Eh, sori. Parang nangyari na ‘to?”, nagulat at nagtatakang tugon ng mister. “Talagang nangyari na ‘to dahil araw-araw tayo dumadaan dito! Pinagsasabi mo…”, imbyernang sagot ni misis. “Hindi pramis.”, sagot ulit ni mister, di na kumibo ang babae tumanaw na lang sa daan at sandali silang nanahimik.

Maya-maya. “Hon, ano ba nangyayari sayo? Kanina pa kita pinagmamasdan parang di ka mapakali, wala ka sa sarili baka mabangga tayo niyan. Gusto mo ako na magmaneho?”, usisa ni misis. “Ha? Hindi, ano. Parang bigla lang sumama pakiramdam ko, para kong lalagnatin”, paliwanag ni mister sabay himas sa batok. Nagalala naman bigla si misis at agad nitong hinipo ang noo at leeg ng mister kung mainit ba, “Wala ka naman lagnat, ano gusto mo hon? Tubig?”. “Ok lang ako hon, don’t worry. Parang may naalala lang ako na di ko alam kung ano…”, “Ha?”, “Pakiramdam ko may dapat akong gawin at baguhin pero di ko maisip kung ano ba yun, alam mo yung ganung pakiramdam?”.

Lalung nagalala ang misis, “May problema ba hon? Sabihin mo sakin, sa work ba? Baka stress ka… May nagawa ba ko? Anong gusto mong gawin ko hon?”, malambing na pagtatanong nito. “Hindi hon wala, bigla ko lang naramdaman ngayon ‘to. Siguro dahil ‘to sa panaginip ko kagabi na may tinutuklas daw ako kasi gusto ko daw mabago sitwasyon ko doon sa panaginip, tapos ang lungkot-lungkot ng pakiramdam…”, salaysay ng mister. “Bakit hon ano daw yung sitwasyon mo?”, “Hindi daw maayos eh, magulo.”, “Eh ano naman daw yung tinutuklas mo?”. Bago makasagot ang mister ay hui na ang lahat, hindi na niya nagawang makakabig pakaliwa at tuluyan silang bumangga sa trak na nasa harapan nila, hindi kumagat ang preno. Napasigaw na lang ang misis, “HOOOOOOOON!!!”

*Panaginip

Saktong 3:30 ng hapon, uwian na. Agad na nagsitayuan ang mga estudyante nang marinig ang “Class dismiss” sa kanilang maestra. “Ano Ter sama ka ba?”, “Kayo na lang tol, next time na lang ako…”, matamlay na sagot nito. “Sige tol, ‘kaw bahala… Oy, tara na! Intay!”.

Hapong-hapo na naglakad pauwi magisa ang trese anyos na si Dexter. Mabigat na may halong lumbay ang kanyang pakiramdam na hindi naman niya maintindihan kung bakit. Tahimik siyang naglalakad, nakayuko, deretso, walang lingon-lingon hangang sa makabanga ang isang mama. “Sori po.”, malumay niyang pasintabi habang nakayuko pa din at tutuloy sa paglakad nang bigla siyang hinawakan ng mama sa balikat. Nagkatinginan sila, bahagyang nagulat si Dexter na parang kinikilala ang mama. Ngumiti ang mama at nagsabi, “Mangarap ka, habang maaga pa isipin mo na kung ano ang gusto mo.”, saka ito umalis. Sandaling natulala si Dexter, nawirduhan, “Pamilyar sakin ang mga matang iyon, saan ko ba siya nakita?!”.

“Sabi ko na e! Hindi ako maaaring magkamali! Siya nga ‘yung mamang lagi kong napapanaginipan na umiiyak!", bulong niya sa sarili. "Mama hintay!”, hinabol ni Dexter ang mama subalit bigla naman itong nawala nang di niya naapuhap kung saan ito dumaan o nagpunta.

*Ang Nakaraan…

“Out of Body, Try Number 23. This time magagawa ko na ‘to, hindi pwedeng hindi! Focus. Focus. Focus… ”, bubulong-bulong na kinukumbinsi ng lalaki ang sarili habang inaayos ang manipis na kutson sa sahig. Matapos nun, pinatay niya ang ilaw at sinindihan isa-isa ang siyam na kandila at ilang pirasong insenso. Bahagyang nagliwanag sa silid at unti-unting nangamoy bulaklak ang paligid.

Isang malamyos, banayad, at atmospheric na musika ang tumugtog nang magsalang ng plaka sa kanyang 2^nd hand vinyl record player ang lalaki. Lumagok siya sa isang basong tubig, humiga at saka pumikit. Pinapakiramdaman ang paghinga na para bang may ritmo itong sinusundan hanggang sa siya ay makaramdam ng kakaibang vibration mula sa kanyang balakang.

6.     

6.          6. Sa isang tahimik na lugar humiga, ituon ang atensyon sa pag inhale-exhale.

7.       7. I-visualize mabuti ang taon at kung saan.

8.       8. Concentrate, ‘wag matakot.

Sa makailang beses na niyang sinusubukan ito, ay gamay na niya ang mga dapat gawin sa 17 out of body guidelines na kanyang sinulat at idinikit sa pader upang hindi niya ito malimutan.

Random Sculptures [minimal]

The Looper

*made of VHS tape loop

Broken Loop

*made of VHS tape loop

Barring

*made of VHS tape reel

Cymatron

*from our last year experinment "Dance of the Frequencies"

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun [Pink Floyd cover]

*please listen with headphones

Our first attempt to do a complete cover song and it's full of pretension, dreams, delusions, and ambition - considering it's from the Floyds'! But hey, we need to get this psychedelic paranoia out of our heads, also this is a personal favorites of us from them and we are deeply moved after hearing the version of this song from the great Mr. Mika Vainio (electronic/noise musician), and our newly found progressive metal band OSI (Office of Strategic Influence). So we dearly hope that we give justice covering this trippy-enigmatic-magical song though the recordings is not on its best quality and vocals is a bad idea haha :)

All sounds was made from analog electronic hardware, except for the "bell" or the sine wave sounds which we done/programmed using a free android app called S.A.M.M.I., there is also some noises that happens during recording and editing which is not intentional but we see it as "happy accident", we like it so we keep it.

- recorded using an old multitrack tape recorder.
- arranged, master, and mixdown using DAW.
- spoken sampled words by Morpheus from The Matrix movie (redpill scene).

And for the visuals, obviously it is composed of several random footage of our gears that we used overlapping each other, combined with a different video feedback loop clip that we shot using an ordinary webcam staring at itself on a pc monitor... No special effects and animation.

Lyrics-

Little by little the night turns around
Counting the leaves which tremble at dawn
Lotuses lean on each other in yearning
Under the eaves the swallow is resting

Set the controls for the heart of the sun.

Over the mountain watching the watcher.
Breaking the darkness, waking the grapevine.
One inch of love is one inch of shadow
Love is the shadow that ripens the wine.

Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.

Morpheus: The matrix is everywhere, its all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. (Neo: What truth?) That you are a slave Neo, like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you can not smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.

Look/Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?

Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun (several times).

Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes...

Noise Music|Feedback Loop|Sound Sculpture

Strange Noise in the Sky ~ Gen Thalz

*All parts of this audio-video experiment was created out of feedback signals recorded live.

-The sound is a sculpted feedback signals coming from all the hardware stated below looping and controlling each other, the mixer and the effects pedal is solely the one acting as oscillator or sound/tone generator. There is no external sound sources, all is coming from within the hardware natural hiss, hum, buzz etc. noises.  And by patching cables
and arranging every equipment in different ways, the possibilities are endless, almost like a semi-modular synthesizer.
We try to be gentle with outmost care as possible twiddling and manipulating the knob because just a slight of a turn can
change the form, tone, timbre, volume and pitch of the frequencies.

Hardware:

1.Analog Mixer
2.Mini Synth Delay Effects
3.Chorus Stompbox
4.Vibrato Stompbox
5.DIY Feedback Looper


-The visuals is also a feedback signals coming from a camera staring at its-self or by its own monitor creating loop
and a slight delay on its output. The results is very generative and may vary using different types of camera and t.v.,
the equipment we used is stated below. By pointing the camera at different angles and zooming it in or out, it can creates
a vast variety of organic-geometrical-fractal shapes, designs, and patterns as if one is on a wonderland trance-like altered-state visions. We put together here some of the videoclips that we created.

Equipment:

1.SLR Camera
2.CRT TV
3.LCD TV


"Sometimes it was enough to barely touch one of the recording or playback potentiometers to develop a sound. It was in this way, i think, that i discovered the pleasure of a work made with the tips of the toes or rather the fingers, and above all in looking for a certain kind of sound." ~ Eliane Radigue [electronic music composer]