As I resume this research project, the title of this blog post makes me do just what it is meant to. Reflect. Eleven months have passed since I completed the necessary objective for the Research & Enquiry module on my MSc in Music & Sound Technology. However, it was never just for academia. The topic of research context was chosen with an actual intention to succeed in making it a reality, not just to tick the boxes of my masters programme. So what has happened since?

I have travelled to several countries in Europe and Asia with some interesting opportunities to shoot video for musical content and record audibly interesting sounds. Plus I earned a Distinction in my MSc. Additionally, just within the last month I have had the opportunity to experience Richie Hawtin’s CLOSE show in London and Awakenings at Gashouder in Amsterdam, during Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). Both of which boast impressive visual aspects to the DJ and live performance spectacle. In the context of researching cymatics as an intuitive, real-time, music-performance visualization, not much. The demands of the MSc meant I literally had to shelve this project to focus on several other intense modules, incorporating studio design, synthesis and sound design, live recording, remixing, mastering and a Major Study. Those modules gave me a great wealth of knowledge and experience in elements of audio engineering relevant to existing aspects of the music industry, but not the experimental path which was always bubbling in the background through each semester. It is by attending the aforementioned shows that has re-sparked my passion for this project, which had been initially overseen by  other goals.

Juan Atkins at ADE, 2018

Experiencing ADE in its entirety, made me realise that I am getting older and can no longer sustain wakefulness all day and night from the perspective of a DJ or raver/party goer/clubber. An abundance of panel discussions and lectures during the daytime, with an even more abundant choice of techno music events overnight meant that burnout rapidly ensued. I armed myself with a bag full of personalised USB flash drives ready to meet iconic producers, DJs and label owners to share my music with. However, it is perhaps one meeting, that combined with my exhaustion, got me thinking further ahead. During a panel discussion with Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins, he expressed his interest in all aspects of sound and its relevance in our very existence. I approached Atkins at the end and explained my intentions with using cymatics in a real-time, intuitive visualization project, specifically for techno and he was intrigued and seemed interested in talking some more.

I had envisaged to pickup this project in my Major Study and bring the vision to reality. However, it was seen to be too much work to undertake in three months and perhaps one not suited to the Major Study criteria. Another factor was the lack of music creation I had time to pursue while studying, so I decided to produce an EP for my Major Study instead. Although this was simply a six-track package, with four tracks cut to PVC vinyl, it did have experimental composition methodologies driving it from the ground up. Additionally, I produced a music video for one of the tracks using visual material I had filmed myself, inclusive of cymatic formations in water. Details of this project can be found in my Major Study Journal.

MSc Major Project EP | Sejon – Contrasting Duality [SEJON001] (Not actual release)

Having introduced my then friend, now girlfriend, Hu Jiawen to ‘Water Sound Images’, she took it upon herself to incorporate cymatic patterns in her MA Photography Major Study, ‘Water Memory’. Having some knowledge of how to bring this to reality, we combined our skills in photography and audio engineering to capture fluid cymatic motion using a micro-lens and tones generated from a synthesizer.

It was not our intention to capture specific frequencies and their unique geometric shapes, but to observe how the water reacted to random, alternating tones. This is perhaps my intention for a real-time, intuitive visualization objective. It is not like a DJ set would bring specific frequencies, but an unpredictable, fluid combination of multiples which adds to the mystery of the dancefloor experience. There are plenty of examples where cymatic and Faraday formations have been demonstrated using specific frequencies to acquire certain shapes.

Hu Jiawen shooting Faraday Waves for MA Photography project

I want to explore the unknown, the unexpected and go beyond the boundaries of convention. After all, that is techno. A genre that many try to compartmentalize to suit their perspective – hard, minimal, accessible, Detroit, Berlin, dub, deep, melodic, leftfield. As far as I am concerned, it is what it is. If it’s electronic, instrumental, energetic, percussive and driving…that’s techno. It would be silly to expect a visual cymatic feed from techno, or any other style of electronic music to produce the same geometric shapes as seen when attaining specific frequencies. Nonetheless, the results should be visually stimulating in any given performance environment.

So where to go from here? The intention is to source a decent camera suitable for shooting a live feed in high definition, ideally 4K, and pursue some experiments towards achieving a working prototype installation.