Transforming electromagnetic interference into a hypnotic drone, patchbaydoor’s Orb Jam Series session blends resonant frequencies, voice, and experimental synthesis.
“This piece is centered on the drone created by the electromagnetic frequencies emitted by a LED television set and other nearby electronics. This draws heavily from the works, thoughts and sounds of La Monte Young and John Cale, as well as Christina Kubisch, all of whom inspire my works a great deal. ‘The 60-cycle hum,’ Cale once reportedly remarked, ‘is the drone of Western Civilization.’ I quite like that we resist calling this sound a noise, despite its tendency to interfere with intended signals. Perhaps because noise implies a kind of labor or strain, rather than simply an unwanted signal. It seems that the drone of the electrical grid is as internalized and hypnotic to the contemporary human as muffled womb-tones and sounds of the seas.
My studio sits in the basement of a building with questionable-at-best electrical grounding work, and some of my equipment is quite affected in that space, which led me to engage that ever-present drone directly, using resonators and filters and singing along. I’ve put a television flat on a table and suspended two Soma Ethers above it (I often use the TV as a table upon which to place other electronic devices). Their output is routed to a number of instruments: First, the chain of Meng Qi’s Wing Pinger and Wingie Mk2. Then to each of the following: Ciat-Lonbarde Cocoquantus, Plumbutter; Lorre-Mill Double Knot Mk2. Some EQ and compression are applied in the mixer. I like to talk-sing back to my drones. Here, I use one microphone to record into the Cocoquantus, and the other is processed by the Chase Bliss Mood Mk2.” — patchbaydoor
