the blog of makemassair

Back in January this year I was commissioned to produce a short audio visual ambient inspired piece. This was premièred at the Tate Britain on the 8th of the month. Some of you were lucky enough to come down to the awesome venue and gallery and see what me and my fellow artists had produced. (more details here).

The event Digital City will be screening the complete 12 shorts originally shown at the Late at Tate Quiet Voices event on the 27th March. It sold out really quickly (quicker than I could advertise it lol) but they have 3 tickets to give away, read on:

COMPETITION: We’re chuffed to be sold out, but also gutted that so many who’d like ot be there are unable to, so we are giving away 3 pairs of tickets. All you gotta do is answer this:

Q: Name one of the live acts that played at the first ever Digital City up in an industrial loft, 5 years ago, this march.

Hint: www.digitalcity.org.uk

Please sent your answer to info@digitalcity.org.uk . We will pick the winners a week before the event on 20/3/10.

more info about the event:

It’s taken us over a year to find this absolute beauty of a venue, but Digital City and Names of Nothing return to our secret party roots for a very special night in an utter gem of a warehouse- a secret venue in east London, very close to Hackney Wick.

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….now look what we have in store for you:

Digital City’s 5th Birthday Party (from 7pm):

Digital City will be transforming the venue into a world of screens, where VJ, film and art installation share equal platform with the beats, and will feature:

Active Optics: An interactive video feedback installation. Accompanied by chilled tunes and quality grub

Quiet Voices films: Curated by former Big Chill visuals resident John Rixon. Expect beautiful aural soundscapes and lush cinematic projections to experience, absorb and get lost in.

• Echaskech: Live AV set from the purveyours of arguably the best hypnotic technotronica since the demise & resurrection of Orbital
• DJ BarryDark (techno-electro set)
• Tentonatom Live & DJ set
• DJ Remote (warm beats and glitch set)
• VJs Mach V, Dr Mo and Parallax

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DC will be followed by Names of Nothing (until 7am):

Names of Nothing is an underground night and DJ duo.

Famous for their huge inner-London wood raves, Names of Nothing specialise in parties in different places- be they legal or illegal, indoors or outdoors. Their events revolve around a love for music and music alone and as such Names of Nothing try to maintain that not many people know who they are. It is not for commercial gain and has just built up via reputation and word of mouth over the years.

12 short films exploring and responding to the theme of Quiet Voices:

• RayV: 3 Steps, 3 min 18 sec
• Alex Pearl: Lodgings, 4 min 19 sec
• Annabel Dover: Imperial, 4 min 8 sec
• Bonny John/soundtrack by Input Junkie: A cloudless sky, 7 min
• Animat: A promise of snow, 7 min 36 sec
• Sounds for the Ground – video by MachV: First Light, 5 min 47 sec
• Another Fine Day: Buckets & Spades, 11 min 36 sec
• Emily Richardson: Redshift, 4 min 9 sec
• Lulu Horsfield – soundtrack by Amy Mallet: one hundred, 5 min 6 sec
• Phoebe Rixon – soundtrack by Enrico Coniglio: Mothlight, 2 min 31 sec
• makemassair: Sevenzero, 5 min 40 sec
• Lucy Wilson: 5:48, 5 min 40 sec

“Echaskech may sound lush and atmospheric but this is ambience with teeth…as a live proposition, Echaskech toughen up into a true armoured dance animal with crunching beats and vicious synth snipes as standard…with the addition of Mach V (visuals) Echaskech become a truely immersive audio-visual experience where melody and groove are prime directives.”

DJ Magazine (Fantastic 4 – Hottest four names in dance music)

In May of 2009 I was asked to provide a short 15min mix for broadcast on the pirate FM station Point Breaks (grab the 11 track, electro fest here). It was received really well by the listeners, show host and the downloaders since. One of those downloaders was the UK producer Paul Blackford (who I had featured a few months earlier on my radio show MANTIS).

Paul Blackford is an electro producer known for his fast bass-driven sound. Heavily inspired by early Rave and Detroit Electro, his first release on Breakin’ Records in 2003 was described as a pioneering UK take on the Detroit Techno Bass sound. Since then, Blackford has released tracks on labels such as WIDE, Deadlock Records and Twilight 76 Records. In 2009 Paul Blackford set up Militant Science as an output for his own and other artists material.

He had been looking for someone to put together a back catalogue mix of his label, Militant Science. He decided on me. So I listened through the really bloody good back catalogue and constructed this 1 hour mix of 49 tracks with samples dotted about the place. I’m really pleased with it. The music provided really got me in the mood and the feedback so far has been fantastic and much more than expected.

You can only get the mix at Junodownload, have a listen to the samples they’ve provided. It’s a fast rolling, electro heavy, breaks smattering mix.

For more info on me as DVNT and my DJing and radio show, head over to darkfloor.co.uk

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I’ve mentioned this before and I can’t quite believe it’s happening this Friday, 8th January 2010, but it is and to say I’m excited is quite the understatement.

I was commissioned by the Big Chill festival’s visual curator John Rixon early in 2009 to produce a short audio visual piece based around the theme of Quiet Voices. John was really interested in my Downbeaten Exploratory series of mixes I produced in late 2008 and early 2009 (of which I will be doing new ones in 2010, grab the first 2 here) and was aware of my editing and video production work. I’ve been to a few Late at Tate events before and the quality of work blows me away, so to be asked to provide a piece for the event is quite an honour.

My piece, sevenzero, is my interpretation of ambient. It’s not really background sound, nor is it stuff that demands your complete attention. In my opinion it nestles somewhere in between. Comprised of footage filmed on location in Scotland with sound produced specifically for this piece.

If you can make it down, feel free to come over and say hi.

Quiet Voices, curated by former Big Chill visuals resident John Rixon, is an ambient audio-visual feast. Featuring Roger Eno and Dom Theobald, Jon Hopkins, Laura B and Graina, John Rixon and Simon Wild, Animat and Alucidnation. Together with a short film programme exploring the nature of ‘quiet’, expect an evening of beautiful aural soundscapes and lush cinematic projections.

Auditorium
19.00 & 20.30
12 short films exploring and responding to the theme of Quiet Voices.

RayV: 3 Steps, 3 min 18 sec
Alex Pearl: Lodgings, 4 min 19 sec
Annabel Dover: Imperial, 4 min 8 sec
Bonny John/soundtrack by Input Junkie: A cloudless sky, 7 min
Animat: A promise of snow, 7 min 36 sec
Sounds for the Ground – video by MachV: First Light, 5 min 47 sec
Another Fine Day: Buckets & Spades, 11 min 36 sec
Emily Richardson: Redshift, 4 min 9 sec
Lulu Horsfield – soundtrack by Amy Mallet: one hundred, 5 min 6 sec
Phoebe Rixon – soundtrack by Enrico Coniglio: Mothlight, 2 min 31 sec
makemassair: Sevenzero, 5 min 40 sec
Lucy Wilson: 5:48, 5 min 40 sec

three video edits taken from a VJ performance at Glade Festival 2009 (also on Youtube)
performed July 18th 2009

audio Plaza de Funk – Live at the Brakedown Stage, Glade Festival 2009

for booking + more info makemassair.co.uk

At this year’s Glade Festival I was lucky enough to perform for about 10 hours. One of those was during Plaza de Funk’s set. Of which these 3 edits were recorded during.

Massive shouts to Arran for booking me and Marcello for a great set to perform to.

As promised in previous posts (namely project: Acedia, the photoshoot & new project: Acedia.) here we have the recording of the début performance of fashion designer Sample Remix’s audiovisual multimedia Acedia show. In collaboration with myself, makemassair, and deadman dj (who did a fantastic job on the sound design, as well as redubbing the live recording with the original audio).

The show was met with a great reception and it really was one of the performances of the whole night. Looking forward to future performance projects with Sample Remix.

All garments designed and produced by Sample Remix. (sampleremix.co.uk)
Video produced by makemassair. (makemassair.co.uk)
Sound design by deadman dj. (deadmandj.net)

Clothing modelled and performed in by
Aiko, Lolita Trash, Miss Harriet, Grace Tebbutt, Biomechanina, Miss Cobweb, Ella DV

Performed at Festival of Sins. (festivalofsins.co.uk)

So the Skywave Systems video loop is complete. A friend of mine who I have known for many years is embarking on a new musical project (having previously run the awesome, but sadly now defunct music label Virus B-23). He currently pushing fantastic freely available high quality net audio through his current label: Myuzyk. In addition to that he’s returning to producing music and producing it as Skywave Systems. It has a great lo-fi electronica feel to it and I’m really looking forward to hearing more of his original productions.

So, back to the video loop. Skywave asked me to come up with a looping video based around a certain colour theme, featuring UFOs or unexplained sky based phenomena, to have his text logo on the end, to be around 10 seconds long. I collected some open source and creative commons footage from Archive.org and using the Creative Commons search function and set about my task. The actual video loop itself was composed with Apple Motion, having used Adobe Photoshop for some of the still based layers. Oh yea he wanted something about triangles in there. So the Penrose triangle is included.

Countless tweaks and a few revisions later and we both arrived at a video we liked.

And the looping animated GIF as Skywave is using the loop on his Myspace:

I’ve been doing the graphic design, branding, web design and even video production (see the Acedia project) for the fashion label Sample Remix. Earlier today I updated the front page design of the Sample Remix site to tie in with promoting the Acedia project, essentially adding a link to the promo/press page for the performance and updating the imagery used. It is getting rarer for sites to have splash pages but I think that this site works with one.

The original splash image, which was the only link to the subsequence site:

And the updated image and page design, adding in a text based link to the subsequence site:

Also, the Acedia web promo/press page is all but complete (I’ll be adding production credits below the row of button links at the bottom). I feel it keeps the simple, clean and clear design of the Sample Remix graphic design and branding so far and let’s the trailer and information shine through.

This weekend saw the Acedia photoshoot take place (scroll down for some backstage photos from the shoot). As I previously mentioned on here I’m doing some more video work for the fashion label Sample Remix. The project is called Acedia and everyone involved is very excited and really positive about the whole thing. It’s the largest show Sample Remix has done to date and it’s a pleasure to be a creative part of it. In case you’ve missed it this is the teaser trailer for the performance:

Sample Remix has been commissioned to produce a bespoke collection to be premiered at the Festival of Sins this October 10th in Camden, North London.

She has gone beyond the expected scope of the performance resulting in a multi media audiovisual spectacle. With a custom made prequel film to be screened alongside the performance in association with makemassair and deadman dj.

This is her interpretation of Sloth and the journey of one girl experiencing the depth and depravity of the Sin.

Acedia premiering at Festival of Sins . October 10th

more details www.festivalofsins.co.uk . www.sampleremix.co.uk

The photoshoot itself was pretty painless, with no problems. Both myself and Sample Remix headed down to Cheltenham Spa on Friday afternoon and as we were arriving at the hotel we met 3 of the 7 models. After some checking in, unpacking and a brew we headed out for a walk around the town before heading to a Pub where we spent the rest of the evening. Annoyingly I woke at about half 5 (quite hungover it should be said) but by the time we got to the photography studio and met up with the remaining 4 models, the makeup artist (MUA) and photographer it was clear noone else had had much sleep, with pretty much all of us being awake since 6.

(Acedia, the photoshoot on Flickr)

The MUA began her work and ran through until gone 5. Her work was quite  impressive (even more so as she had had less than 2 hours sleep) and really made the garments shine. There weren’t any problems with the shoot and the shots we saw looked really good (we should hopefully have some by the end of the week). The custom metalwork jewellery headwear some of the models wore looked fantastic.

Although there was a bit of panic on the Friday when myself and Sample Remix were on the train heading down. She got a phonecall around half 12 from the MUA who having just returned from a month in America couldn’t find the make up sheets for the shoot. This basically being the design and makeup for each of the 7 models. Sample Remix took it well (both she and the MUA had spent time going through the designs prior to the shoot, enough that the MUA had a rough idea). At this point she borrowed my Macbook Pro and began to search for a WiFi network that although a long shot on the train, was worth a go. Sadly no joy. Although thankfully the hotel had free WiFi and Sample Remix was able to quickly and rather painlessly sort out the missing makeup sheets for the MUA who then could draw them up for the following day.

All in all a great, thou tiring experience. I hope you enjoy the pictures. (I also shot some video, which you might see prior to the performance, you might not)

As mentioned previously, I’ve begun work on the Acedia project. I’ve been commissioned by the fashion designer Sample Remix, working alongside producer and DJ deadman dj (who has done a sterling job on the sound design for the teaser trailer).

The film and performance will be premiered on the 10th October, in Camden. There is a photoshoot in a couple of weeks so I’ll make sure to put up the press release and some of the shots from the photoshoot.

As the title suggests just an update on the current projects makemassair is involved with.

• 7 minute short film for the fashion label Sample Remix to be screened alongside a fashion show/catwalk at Festival of Sins in October.
• Color regrading of a local community charity documentary short on knifecrime
• midnightminustwo, the label, blog and that (will working on the 2nd promo video, the first being here, very soon)
• video teaser loop for electronica music producer Skywave Systems
• several website designs for music labels: BOPS, midnight and Subslayers
• a 3rd longer video promo teaser for the Serbian techno producers, Concrete DJz

I’ll be making some posts about recently completed projects too, shortly; including the General Midi Tour Visuals DVD.