ryan rapsys :: composer, producer, musician, filmmaker

And number 10 of the 53 Sonic Scultpures of 2008, March III:

2008: 53 Sonic Sculptures – 10. March III [1 min 39 sec, 1.51mb mp3]

This is a particularly unique sculpture–here’s the back story:

In 2003, I was approached by dance choreographer Lisa McKhann about composing electronic music using various sounds from the Duluth harbor for her to choreograph to for a concert. We went out and recorded a variety of sounds, primarily industrial in nature. I composed a piece, which I temporarily called “Sounds of the Harbor,” which eventually became known as “Industrial Breakdown” with the addition of choreographed dance to go with the music. The work was then performed on February 10th and 11th, 2004 at the Weber Music Hall, University of Minnesota-Duluth. Stephanie Hemphill of Minnesota Public Radio interviewed Lisa and myself about the piece – you can listen to the radio story here: Dancing to the sounds of the Duluth harbor.

So, now we’re getting close to the explanation of this sound sculpture. At some point, Jason Davis of Channel 5 KSTP-ABC (Minneapolis/St. Paul) discovered the work I had done in composing that particular piece in 2004 (as well as making the connection that I was the composer of the soundtrack to Craig Blacklock’s film Minnesota’s North Shore) and decided it would be a good topic for a segment of his program On The Road. He called me up a couple of weeks ago, and we finally scheduled a shoot/interview for his program.

This brings us, finally, to this Sonic Scultpure. For part of the show, he wanted to interview me as well as show me actually working on some music. They came to my studio, and since the topic has to do with the Duluth harbor, I began improvising with some of the sounds I had collected with Lisa back in 2004. Once I know when this program will air, I will have to update this entry, but until then, this sculpture is the result of my improvising with those sounds for that segment of On The Road.

So what did I do? Basically, I improvised primarily using MIDI Soundfonts created with sounds from those libraries (including the lift bridge warning horn and some tractor reverse warning beeps). I improvised with these sounds on my digital piano, as well as creating short loops, etc. All of this was done in my sequencer, Sonar Producer. I won’t go in much more detail then that, but it will be visually clear what I was doing in that particular episode of On The Road with Jason Davis, so be sure to check back to see when that episode will air.

Feel free to comment, as usual!