The subject of Naut Humon's Sound Traffic Control was mentioned briefly on this
list a few weeks ago. Sound Traffic Control is putting on two performances in
San Francisco. Here's some info about them...
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SOUND TRAFFIC CONTROL's "THRONE OF DRONES" and "RE-IMMERSION"
Thursday 10 November & Friday 11 November, 1994
Club Townsend, 174 Townsend Street, San Francisco
"THRONE OF DRONES" and "RE-IMMERSION" are two of the more unusual
electronic/ambient music events you'll see/hear this year in San Francisco.
The shows, presented by SOUND TRAFFIC CONTROL (a Bay Area-based media arts
collective), feature a unique real-time spatial audio system through which
musicians, engineers, conductors, vocalists and DJs form an interwoven,
surround-sound orchestra. Anyone who heard the Mixmaster Morris/Spacetime
Continuum presentation last spring will find these to be a great follow-up.
Sound Traffic Control's audio/visual system is a 3D sound reinforcement
network that projects music and audio animation throughout the room,
creating sonic environments that stretch the boundaries beyond the THX
audio arrays used in many theaters. "Sound Traffic Control" is also a
metaphor: the "air traffic controllers" in the 3D Surround Hub pilot
airborne "musical cargo ships" from different parts of STC's "sound world"
utilizing separate/simultaneous "taxis," "takeoffs," and "landings." The
audience members are "passengers" who roam runways intersecting the dynamic
musical trajectories.
Thursday's "THRONE OF DRONES" features the ISO-AMBIENT ORCHESTRA, a group
of instrumentalists from numerous local bands and international solo
projects whose real-time virtual performance is akin to an Internet-style
online experience. Iso-Ambient Orchestra members include: Joe Gore; Chris
Muir; Michael Belfer (Torcher); Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre)
and Larry LaLonde (Primus) and a host of others. Later on the same bill is
David Darling, solo cellist, whose evocative music provides an atmospheric
melancholy. Those familiar with his CD releases on the ECM and Hearts of
Space labels should witness his inauguration into the 3D sound field. Along
with this, arrives the Acid Karaoke of Carl Stone and oriental singer Mien
Xiao-Fen. Stone is an internationally-known electronic music composer who
has traveled extensively and released many wild and whimsical works for New
Albion and other labels. His music, in combination with Mien Xiao Fen's
exotic vocals, should transform the event into a department-store frenzy.
DJs for the night are not your usual fare: ethnic/world specialist Cheb i
Sabbah will create a multilayered tribal/space mix; Jonah Sharpe is back
from England with a fresh new collection of tracks; and debuting on
"digital transport" will be the creator, co-ordinator and curator of Sound
Traffic Control, Naut Humon. The Drones begin at 9 p.m., tickets are $6.
Friday's RE-IMMERSION, presented in conjunction with Ambient Jungle, adds a
festive element to the occasion. Appearing with STC will be Spacetime
Continuum, a techno-ambient convergence from the Astralwerks label guided
by Jonah Sharpe, whose aural exploits include collaborations with Bill
Laswell, Peter Namlook and Deep Space Network. The evening's lift-off will
be provided by Reflective Records' Single Cell Orchestra, who explore the
mysterious underside of the ambient phenomenon through chromatic
transpositions and narrative form. For those who continue to dance, DJs
Mark Farina, Thomas and Felix will spin atypical house- and techno-beats in
the Dubzone. Macross Vision by Hyperdelic will fill the Dubzone with
synaesthetic color and light. Doors open at midnight, tickets are $10.
On both nights, the 3D sonic habitat will be punctuated by Perry Hoberman's
"Symphonic Appliance System," which animates a garage-sale full of
household gadgets including projectors, radios, records and electric tools
in an audio/visual atomic-age setting.
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention for pro audio gearheads at
San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center will run concurrently with the
shows, so anyone looking for a futuristic sampling of audio technology
outside the convention site need look no further. Sound Traffic Control
uses a Level Control System from LCS, Inc. that sends multiple Macintosh
digital audio workstation outputs live to discreet DSP mixer posts which
are then forwarded to a 3D loudspeaker diffusion matrix.
For more information, contact Sound Traffic Control at (415) 522.7380
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