Pedro Paulos

Spectral Tablature is a series of collaborative installations that explore sound generated through visual processes. Sound is recorded or synthesized using common techniques then converted into images called spectral analysis. These forms are re-interpreted as a visual artifact then converted back into sound. For each pair, or “duet,” the similarities and differences in tone and texture can be heard as well as seen in the work. This series, along with two more of my installations, is currently on display for my thesis exhibition at the Northrup King Building in Minneapolis. Please read on for images and descriptions of each pair of prints along with the audio.

The first pair in the series are titled Vocal Exercises and Vocal Exercises Reprise. In this pair I collaborated with my father (also named John Keston) who was the subject for the vocal recording. The image above represents the spectral analysis of his recorded vocalizations. Frequency is the y-axis and time is the x-axis. The darker lines are the fundamental frequecies. The faded areas show overtones and undertones.

To re-interpret this piece I regenerated the recorded vocalizations using formant sequencing, a technique that synthesizes human vowels sounds and sibilance similar to speech synthesis. Instead of sampling the audio, a collection of parameters are extracted from the signal that control filters over time in a formant sequence that is then programmed into the Yamaha FS1R synthesizer.

The second pair are titled Synthetic Arches and Synthetic Arches Reprise. In print the spectral analysis of the original synthesized, arpeggiated sequence generates a precise, geometric pattern that is rarely seen in acoustic signals.

Collaborator Jasio Stefanski’s interpretation of the piece was deconstructed using a system of shapes and colors that simplify and emphasize the original geometric forms. Ironically the texture of the paper and screen printed inks create a more complex sonic texture than the original synthesized oscillations.

The final pair in the series are titled Rubato Etude #9 and Rubato Etude #9 Reprise. This sparse piano composition illustrates the dense and organized frequency spectrum of the instrument while the sustain pedal is held.

In this interpretation by Jon Davis the spectral analysis of the piano recording has been composited with a processed photograph of rail cars producing a glitchy, organic noise along with the piano textures.

Note: all of the spectral analysis files were generated using Michel Rouzic’s powerful application, Photosounder. The Yamaha FS1R system exclusive files that contain the formant sequence in Vocal Exercises Reprise were created using Zach Archer‘s online tool FSeq-Flash. You can also view the iPad optimized web application that I designed for the exhibit’s gallery installation.

android18:

meanwhile at tumblr headquarters

After seeing a Reddit post on the convergence of Miss Korea faces, supposedly due to high rates of plastic surgery, graduate student Jia-Bin Huang analyzed the faces of 20 contestants. Below is a short video of each face slowly transitioning to the other.

From the video and pictures it's pretty clear that the photos look similar, but Huang took it a step further with a handful of computer vision techniques to quantify the likeness between faces. And again, the analysis shows similarity between the photos, so the gut reaction is that the contestants are nearly identical.

However, you have to assume that the pictures are accurate representations of the contestants, which doesn't seem to pan out at all. It's amazing what some makeup, hair, and photoshop can do.

You gotta consider your data source before you make assumptions about what that data represents.

Scumbag Windows Updates

[via]

[ellen]

ven0moth:

no, iphone

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.

It’s normal.

You’re bent on finishing the work at hand, and suddenly something comes up. You don’t give thought to how pressing any distraction is — you just give it attention.

Five minutes, ten minutes. Sometimes it goes to over an hour.

When you get back to work — boom — you’ve no idea where you left off or why you couldn’t get your mind and heart into it. You can’t stay focused at work anymore and are becoming less productive. There goes your valuable time and effort. There goes your momentum and peak of creativity.

Because there’s no chance of shutting out the world while you’re busy, the decision to stay focused at work is in your hands. It’s about finding the right techniques, knowing your priorities, and sticking to them.

Stuck for ideas? Well, here are 15 ways to stay focused at work:

15 Ways To Stay Focused At Work

The post Daily Quote: Talent without Discipline is Like an Octopus on Roller Skates appeared first on Lifehack.

streetsnapfashion:

royal-morning-glory:

rollingbarrel:

milky-honey:

such a cool 12 yr old.. ；＿；

12year olds have more style than me 

“I ♥spank!” button. Wait, what?

Spank! is a really famous  fairy kei store =3

gordazine:

fatsmartandpretty:

“I don’t care about your diet” print available on etsy 

no me intersa tu dieta

Heavy 90s jack! Another ghetto Dance Mania gem from the ’96 Ep, Still Smoking 2 Dis II - quite fitting considering its recent reincarnation too! Big looping sampled house made the way it should be. The hats in this are pure filth, summer is coming!

[via]

thegavin2000 Really disappointed in Ben Stiller #卐.

Related posts:

1. instaboner 447 @thegavin2000
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This is certainly not the first time this is ever happened; someone taking a tune from today and remixing it into an 8-bit song. YouTube user Floating Point did just that with Daft Punk’s newest single “Get Lucky,” and boy does it just work.

Daft punk is known to take sounds like they were from an decade or two ago, but somehow makes it into a fresh beat. So combine that music philosophy with 8-bit chip-tunes, and you get something that you’ll actually blast in your headphones.

Source: Complex

the community centre - jam session