Glass as music

[Racer X]

So as most of you who know me know, I play music. Specificaly sax, but in the back of my mind I've always thought it would be possible to make glass sculpture that could be played like a woodwind instrument. So I started experimenting with different things over the years with no success. Everything I made sucked, and sounded like shit until I made this.

http://www.glassartists.org/Gal33464_.asp

It sounds a low A flat an octave and a half below middle C. I put a grommett on the pipe, put my neckpipe of my alto onto it with a tenor reed strapped on and I get a whole array of sounds not possible on any of my horns. I can coax a chord out of it too, by manipulating the partials I can produce an A flat major chord, that sounds really wild. I can tell it wants to go even lower... it has the potential to drop down a fifth lower or even an octave. So today, I have an attachment to do two more U turns to attach to the pipe in order to get just a little lower frequency.

Here's what was fun about playing it too. After it got warmed up and I started narrowing in on it's sweet spot and getting the bass tones speaking... every piece of glass in the house started chattering every so often. It seemed that the other pieces had a frequency similar, or a resultant tone could be coaxed out of them. Some shit actualy cracked. So something is definately going on that I need to know why. Hence long conversations with acoustical physics Phd's who have theories, ideas... but really need to see, hear and guage what is going on with this thing. I DB'd it and it produces significantly low DB's, so the volume isn't it. It's some sort of frequency resonance effect that is mind blowingly fun to play with.

If anyone has any ideas, input or theories... I would really like to read them. Because this stuff is exciting to me. I plan on building a whole array of sculptures meant for this type of experimental music project that I am involved in.

[vetropod]

Nice man!!! Glad to see the pics after hearing about it, and now I want you to post a recording somewheres for us!!!

http://www.wesleyfleming.com/images/icons/MichealJ.gif

[slave]

Awesome stuff.

I've been wanting to do something similar ever since i saw this video. I dont have any of the answers you want but you might be able to pull some more info out of the author of the video and there findings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4-QQCKN1Co&e

[Jimi The Don]

simply put, bitchin..

[Racer X]

I did record it yesterday... I just attached the extension that should get me way lower. I wanted to keep an archive of sounds, in case I changed it too much in one way or another. I have a share space, once I have wav files processed I'll link them.

[Flux]

Yeah!

[kobuki]

Not a woodwind but you might check out Ben Franklin's Armonica

JK

[themoch]

rex,

i love it man... but you know it's called a hand torch :P

that must have been a bitch getting that thing up to the bench and keeping it steady.

[Racer X]

Not a woodwind but you might check out Ben Franklin's Armonica

JKJ

You don't say much, but you're straight to the point, and I salute you for it.

WAV files pending.

[Glacier_Arts_Studio]

mad scientist stuff rules...

...

[Racer X]

http://www.4shared.com/account/file/83009801/b7ebadf9/GLASS_01.html

there it is.

[Flux]

Thanks Rex, that recording is putting my cat on edge.

[Alfred]

Rex that is simply AWESOME! You must be hitting the resonant frequencies of some of the glass items in the house.Check out these links for more info:

Acoustic Resonance:Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_resonance)
Breaking glass with sound (http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/acoustics_info/glass/)

WOW the .wav just finished loading that thing sounds incredible!!!The chords are PHAT!It's looks like it came right out of a Dr. Suess book!
I made several glass flutes for my brother several years ago,you've just inspired me to re-visit those experiments!For those of you interested in flutes check out this link:
Flutomat Javascript Flute designer (http://www.cwo.com/~ph_kosel/flutomat.html)

[vetropod]

Intense, man! Hey - is that a bird in the background (whistling?) or is that all from the harmonics?

I've got a friend that makes some electronic music that sounds a lot like that...

[mer]

Most dope.

[Alfred]

Been searching for something similar to the flutomat online for Sax,this is the best I've come up with so far:

Introduction to Saxophone Acoustics (http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/saxacoustics.html#moredetail)

Probably a lot of stuff you already know Rex,but might have some stuff you can use.

[Swampy]

Thanks for the reminder Alfred, your link is the original one I usedto make a windchime from some leftover fence tubing.

I cut the tubes at the lengths your programme specified, for the key of D so...

There are six tube chimes, two at F#, two at D, two at A.

Instead of using the programme to calculate the hole distance, I used that to calculate the length of the tube.

[Racer X]

Oh yeah, my birds were going nuts yesterday when I was trying to record this thing. I think Clyde is pretty interested in this new sound. He somehow seems to find his way onto almost every recording I do.

Oh and thanks Alf... I'll check those links. My horn tech says we should put a much bigger mouthpiece on it and see if I get kicked out of the nieghborhood.

[Racer X]

http://www.4shared.com/file/83174593/be933a7/GLASS_02.html


Now there are tone holes, at least a few. Pretty neat. This one is MP3, so it should download much faster.

[Racer X]

http://www.4shared.com/file/83457121/39a24ea1/Glass_colab_with_Judamen_aka_Glasskitchen.html


Chris calls up, horn works better (still not there yet) and presto.

[gypsea]

rex, that is too cool, & chriss's vocals sound like a cross between a southern preacher & an old jazz man....more, more, more....please.............

[Aymie]

pretty spiffy son

[Racer X]

I smoked weed out of it too. In my moms house. And then I celebrated solstice (late). Next I plan to make a new car like in the Flinstones.

[VOORHEES]

Dude, I have no idea about the science behind music, but I am so impressed by this...I haven't even had the chance to listen to it yet.
AWESOME!

[Racer X]

So the thing gets easier to play each day. There are tons of harmonics all over the place within it's limited scale to allow me a huge range of sounds. The thing vibrates less now as I play it and more of the vibration is internal. It shakes my colarbones pretty good and makes me feel all relaxed like I'm getting some really good massage on my chest.

I also learned a great deal about how to troubleshoot problems in air flow by running lite test fishing line and pulling it through the horn to find defects and improve resistance areas while playing it. Kind of fun.

My band is coming together quickly. The club I'm playing at wants to webcast... so when that happens I'll link it.

The work that can be done on this horn, I think is done. I can't really do much more to it other than play it. So it's on to the next one with the goal of more tonality and maybe even a broader, more projecting sound. Maybe even more contra-bass. I don't know exactly yet, but I have a bunch of different designs to try and deciding on them is a hard choice.

Anyone have a condensor microphone they might want to trade? Or a decent vocal mic... just throwing that out there. lol

[Racer X]

http://www.glassorchestra.com/index1.html

that's a pretty funny page. It seems dead though.

[Joe Blow]

that is killer piece. Just started thinking about it and you could probably adjust the pitch with some sort of a plunger that could act like a capo or trombone.... anyways just a thought. Keep rockin!

[Robert Mickelsen]

Astonishing sounds. But I am willing to bet we humans can only hear a fraction of what is going on, particularly in the lower frequencies. Those rattling objects around your house are being bombarded by soundwaves, most of which we probably are deaf to. Amazing invention, Rex. You are on to something here. I would think that sound effect people in Hollywood would be frothing to get their hands on this first.

- RAM

[Racer X]

But I am willing to bet we humans can only hear a fraction of what is going on, particularly in the lower frequencies. Those rattling objects around your house are being bombarded by soundwaves, most of which we probably are deaf to.

Yes and no. It's not quite low enough. The ones we can't hear are resultant tones from certain frequencies instersecting at the right points in order to create a harmonic tone that feels more than it sounds. I can feel it... it's like a bubble effect and I can kind of hear it and pick them out, but on the recording it's much harder for me to identify them. The mic I'm using is not equipped to grab the full wave length, but it's pretty close.

Glass, is a powerfull resonator... as I am finding out. Part of it being an insulator rather than being a conductor leads me to believe, had I built this out of metal I would not have the full range of overtones and harmonics that are coming out of this thing.


I would think that sound effect people in Hollywood would be frothing to get their hands on this first.


Know anybody? I'm accepting cash offers.

Seriously, I am considering applying for grants. And I fully expect to document this process, record it, perform with it and perhaps create an environment piece for instalation and performance.

The second route is to go out and compete in the new music instrument symposiums. Apparently contra bass is highly, highly valued and most of the instruments are quite spendy to make or buy. France, Germany, NYC and San Francisco are places of interest mentioned to me by other legitimate instrument designers and makers.

Third route, is get together some of my hard pipe hittin homies (music and glass workers) and take over a not-for profit studio and start building some serious shit that is huge... and will probably get us kicked out of whatever neighborhood we go to for the gigantic noises that come out of the work.

Thanks Robin,
Told you I would combine glass and music somehow.

[Meerkat]

There is this lady having a performance here in Adelaide at the end of the month where she is playing music on glass bowls that she formed.

[Racer X]

http://www.4shared.com/account/file/86240049/4437d691/GLASS_04.html

Investigating the possibilities and tonalities on this one.

http://www.4shared.com/account/file/86246421/3ed40e25/Gospel_Drone.html

Screwing around on this one.

First one is short and would take some time to download. Second one is long and fast to download. First one is more of the vetrophone, with drums and a track of me trying to tune up to it a little and experimenting with pitches. The second one is just my tenor and drum.

Yeah, and that's what I'm naming these things. Vetrophones. At least the ones I can play.

[FredLight]

Hey, a bit late, but I've been thinking about it awhile.

Have you considered GonG joints for valves and changing things that you add to it?

[Racer X]

Yes Fred. Apparently there are some couplings that go over gong fittings to make sure they don't come apart and such while playing. I don't know much about that stuff though. Hoping some of my more scientific minded fellows will be able to help with that.

[mer]

keck clips (http://www.thegldg.com/forum/search.php?searchid=870257)?

[Racer X]

I'm starting to find some practical uses for this horn I built.

http://www.4shared.com/file/119750613/cbd6529f/New_shite.html

I kept it small, but I've been working on alot of different musical projects. This one uses the glass horn alot. I actually really like this one. I'm kind of amassing a bit of material and I'm now thinking about a CD release in the future. I got a bit of a group going now and I have been torturing the locals with my practice and music editing along with crazy freak out jams with my drummer.

I would like to finish the next horn, but it's fairly scarey in scale, complexity and overall wackiness. I think I need to sack up and get it done.

[Swampy]

Rex I always wanted to play the bagpipes.

seriously.

you think that's possible in glass?

[Racer X]

Hey Paul, yeah I thought about this. I'll send you a couple of thoughts I have... you'd need a few things, components that aren't glass... but I'd say over 90 percent of a bag pipe could be constructed. I want to make a contrabass thing similar to a bag pipe, at least some of the concept would be included. I'll send you a message on facebook and explain what I mean. Once I recover my notes on this project.

[medicatedMELTDOWN]

Hey Rex - great sounds you are producing. I would buy a CD if you make em. That song you posted today has such a chill beat... I could listen to it for hours if it was looped continuously.. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Racer X]

You know what is funny about that last post is that Milissa wants to kill me for playing loops of the same shit over and over trying to isolate the best takes on horn parts, bass, drums etc...

My skills in production are mediocre to say the least. But I have scored a ton of gear for either super cheap or free in order to build a sound studio. A vast improvement was made with two MXL condensor mics, pre-amp, wind screen and copy of Cakewalk Pro Audio 9. However, I have maxed out my computer and continually overfill my SD card on my four track. I need way more gigs for what I'm doing.

So check this out. I fill tracks on the four track (which has a virtual sixteen) and then send them as a WAV file to the PC which I can then edit, copy, loop or whatever. Send back the best parts to the fourtrack and then fill up the tracks again. I never realized how much you can do with bounce recording.

Just recently my Hammond organs tone generator took a dump. Way too expensive to repair for how much I play it, so I took the tone cabinet apart and built an amplifier out of it... and it is beefy. It also has a Leslie in it that I wired the motor to a dimmer switch. So after putting it together I ran a track of the glass horn through the amp with the Leslie and recorded it with various signal strengths. The results were astounding. Many different notes come out of it because of the doppler making different waves intersect in odd places.

I go back to work on tracks on Monday with my drummer. We are indeed gearing up for a CD release at some point. We have tons of material and we're getting prepared for some touring. Once I have my web situation sorted out I'll post it here. So keep an eye out for me, I might be in your area at some point in the future.

One of the positives of this move is the overall promotion of glass. I'm brainstorming with a few folks on how to maybe turn people on to alot of artwork that maybe would go unnoticed in the general music going population.
I'm open to suggestions in that area... and like I said, when I get the website up I'll try to figure in a bunch of general education of glass art and links to alot of peoples pages that have been making quality achievements in the field.

[Racer X]

http://www.4shared.com/file/198005976/71131950/Showboat.html


Getting a little closer to finality on this.

[naughty pirate wench]

listening to this now - v-e-r-y cool. when's the CD going to be released?!? :bouncy::party::bouncy:

[Racer X]

I'm hoping sometime this spring. But it's slow going. So much more needs to be done it's ridiculous. And I recently upgraded all my DAW from a generous donation by a friend. Which blew the roof all my computer based editing and allowed me to expand on the comps I have lined up.

And then there's the issue of cover art, liner notes, lack of funds, the next horn I have to build, sobriety, bad hair and potential tour dates in the Northwest this summer...

I most likely will release this on Bandcamp.me at first to try and raise the funds for a physical CD. Then once I have that, I can get it out to people in various places. I have a lot of interest in the finished product. But it can't be shit. I'm really trying to make the absolute best glass instrument recording in history, and that's not that hard considering most of the dribble I have experienced. However, the glass armonica still trumps me. So lots of work to do.

[NUBBLET]

Glad to see your still around , I grabbed this other day , still need to hear it .

Good luck with the project .


any other music you been playin with ? You know Im down to hear some suggestions .

I will suggest Esquivel ! He has passed now but his music has been used for years since the 50s60s till today . The man is more than a genius , read about him if you can , amazing talent and vision along with accomplishments from a young age till in his 80s .
RIP

PS if nothing else look up Brazil done by him , it is 3 versions of the same song , to dif tempos and with dif focal instruments , all set to the tone of (you) visiting 3 bars each playing a dif version complete with ambient sounds .
oh man there are so many good ones , RCA had him write a record for them to demonstrate what you could do with their new stereo equiptment , It was not released because RCA said it was so complex and finely done the average listener would get confused and not understand it , you can find some of it maybe all out there in intardnet land .

[Racer X]

I had no idea of the Esquivel body of work that you mention. I will check into that. It sounds right up my alley the way that is mixed and the intention of the recordings.

As far as musical inspirations. I've been checking out electric Miles (bitches brew, Files de Kilamanjaro, Jack Johnson... all that stuff), the impulse Alternates of John Coltranes Love Supreme (can't believe that stuff didn't make the record, there is possibly one of the greatest live double bass solos ever on it by Jimmy Garrison), of course MMW, the Bad Plus, Quasi, The Visible Men, Carl Denson, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Al Dimeola, lots and lots of the Bach Cello Suites (have them all transcribed), Nicholas Slonimski's book of Melodic Patterns (a great book well beyond the normal in this case, absolute genius), Thelonius Monk, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, John Zorn, Klezmer tunes, Peter Tosh, Victor Theremin... Anything about MIDI and electronics. I have some education in that area, but I took it forgranted for far too long. My practicing is wierd and exact now because my timing has to be right on for me to do this recording thing and not waste time. So once a week I have a freakout session with my drummer.

[Racer X]

http://soundcloud.com/you/tracks

Streamers Yo. Two decent glass versions. Showboat and the Judamen Colab.

Or if you like FB.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rex-Trimm/221656071201099

I should start having way more material up soon.

[Racer X]

https://soundcloud.com/snake-pliskin/worm

Latest thing I've created with the horn. Been playing bass clarinet too lately. Happy holidays and all.