Buck
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Brief Description
A multimedia installation work created using Max/MSP and GEM (Graphical Environment for Multimedia). It was performed and based on Buck Memorial Hall at University of the Pacific. Audience members walk into a dark room containing a projection screen, four channel surround sound, a microphone, and a chair with a controller. On the screen are images of the hall which are manipulated based on certain events. Audience members can sit at the controller and move about the hall in a first person view on the screen while live.
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Overview
Buck is an installation work created in Max/MSP and Graphical Environment for Multimedia (GEM) for Pure Data. The performance requires a digital projector, screen, four speakers, two microphones, game pad, Apple G5 computer, audio interface, and a mixer. The work features live audio input and processing, four channel surround sound, and audience interaction with the video and audio components. Based on Buck Memorial Hall on the University of the Pacific Campus, audience members take a virtual first person walkthrough of the hall while hearing live and pre recorded audio changing depending where they are in the virtual hall.
The visual elements consist of many photos taken of the real hall. The floor plan of the hall was laid out on a grid which represents how far you move when you “go forward” in the piece. Each square requires four photos, one for each direction you could face. As an audience member moves about the virtual hall, via a game pad, the photo of the current position dissolves while the new position appears. In addition, there are two functions which affect the images whether or not the position is changing. One causes the screen to appear to be wobbling back and forth. The second constantly changes the color values of the images. Both of these effects can be called by audience from a certain place in the virtual hall but will also cycle on and off over time. They are designed to add an extra layer of visual interest to the visual side of the piece other than just movement from place to place.
The premise of creating a virtual representation of a space was driven by wanting to create a piece for a dynamic space in a static space. To achieve this I assigned various acoustic properties to the different areas in the virtual hall so that as the viewer moves they will experience the sound moving with them. The properties I dealt with were reverb, echo, frequency, spatialization, and proximity. For example, if the viewer pushes the turn left button, the picture changes to what was to the left of them and the speaker field pans to sound as if you have physically turned. As you walk from room to room, the delay time, reverb amount, and frequency of the sounds increase or decrease. If you move closer to a certain location which is emitting sound, it gets louder and as you move away from it, it gets quieter.
The room is configured with a projector in the back of the room and the screen in front. Four speakers are arraigned in a square around a chair in the center of the room. The game pad which allows movement through the virtual hall is placed by the chair. One microphone on a stand is placed in the room to allow audience members to make sounds into it. A second microphone is hung outside the room in the main lobby of the hall to capture live sound from the real hall outside of the room in which the performance takes place. The result is the audience entering a sound world which is driven by the space in which the piece exists but has a life of its own.
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Technical Requirements
-one projector with minimum 1024x768 resolution
-one projector screen
-two XLR microphone cables
-four quarter inch TRS cables
-four adjustable speaker stands
-two unidirectional microphones (one placed outside the room)
-four speakers in standard quad formation
-minimum one in, four out audio interface
-computer with Max/MSP and PD
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Installation Setup
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Overview
Technical Requirements
Installation Setup
Pictures
