at last, something NIMBy that i can get behind
October 22, 2020 1:09 PM Subscribe
No-Instrument Mixing Board is a full-length album of manipulated feedback by Japanese musician Toshimaru Nakamura, whose instrument is a mixing board with its output plugged into its input. (Track 4 has some very high frequency tones; you may want to skip to 25:20 when those show up if you still have your hearing up there.)
Haven't watched it all, but this looks like a good basic explanation?
No Input Mixer Tutorial
posted by floppyroofing at 1:43 PM on October 22, 2020 [6 favorites]
No Input Mixer Tutorial
posted by floppyroofing at 1:43 PM on October 22, 2020 [6 favorites]
Just a couple years earlier ('97 vs 2000), System Error (a side project of "Higher Intelligence Agency") did something real similar with the album Nothing - internal noise etc. It was before SSDs and you can totally hear hard drives seeking. It's definitely got a lot in common with this though maybe is a bit more accessible (more rhythmic, less high pitched stuff)
how does this differ from using a synthesizer?
I would argue that this is using a synthesizer, just not one that was meant to be used this way. But different synths have wildly different capabilities and limitations, and lend themselves to (or even dictate) wildly different workflows and results, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by aubilenon at 1:55 PM on October 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
how does this differ from using a synthesizer?
I would argue that this is using a synthesizer, just not one that was meant to be used this way. But different synths have wildly different capabilities and limitations, and lend themselves to (or even dictate) wildly different workflows and results, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by aubilenon at 1:55 PM on October 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
I think he might have played at the What Is Music? festival in Melbourne in the late 90s/early 00s. (That was a festival of sound art, which was mostly people finding innovative ways of making noise. Half of the performers seemed to be from Austria, presumably because at the time the Austrian government would pay the airfare to Melbourne to anybody who figured out how to spend half an hour making burbling noises in Max/MSP, and there was a chap who called himself Smallcock who probably inflicted permanent hearing loss on at least some attendees by blurting into a microphone running through some distortion pedals into the PA.)
posted by acb at 3:11 PM on October 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by acb at 3:11 PM on October 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
Reminds me of Lou Reed's 1975 Metal Machine Music (full album can be found here).
posted by blob at 3:45 PM on October 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by blob at 3:45 PM on October 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
This is wonderful.
posted by Lutoslawski at 4:14 PM on October 22, 2020
posted by Lutoslawski at 4:14 PM on October 22, 2020
... and there was a chap who called himself Smallcock ...
I heard he has tons of groupies.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:29 PM on October 22, 2020
I heard he has tons of groupies.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:29 PM on October 22, 2020
For those wondering (I was) here's a video showing the actions of someone playing this style of music.
Youtube: TItle: Mask for no-input mixer (complete version) by Marko Ciciliani Description: "Mask" for no-input mixer by Marko Ciciliani, composed in 2001 live recording from "Metronome" in Barcelona in 2005")
This is very cool and I am glad to have learned about it.
posted by tiamat at 4:35 PM on October 22, 2020
Youtube: TItle: Mask for no-input mixer (complete version) by Marko Ciciliani Description: "Mask" for no-input mixer by Marko Ciciliani, composed in 2001 live recording from "Metronome" in Barcelona in 2005")
This is very cool and I am glad to have learned about it.
posted by tiamat at 4:35 PM on October 22, 2020
how does this differ from using a synthesizer?
Very little.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:42 PM on October 22, 2020
Very little.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:42 PM on October 22, 2020
Sounds groovy.
Reminds me of Lou Reed's 1975 Metal Machine Music...
A venerable antecedent of this genre of sound-art. In related, I couldn't find a link to the artist who looped 35(?) Boss guitar pedals in a closed circle for a show in Toronto around a decade ago?
posted by ovvl at 5:11 PM on October 22, 2020
Reminds me of Lou Reed's 1975 Metal Machine Music...
A venerable antecedent of this genre of sound-art. In related, I couldn't find a link to the artist who looped 35(?) Boss guitar pedals in a closed circle for a show in Toronto around a decade ago?
posted by ovvl at 5:11 PM on October 22, 2020
rarely do I have the experience of clicking through to a youtube video that messes up my recommendations in a good way.
thank you for throwing me even further down the experimental electronic music rabbithole that's been keeping me sane this year.
posted by Vetinari at 6:16 AM on October 23, 2020
thank you for throwing me even further down the experimental electronic music rabbithole that's been keeping me sane this year.
posted by Vetinari at 6:16 AM on October 23, 2020
> how does this differ from using a synthesizer?
I tried this with my old Mackie 1202vlz and it was super non-intuitive. Turning one knob would have huge and unpredictable effects of the behavior of other knobs.
> How does he prevent it from becoming a positive feedback harsh clipping sound?
I kept one hand on the master volume at all times. It'd be better with some pretty aggressive limiting.
posted by technodelic at 12:29 PM on October 23, 2020
I tried this with my old Mackie 1202vlz and it was super non-intuitive. Turning one knob would have huge and unpredictable effects of the behavior of other knobs.
> How does he prevent it from becoming a positive feedback harsh clipping sound?
I kept one hand on the master volume at all times. It'd be better with some pretty aggressive limiting.
posted by technodelic at 12:29 PM on October 23, 2020
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