I/O Dock
I/O Dock, originally uploaded by Black Heart Industries.
I have started to make noise again. It’s been a long while. I’ve always wanted a noise tricorder, this is close. The first thing was to get some interesting apps. Then get my sources into the iPad. Years ago I digitized my 4 track tapes to load them into my 2 SP-808s. I loaded 112 sources into the iPad. The third thing was to add professional I/O. That would be the Alesis I/O Dock. It’s bigger then I thought. Sure it’s plastic, but not cheep. The only strange thing is the iPad must be turned on first or you’ll get some strange results. The app on the screen is Curtis by The Strange Agency. It’s a granular synthesizer. I’ll be reviewing some apps in the future.
Old noise video
This is an old video of me and some others doing an in-store performance at Auricular Records, now defunct.
White Elephant pre-sale – 2011
White Elephant pre-sale – 2011, originally uploaded by Black Heart Industries.
Ok, I went a little crazy. The main thing I’m excited about is the mechanical handheld games in the center. These are hard to find. I found the mother load. The boom box is in perfect shape. The Erector set is incomplete and has some newer pieces as well. I like using them to make all matter of gadgets. The American Tool set is complete, but I got it for the box, which I already have one just like it. I use it for my leather tools. The carts are for the Intellivision video game system and three for the N64. The Hamilton Beach milkshake blender needs a little love, but is beautiful. I got lost in the “bric-a -brack” department. The leather photo album, metal boxes, accordion files, pencil sharpener, Japanese lacquer box, ink, calculators, and clips came from there. The leather photo album only had a few pictures and will become a collage book. With the pages being so thick, I realized that I can cut into them, making it posable to use subtractive methods. I have become obsessed with clips lately. The clothes line pin is made of brass and the red clip says: Masonic Employment Service, for dependable personnel, men and women, phone HIgate 5885. I don’t have a great deal of wall space, as I live in a converted attic, so I layer my artwork and photos using clips and use picture frames as a way to add structure, instead of just highlighting the subject. Another meaning of frame. The poker chips have been removed and the box has been made flat on the inside. Also, the loose leather has been glued down. The hat is from World War 2, American. Hooks for my craft show display. Some electronic parts and finally a small Boss mixer. Some day I’ll come out of retirement and make some noise.
Record and tape cabinet
Record and tape cabinet, originally uploaded by Black Heart Industries.
The two fruit crates of records and three wooden tape holders were driving me crazy, so I made this cabinet. It’s 34″ x 22.5″ x 13.25″ and made of the lids of wine barrels and oak wine flavoring sticks. The pulls are salvaged from something long ago. I haven’t listened to any records or tapes since I moved three years ago. I’ve been wanting to listen to the Butthole Surfers for I while now, along with Melanie, Kate Bush, Virgin Prunes, The Birthday Party, and the Siouxsie vinyl bootlegs, etc. As for the tapes, I have my radio show at KZSU Stanford, The Process, which I did live noise every week, recordings of The Hour of Slack, No Other Radio Network, The Hell Fire Club, noise only released on cassette, and live shows I’ve recorded. All the regular tapes are in the workshop. One tape I will be digitizing is an early tape of Rubella Ballet, Ballet Bag 1982. It was a cassette only release with booklet, stickers and badge. I still have the badge. Thought the tape was lost; glad I found it.
Toys
Toys, originally uploaded by Black Heart Industries.
As I await the parts for my clock to arrive in the mail, I feel a bit anxious, so I thought I’d work on some toys. I have over 200 toys that require hacking. I striped the plastic and useless parts off of 30 of the simpler ones and put them in envelops. They fit nicely in the lower right drawer of my desk. “The hand” is unfinished. It needs a button switch that will be located above the speaker, and will be disguised behind an eye. Also, an output jack will be added. The two boxes in front of “The Hand” are examples of finished noise boxes. I have many more and should probably put them all in one place. The circuit board on the right is in the process of being reverse engineered. It was a very cheap ray gun made from discreet components. It might be interesting to rebuild it from electron tubes, but first I want to tweak and improve it with less lethal components. Vault Boy continues to encourage.
Show-N-Tell: Turntable parts
Turntable parts, originally uploaded by Black Heart Industries.
20 years of collecting. Before you ask, the answer is “NO!” Some of these parts were used in the Metagraph, R.I.P. The red tin was used to house one part of what is now the Zulu Box. It was then used as a rotating platform to hold marbles and nails through the holes on its edge, for the purpose of making electro-acoustic noise. Can’t believe I still have that piece of junk.
Metagraph No.2
Metagraph No.2, originally uploaded by Black Heart Industries.
Never to be finished noise machine. There would have been a platform at the top to hold eight turntable arms, four for the top of the record, and four for the bottom. The arms would be lock grooving, making eight loops, and destroying the record in the process. The first Metagraph was built in the early 1990s, and lived for about eight years. It is now dismantled, like this one. It had seven arms, three of which where motorized, scratching the record against the grooves.
