Colour Music

Leningrad and Moscow of the 1920s were alive with artists, writers, scientists and craftsmen who sought a new language of communication. New institutes were established for new collaborations. A universal language was to traverse the borders between different art forms, countries and languages. Even the boundary separating the perception of humans and animals, would be crossed. At the Institute for Artistic Culture in Petrograd/Leningrad the violinist, painter and theorist Mikhail Matiushin (1861-1934) supervised the Department of Organic Culture where a 'grammar of colour' was produced for the use in architecture and design. The sounds made by ice melting, the feel of footsteps in the wet moss – all surrounding impressions from the sky, sounds of birds and the dynamics in motion would influence colour in its appearance. A training programme was elaborated based on a cross-extension of the senses, yoga and meditation, opening up new channels believed to be passed on to coming generations.

Müzik ve renk arasındaki ilişki, fizik disiplinindeki bilim insanlarının da üzerinde durdukları bir konudur. Örneğin Newton, notaları gökkuşağının yedi rengiyle ilişkilendirmiştir ve rengin oluşumunu sağlayan ışığı incelerken de ton aralıklarını renklerle açıklamıştır. Bu çalışmada, renklerin müzik üzerindeki etkileri ve müziğin, rengin en çok kullanıldığı alanlardan biri olan resim sanatı üzerindeki etkileri incelenmiştir.

"http://vimeo.com/69186535
The finale (part 3) of an improvised duet performed with FluxNoisations and circuit-bent radio
(for front on view of the complete performance visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBra9gd5QQ )

Joshua B. Mailman: FluxNoisations (sounds of wood, metal, water, sandpaper, sticks, etc. and live computer graphics controlled through infrared camera motion-capture and sensor gloves)

Luke T. Taylor: circuit-bend radio (dismantled analog radio played with wet hands)

No recordings, audio samples, or videos are used.
All sounds and graphics are generated in the moment of performance.

Joshua Banks Mailman and Luke Thomas Taylor present an extended improvised performance of high-tech and low-fi pulsating noise. The event includes improvised live computer graphics, a colorful spectacle projected on a large screen, controlled by spontaneous body- and hand-movements of Mailman, through his FluxNoisations interactive-dance system. Through this system, Mailman simultaneously generates and steers a stream of percussive-noise sound. Interacting with this, Taylor performs on his own devised noise instrument: a circuit board he plays with wet hands. Through micro-fluctuations of the movement, pressure, and moisture of Taylor's hands, the circuit board displays its hidden potential—a sound world with chaotic connectivity of rich noises, clicks, and glissandos.
"

Il saggio analizza tre casi studio di collaborazioni tra artisti e aziende ritenuti particolarmente emblematici poiché nella prima metà del Novecento hanno portato all’invenzione di dispositivi sonori e/o luminosi destinati ad un’esecuzione dal vivo e all’istituzione di dipartimenti di ricerca congiunta tra ingegneri e artisti: l’incontro nel 1927 tra il dadaista Raoul Hausmann e l’ingegnere Daniel Broido dell’azienda elettrica AEG di Berlino che conduce al brevetto dell’Optofono, un dispositivo di conversione di luce in suono e viceversa; la collaborazione tra il direttore d’orchestra Modest Altschuler e l’ingegnere Preston S. Millar dell’Electrical Testing Laboratories che porta alla realizzazione del Chromola, un proiettore/tastiera di fasci luminosi; la mostra Nine Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, curata nel 1966 dall’artista Robert Rauschenberg e l’ingegnere della compagnia Bell Telephone Laboratories Billy Klüver, a partire dalla quale nasce il dipartimento E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology), un centro di ricerca e sviluppo ad opera di artisti e ingegneri della Bell Telephone Laboratories. L’obiettivo è quello di portare in luce il ruolo che gli artisti hanno avuto nel corso del Novecento come attori di anticipazione, sperimentazione e promozione di innovazione e sviluppo non solo di artefatti tecnico-culturali, ma anche di pratiche discorsive e metodologie di creazione e condivisione di sapere.

A forced choice paradigm was employed, similar to that of a recent experiment conducted by Hubbard (1996) using paired greyscale patches and pitch intervals, which provided evidence of a universal mapping of lightness value relative to pitch height. In the current experiment we used colour, instead of greyscale, and tonal intervals within the normal vocal and instrumental midrange. 40 participants chose between colour combinations derived from two models of pitch-colour correspondence in response to intervals and dyads from all 48 major and minor keys in the cycle of 5ths. Analyses revealed a tendency to map adjacent colours onto close intervals and relate spectrally distant colours to larger intervals, particularly amongst those with musical training, but also among participants with training in visual arts. This experiment provides evidence of a perceptual analogy between pitch and colour relationships, as well as some support for the traditional linear model of pitch-colour correspondence.

"https://vimeo.com/fluxations/psfirstsoloside  FluxNOISations solo from an improvised duet performed with FluxNoisations and circuit-bent radio  (for front on view of the complete performance visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBra9gd5QQ )  In this solo, Joshua B. Mailman: FluxNoisations (sounds of wood, metal, water, sandpaper, sticks, etc. and live computer graphics controlled through infrared camera motion-capture and sensor gloves)  All sounds and graphics are generated in the moment of performance.  The event includes improvised live computer graphics, a colorful spectacle projected on a large screen, controlled by spontaneous body- and hand-movements of Mailman, through his FluxNoisations interactive-dance system. Through this system, Mailman simultaneously generates and steers a stream of percussive-noise sound."

http://vimeo.com/fluxations/mc1 
An improvised audio-visual (interactive dance) performance by Joshua B. Mailman, employing the Fluxations interactive system developed by him and Sofia Paraskeva.  Body movement controls the music and the visuals. Movement around the stage (left vs. right and forward vs. backward) affects harmony and colors. Flex of the right wrist and body posture (upright vs. lowered) affect texture of the music and visuals. Flex of the left wrist affects rhythm of the music and visuals.  Recorded in Montreal in June 2012 at the "Skin-Surface-Circuit: Embodying the Improvisatory" conference of Improvisation Community and Social Practice (ICASP), hosted by McGill University.  Live algorithmic music and graphics designed and programmed by Joshua B. Mailman  Sensor gloves designed, built, and programmed by Sofia Paraskeva  Motion-capture interactive system developed by Joshua B. Mailman and Sofia Paraskeva  Video footage recorded by Stephanie Khoury  Other videos:  http://soundsrite.uws.edu.au/soundsRiteContent/volume5/MailmanInfo.html  http://youtu.be/8eBra9gd5QQ

Abstract
The hue, saturation, lightness (HSL) colour model is an intuitive interface for interaction with the millions of colours which are available in high quality colour processes. This interface makes it possible to specify colours in a natural manner, to manipulate the subjective dimensions of colour independently, to use geometric paths to specify ordered sequences of colours, and to use a system which does not depend on a particular colour output device.

This paper proposes a naturally ordered geometric model of sound, derived from considerations of the form and properties of the HSL colour model. The recognition that both hue and timbre are categorical perceptions is the link which allows the creation of a cycle of timbres which mimics the hue circle. There is no consistent ordering of timbre but it is hypothesised that a subset of timbres may be arranged in a circle by a pair of underlying perceptual axes. The Timbre Circle, in which the most similar timbres are adjacent, and the most dissimilar lie diagonally opposite, is investigated by implementing several such sequences based on dimensions of timbre identified in the psychoacoustic research studies of von Bismarck, Slawson and Grey. A complex timbre attribute consisting of a spectral and temporal component is proposed as the basis for an extension of the Timbre Circle with an independent naturally ordered radial component to form the Timbre Wheel. Brightness is identified in many timbre spaces as the most important aspect, and has been shown to have a perceptual metric. An example of a Timbre Wheel in which brightness is the radial component is implemented and various sequences such as a diagonal and a spiral are used to confirm perceptible ordering and smooth transition through the centre which supports the polar geometry. The sound model is completed by choosing pitch over loudness as a vertical axis, analogous with the lightness axis in the colour model. The result is called the Timbre, Brightness, Pitch (TBP) sound model. The generality of the model is demonstrated by fitting Gaver’s “everyday” synthesis algorithm within the framework.

The TBP sound model is illustrated with a SoundChooser graphical user interface similar to the colour chooser found in many colour applications.

Keywords Colour, Sound, Perception, Synaesthesia, User Interface