Nainesh Shah
A Movement in Tapes & Gestures
A Movement in Tapes & Gestures looks at the exploration of originally sourced audio material, processes that change the way a sound is presented back to us, the influence our body and our gestures may have upon that result, and the narrative that may arise from within it.
My compositional sources are, other than field recordings, a modular synthesiser (with a specific focus on granular synthesis and random generator modules), audio tape (attached to a violin bow) and a DIY box of objects (springs and metal strips) with a tape playback head which I refer to as the soundbox. These materials are used to find alternative ways to explore sound objects. The resulting performances and recordings are the direct process of what I call the ‘Sound Intervention Model’.
The field recordings have a common starting point. They may contain either the same audio but have had differing treatments placed upon them or are recordings of objects from the same soundwalk or soundcycle (an idea similar to a soundwalk but done on a bicycle). The recordings are made using a Zoom H5 field recorder with EM172 multidirectional stereo microphones. The processes, linked to my Sound Intervention Model, are as follows:
Collecting the sounds, through field recordings, soundwalks and soundcycles as well as found objects [Sound occurs].
Presenting recorded sound digitally, using synthesis modules, and electronically using magnetic tape and the tape-bow [Listening].
Presenting sound from physical objects such as springs and metal rods [Listening].
Exciting and resonating the springs and metal rods [Intervention].
Gesture from tape-bow, foot controller and touch pads. [Intervention].
The resulting processed sound from intervention and how I hear and consequently respond with further gesture [Feedback].
Having collected the recordings I focus on manipulation and further re-formation of sounds that lay within, to uncover an acousmatic experience from soundscapes and concrete sounds, to participate as both a performer and a listener and to realise a relationship between the performer and the instrument.