Album cover design
We are happy to have engaged Dutch designer LouLou to create the cover for the forthcoming album "Who Put John Cage on the Guestlist?" on Musea/Gazul records. Having to deal with three difficult quasi-scientists with a thousand ideas, LouLou proved to be a very adaptable and efficient artist. As far as instrument-design goes, the man would have to be described as a visionary and we cannot wait to bring his blueprint to electrical life. Meanwhile, the album should be out in September, with live research planned in Norway for November and internationally in 2011. That is, if these gadgets make it through airport security controls...
Bird Imitation Experiment
Hemmelig Tempo - Bird Imitation Experiment from hemmelig tempo on Vimeo.
Research report
Participants: Professor Waffel, Doktor Døv, Professor Fokuda-san
Equipment: W5 Secret Bird Oscillator; Zoom H4; Panasonic Lumix GF1
Date: 15th of May.
Site: Ruagerkilen Nature Reserve, Fevik, Norway
The Australian Lyre-bird (Menura superba), the Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) and the Sky Lark (Alauda arvensis ) remain among the most inventive song birds in the natural fauna. The former is known to perform a ritual in which it clears a small circle in the forest and mimics all the other song birds in its’ region. Furthermore, it also interpolates imitations of human-related activities such as snapping photo-apparatuses, growling chain-saws and falling trees. In many respects, the Lyre bird resembles the famous CASIO SK-1 6 bit sampler, but it is not as circuit-bendable.
Professor Waffel constructed his W5 Secret Bird Oscillator from a cannibalized walkie talkie and other circuits which were placed inside a Test Oscillator from the 1950’s. Installing a hand-crank and joystick on the device, he found that it was capable of producing expressive sounds which could mimic local bird species. The current study was conducted during Hemmelig Tempo’s Skjærgårdsseminar 2010, and had two main objectives. 1) To examine whether the device was able to attract other song-birds. 2) To examine whether individual performance styles had an impact on the result.
A suitable location was selected within Ruagerkilen Nature Reserve. The W5 Secret Bird Oscillator was placed on a rock below a bird house which had been put up by Professor Waffel some time ago. Recording the performance with a Zoom H4 portable recorder and a Panasonic Lumix GF1 HD video camera, each performer was given 5,3 minutes to manipulate the bird imitation device using his own idiosyncratic methods.
The study remains inconclusive. It must be considered a major methodological flaw that local bird behaviour was not systematically monitored. Although Doktor Døv claimed to have established communication with a Northern Lapwing (Vanellus Vanellus), listening eagerly for reactions is hardly scientifically valid. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that Professor Fokuda-san’s aggressive performance may have scared away several species from the nature reserve, making the entire study ethically questionable. How Professor Waffel will ever be able to communicate with his neighbours should be the focus of a future study
Skjærgårdseminar 2010 report.
Seminar report
Participants: Professor Waffel, Doktor Døv, Professor Fokuda-san
Venue: casa Waffel, Fevik.
Date: 14-16th of May.
Having arrived by zeppelin and camel caravan, Professor Fokuda-san and Doktor Døv were collected in Arendal by Professor Waffel in his GH 14 with a 9.9 hp outboard motor. Although the latter professor claimed to have spotted seals on his way in, this could not be verified. Setting up base camp at casa Waffel in Søm Ruagerkilen Nature Reserve, the participants were facing a busy schedule including field excursions by GH 14, hydrophone recordings and a bird imitation experiment.
Recording rocks, shells and driftwood on Jerkholmen, the participants were approached by some locals who inquired whether they were part of some kind of cult. Frankly, we are not sure. Ascending ancient grave monuments to rearrange rocks wearing laboratory coats certainly borders on the occult. Meanwhile, out at sea, an impromptu sound experiment was conducted using battery-powered gadgets which refused to lie still as the GH 14 rocked back and forth in the waves.
Since Doktor Døv’s camel caravan left during the heavy rain the following day, the two remaining professors set up their equipment in the attic laboratory. They experimented with a Roland MSQ 700 sequencer which was linked via midi to an AKAI AX60 synthesizer and via DIN-synch to a Roland TR606 drum machine. This triggered Profssor Fokuda-san’s Rengjøring and Professor Waffel’s W5 Secret Bird Oscillator and received outgoing Controlled Voltage signals from a Roland CSQ 100 sequencer which also happened to trigger an ARP Axxe synthesizer. The result was quickly dubbed Uncontrolled Voltage and more than anything resembled a jazz trio with upright bass, saxophone and a drum kit grooving into the night. We will have none of that, thank you.
Hemmelig Tempo - Skjærgårdsseminar from hemmelig tempo on Vimeo.
Hemmelig Tempo @ Kino Borealis.
A Visual Dissertation of Hemmelig Tempo, the dissertation work of Dr.
Pixel in the department of visual research and latency, will be screened
in the Kino Borealis programme during the Borealis festival in Bergen
on Wed March 10th at Landmark. Professor Waffel (who is currently
shovelling snow on a rooftop somewhere in the Arctic north) and Doktor
Døv (who is currently touring the country with small puppets) are both
deeply sorry they won´t attend such an important historic event. The
resarch group hope to persuade Professor Fokuda to attend the screening
and provide a full report of the electrifying event.
The screening will take place at wednesday from 13 at Landmark.
No other useful information is currently available other than the Borealisfestival website:
http://borealisfestival.no/2010/news/kino_borealis/
Doktor Døv: Temperature.
Nature may be ruthless. Yet, it may be difficult to observe how
elements that belong in extreme landscapes are affected by this. Only
when an external object is introduced into this kind of setting, its'
vulnerability is revealed. Doktor Døv set out to examine how sound
behaves in various climatic settings. What is the effect of climate
and temperature on sound and the subjective experience of sound? How
is sound developed, amplified and experienced in different
metereological settings?
Doktor Døv - Temperature from hemmelig tempo on Vimeo.
Always inquisitive, Doktor Døv started the experiment with two sound
sources: a metallic music box and a space phone, investigating
different materials and constructions. The latter instrument consists
of two plastic cones with a steel spring between them. These
instruments were transported to Sahara, Marocco (+40 degrees celsius),
Tjeldstø outside of Bergen (0 degrees celsius) and Statsallmenningen
close to Finse (-40 degrees celsius) and recorded with condensator
microphones. The difference in timbre was larger than Doktor Døv had
anticipated, but he concluded that it was nexessary to conduct further
experiments to establish a general pattern.
Preliminary results suggest that deep frequencies (below 2000 Hz) are
affected to a higher degree than high frequent sounds the lower the
temperature drops, while the scenario is opposite when the same
frequencies are exposed to high temperatures. Is this really the case?
Is this normal, and why? These questions troubled the young
scientist's already fragile mind. Are there places or sounds that
deviate from this pattern? Theoretically sound will behave differently
when exposed to different temperatures. Doktor Døv discovered that a
sound wave which moves at 300 oscillations per second (300 Hz) in -40
degrees celsius moves in 364 Hz in +40 degrees celsius. This
represents a deviation of 64 oscillations per second, which is
absolutely audible. It is more than likely that there are experiments
and theoretical calculations that support this observations, but it is
highly unlikely that Doktor Døv has ever read any of them.
As for material response to temperature, it is clear that different
materials change with temperature. Which materials are capable of
enduring extreme settings? Doktor Døv wanted the sound source to
generate a similar sound, no matter which environment it was placed
in. In this way, he wanted to ensure that it was the timbre, not the
instrument that was affected - only then an authentic temperated sound
may be produced. Humidity also place a part, but has relatively little
effect on the speed of sound. Doktor Døv suspects that temperature is
the major factor. Incidentally, he was born and raised in Bergen.
Four Unlikely Trios:
Hemmelig Tempo - 4 Unlikely Trios from hemmelig tempo on Vimeo.
The PONG Seminar, September 3rd 2009.
Hemmelig Tempo - Tournament 6 Pong TV-Game Seminar from hemmelig tempo on Vimeo.
Research Report;
Present: Professor Waffel, Doktor Døv and Professor Fokuda-san.
At considerable cost, Professor Waffel arrived in Bergen by aeroplane on September 3rd to attend a long overdue research seminar at the Institution. The contents of the professor’s luggage proved to be of great interest at the airport security check, in particular the function of the W5 Secret Bird-Oscillator. Quote one of the security officers: “I don’t particularly like what I observe on my screen here”.
However, it was another device, a Tournament 6 PONG TV-game that caught the primary attention of the professor’s colleagues at the Institution. In 1951, a young TV engineer by the name of Ralph Bear designed a TV that enabled people to play ball and paddle games on them. However, the concept was not introduced to the general public until 1971. Entering into millions of homes across the globe during the 1970’s, PONG games were eventually out- competed by more sophisticated home computers in the early 1980’s. Nevertheless, in May 2009, Professor Waffel was able to acquire a PONG at E-bay.com/ww.com/com.org for a moderate price.
An ad-hoc test laboratory was promptly set up at the Institution, routing the PONG console through Professor Fokuda-san’s mixer with 6 separate auxillary inputs. In the absence of Doktor Pixel, who was still recovering from bowel problems and a chronic latency syndrome, Doktor Døv quickly took responsibility for visual documentation, while Professor Waffel demonstrated the general functions of the PONG console. It had been rumoured that the incident at the airport had given the professor slightly better communication skills, but this was not verified during the research session.
Obtaining considerable experience with manipulating the PONG ball into orbits between the two paddles, the research team were able to generate complex rhythmical meters to be modulated beyond recognition by Professor Fokuda’s auxillary effect line up. Meanwhile, fearing that the attention thus given to the activities occurring on the TV- screen would upset the general ecological balance of the Universe, Doktor Døv proceeded to experiment heavily on his transistor radio. By routing NRK through an LFO he obtained some disturbing results. But that was to be expected from Doktor Døv, after all
The long awaited PhD dissertation from dr. Pixel.
We refer to the application dated August 20th 2009. While the dissertation is long overdue, the committee has evaluated the dissertation and found it to be of sufficient merit to warrant a doctoral degree at the Department of Visual Research, Hemmelig Tempo. Congratulations.
6 Unlikely Duos by Hemmelig Tempo: