Neville Street Workshop 23 April 2008

Had a great day with people involved in the project on Wednesday 23rd of April. Spent the morning discussing our sites, and taking a walk around them to work out technical details and so forth. Meeting Ed + Phil from Lumen was great, and useful to have a chat about what sort of kit we could potentially use for the installation.

Following that we headed to Lumen's HQ to have a chat about PR with Leanne Buchan, and plan out a rough timeline of events leading up to the launch night: provisionally pencilled in for October!

In the afternoon we headed to Leeds College of Music, where we met up with Dale Perkins, and spent some time in one of the recording studios listening to some of the work people had achieved so far.

Thank you to all involved in the day - plenty was achieved and I am looking forward to the next workshop!

Website?

Watch out for the upcoming website from outpost at: www.outpost-north.co.uk

Meeting with LCC + Some Other Artists

Yesterday we went along to Leeds Malmaison Hotel along with the other bursary holders. While there we had the opportunity to discuss our work with another artist, the one commissioned for the main Neville Street project. We got some valuable tips from him, which was great because he has so much experience in this area. We also met Anys, from a local PR firm working on the project, who was good to talk to. Finally we went to Neville Street street to have our pictures taken for the website.

Council Workshop 28-02-07

Had our first workshop with Leeds City Council and the three other bursary holders yesterday. The event took place in the Project Space Leeds Gallery - which was fairly cold inside but an impressive space nonetheless. Following a short walk up to Neville Street - the site of the major refurbishment scheme organised by the council - each bursary holder presented their initial ideas for their work. Plenty of ideas were discussed, including potential sites for installation being mapped out and weighed up. Many thanks to Sue Ball for organising the day.

Keighley Steam Train

We visited Keighley on 14-02-08 - to record this steam train! We ended up taking a ride to the next station on the independently-owned line and getting some good sound recordings of the engine. Our sample library is increasing and construction of the Max/MSP patch is now underway.

Bradford Industrial Museum Audio

Below is a recording of a gas engine from the Bradford trip. I love the way it has a thudding sound. It's a shame because due to health and safety reasons the engine is no longer run on gas but on compressed air. The attendant told us the combustion of the gas would have given off a mighty bang, which could have been fun to capture.

Bradford Industrial Museum Trip

Went on a trip to Bradford Industrial Museum to record some steam engines and working horses for the installation this weekend. It was a good day and we obtained some decent audio samples.

Unfortunately the large steam engines are now powered by electric motors for demonstration purposes due to health and safety regulations concerning noise levels and the running of pressurised steam vessels. It seems we will have to travel further afield to witness steam power proper!

Many thanks to the employees for their demonstration and informative discussion.

First Post

Welcome to the Junction blog: following the creation process behind a public sonic art installation commissioned for the city of Leeds.