Sculptor, videographer, and electronic music composer Dave Ayer studied art and physics in the US and has been building electronic and virtual performance instruments since 1987. His audio oeuvre ranges from conventional songs and lyrics to experimental electronics and freestanding sound sculptures. He is currently designing and building aeolian harps.
Committed to the open-source and creative commons communities, Dave makes much of his work available online for others to reuse and remix. In this spirit, he launched the wikiGong.com web site in July 2009.
Reach him at gongmaster@wikigong.com.
Artist Location: Campbell, CA
Social Media:
PARTICIPATION
soundscapes On-site June 1st and online June 9th
Requiem: GDB Lamppost SWXX
“Lamppost SWXX” is a field recording taken on the old Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach in October of 2013, a few years before its demolition. A contact microphone was placed on one of the galvanized steel lampposts near the west end of the bridge, right next to the roadway, and connected to a hand-held digital recorder. Each lamppost along the bridge resonated with its own complement of rhythmic sounds, stimulated by the wind and the constant, heavy midday port traffic coursing nearby; no manual tapping sounds or “musical” rhythms are present. The original sound sample has been trimmed and normalized, but otherwise represents what a passer-by could once hear by pressing their ear against the metal on a busy Saturday afternoon.
Breath of Heaven
“Breath of Heaven” is a meditation on air and water. Our lives depend utterly on balance between these two transparent, fluid mediums; yet we perceive their boundary only indirectly, through change, and depending on which side we happen to inhabit.
Part of wikiGong.com’s ongoing “Song of New Abalonia” project, this video loop was created using a hydrophone, an underwater camera, and a tire pump. The thirty-five second loop cycles five times, with increasing reverb the only added effect other than mastering for video.
Alviso Wind Harp Test (V6)
“Alviso Wind Harp Test” documents the result of a four-year investigation into free-standing aeolian harp design. This, the “V6” harp of aluminum and zinc, uses bronze-wrapped strings “played” only by the wind. Originally intended for the soundpedro2022 live event, supply chain delays prevented a timely submission.
D A Ayer’s first aeolian harps appeared at soundpedro2018 under their wikiGong.com title, “Aeolus Woke”. Those six plastic harps were the second functioning versions (V2); even with the steady evening winds off Angels Gate, they required amplification. The V6 harp does not.
The South Bay town of Alviso, California often sees wind speeds of eight to fifteen miles per hour and higher. The single, continuous audio recording used for this video montage was made in the open air with a free-standing acoustic microphone. Wind speeds were between seven and twelve mph. Sound editing was limited to low-cut filtering to reduce wind noise followed by mastering for video.
VBODOBV | dEvolution: Au Naturel
Pour Your Own (Musique) Concrète
Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2021:
Pour Your Own (Musique) Concrète Live
PYO(M)C is a software instrument for mashable sample playback, an implementation of the wikigong.com mission statement:
“Inspired by the Indonesian gamelan ensemble, we catalog the sounds made by real megastructures and in so doing enable virtual instruments.”
Based on the experimental “musique concrète” pioneered by French composer and sound engineer Pierre Schaeffer, PYO(M)C is a sonic playground inviting its audience to compose new works spontaneously. Participants select from dozens of samples wikiGong has recorded over the past ten years–bronze sculptures, trains, suspension bridges, abandoned buildings–and then modify and assemble these into an ambient, multi-track sound collage.
Proposed by wikiGong.com in 2020 as a machine-music installation with hands-on audience controls, PYO(M)C has been reimagined as a dedicated web page suitable for the pandemic era. The artist proposes to formally launch this new web client version at soundpedro 2021.
An on-site A/V installation will allow the artist to improvise and perform a new work. Subsequent visitors can modify the resulting work or begin anew. A tutorial-style introduction will be offered for smartphone users in the audience.
Pour Your Own (Musique) Concrète
PYO(M)C is a software instrument for mashable sample playback, an implementation of the wikigong.com mission statement:
“Inspired by the Indonesian gamelan ensemble, we catalog the sounds made by real megastructures and in so doing enable virtual instruments.”
Based on the experimental “musique concrète” pioneered by French composer and sound engineer Pierre Schaeffer, PYO(M)C is a sonic playground inviting its audience to compose new works spontaneously. Participants select from dozens of samples wikiGong has recorded over the past ten years–bronze sculptures, trains, suspension bridges, abandoned buildings–and then modify and assemble these into an ambient, multi-track sound collage. Subsequent visitors can modify the resulting work or begin anew.
Proposed by wikiGong.com in 2020 as a machine-music installation with hands-on audience controls, PYO(M)C has been reimagined as a dedicated web page suitable for the pandemic era. The artist proposes to formally launch this new web client version at soundpedro 2021.