Practical Sound

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Practical Sound

Affordable, creatively focussed in-person classes in sound recording and editing. Personal tutorials and consultancy.

31/10/2024

The Birley are please to announce 'Nearly Present', a configurable multichannel streaming installation by that broadcasts live streams from around the world.

Each speaker is enclosed in a Wardian Case, an item developed in the 19th century to facilitate the global and commercial conveyance of living plants in closed environments 🌿

Julian draws parallels between, and attention to, historical and contemporary transportations of materials within microclimates.

💥 Join us on Friday 15th November at 6pm for the preview 💥
The exhibition runs until 7th December, open on Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays between 11am-4pm 📅
Free entry, open to all, and our gallery spaces are wheelchair accessible.
📍 Birley Street, Preston, PR1 2QE

10/09/2024

On Saturday 21st, The Birley - artist studios & project space are delighted present a screening of three films by Anna Thew, followed by an 'in conversation with Daniel Adams, host of the essential How to Enjoy Experimental Film podcast...

Linguist, writer, painter, turned film-maker and performer, active in making and promoting film and video exhibition and education for over 25 years, her single and multi-screen 16mm films have screened in major International film festivals globally. Here she will present and discuss three of her own films, alongside other films by Nick Gordon Smith and Barbara Meter. Admission is free.

22/08/2024

'Shock Mount (01)'. 2024. Mixed media. A microphone windshield for horror/drama films or documentaries, where mal-intent is present in the script. Intended to cleanse any dialogue on camera with the sound of sleigh bells, in order to ward off evil. One of a series of works which use the technical paraphernalia of sound recording as fair game for critical & playful interventions.

Pleased to be showing this in The Birley - artist studios & project space 10th anniversary show. Opens tomorrow and runs until September 19th. Open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

15/08/2024

A reminder that this saturday the 17th, 1.00 pm at The Birley in Preston - an experimental workshop on Photophonic sound, or making sound from light. Come and discover the strange noises you can make with a variety of light sources and objects, including mand-made and natural environmental light... With Lee Patterson and Rob Mullender-Ross. Free - but spaces are limited!

https://www.eventbrite.com/.../making-sound-from-light...

05/08/2024

Delighted to announce a performance by Lee Patterson at The Birley - artist studios & project space

Over several decades of deep engagement with listening and recording, Lee has developed a unique practice that includes live performance and fixed recorded works. By exploiting chemical and mechanical synthesis, he has created a range of amplified devices and processes that produce or uncover complex sound in unexpected places. From rock chalk to mechanical springs, from burning nuts to aquatic life and insect chants inside plants, he eavesdrops upon and makes a novelty of playing objects and situations otherwise considered mute.

His collaborators have included Mika Vainio, Jennifer Walshe, Vanessa Rossetto, David Toop, Rhodri Davies and John Butcher, Greg Pope, Benedict Drew, Luke Fowler, Lucio Capece, Rie Nakajima, Angharad Davies, Keith Rowe, John Tilbury, Xavier Charles and Tetsuya Umeda.

His works have featured on UK television, BBC Radios 3, 4 and 6, Resonance FM and on radio stations worldwide.

18/05/2024

Came across a Dr Zeuss book about a sound poet. Mr Brown's basically a genius... There must be recordings out there somewhere.

24/01/2023

Inspiration. This kind of music that scarcely seems possible now.

16/01/2023

Sunday, with Preston Black History Group and an introductory session to sound recording, as well as finding our way to a generally agreed good oral history practices. We also discussed the best way forward for cataloguing the group's community oral history sound archive. Made possible by seed funding from the Raymond Williams foundation, intended to nurture autonomous communities of learning.

12/12/2022

Many years ago now I did a PhD on creating sound from light, and came across Eric Archer's Sound Cameras. He now makes these fantastic devices for doing just that - generating often unique sounding tones from all manner of surprising things. I've recorded smoke drifting across the sun, light glittering off of the sea, LED displays, bees flying in and ouf of their hive, a cloud of midges over a pond, fireworks - anything that causes light to flicker. Beautifully constructed with a built-in headphone/line out for recording.

https://rarewaves.net/products/lite2sound-qb/lite2sound-qb-stereo/

08/12/2022

When sculpture meets sound recording on a budget.

07/11/2022

Excerpt from an audio recording of a performance by seven people using bullroarers, which took place under a railway bridge in Preston, Lancashire - a place with a singular acoustic presence. I prepared a simple score for everyone to follow. The players were invited to write or draw on their instruments prior to using them, and they will be given back to them to keep once the exhibition concludes, along with a copy of this recording. The title for this work came from a participant who, upon hearing the recording, described the sound as ‘vaguely threatening’, which I suppose it is. Bullroarers are among the oldest instruments known and have existed on all continents across many cultures, often for long-distance communication or ceremonial reasons. These will find uses specific to their new owners.

Players:

Rebecca Chesney
Florian Houlker
Jack Brindle
Toby Gregory
Gavin Renshaw
Ben Rutherford
James Wilson

Address

The Birley Artists Studios
Preston
PR21BH

Website

http://practicalsound.com/

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