Well, it’s been a hot minute, but this blog ain’t dead yet. I’ve been incredibly busy so I have …excuses.
algoraving mad
Okay, so… As I hinted at in my last post, it was time to take matters into my own hands and organise an algorave.
Apologies that I didn’t take you readers along for the journey, I had so little time - planning this event and other things like work took my focus.
The plan was to keep things simple and well, do it as an algorithm.
There is an established format for these events, thanks to the tireless work of the community over the years so really we just had to plug into that.
Paired audio and visual coders each projecting onto the walls, promote via the usual channels, book at Corsica Studios where others have been held previously and that’s about it. Generally rally round the scene and not overthink it.
Well - spoiler alert - the plan succeeded!
First port of call was to reach out to the key figures I’ve mentioned before. Namely Alex, Lucy and Antonio - respectively Yaxu, Heavy Lifting and hellocatfood.
The response was great, all were on board. Lucy in fact arranged a phone call to talk me through the process which was probably the single most important and helpful step. Though sadly when we actually got a date from Corsica, Heavy Lifting couldn’t play that :/
The aim is to do another before the end of the year though which will be specifically set to Lucy’s availability - I promise!
Antonio also offered to do the artwork for the poster which was awesome:
Thanks Antonio!
Next step was to book more live coders, and then get the a/v setup (projectors) all sorted. Monz of fake[dac~] fame was really helpful here, lending us four projectors and paying for most of the cables and components which I assembled into two mounts for the projections across the width of the room.
The setup will be repeated for the next fake[dac~] event which is on the 17th July, also at Corsica. I will be playing that as SYNTƏL8 too, whoop!
Corsica were pretty sketchy to communicate with, which didn’t bode well, but on the night all the staff did an amazing job especially Will the soundtech in room two who is an absolute angel! It felt more than busy enough on the night and the audience were really lovely. All of the artists did amazing sets and everything luckily went surprisingly smoothly apart from a couple of minor snafus.
So the plan worked. Setting a persistent but gentle pace and watching it unfold has been my thing over the past year or so and it has been really reaping rewards. Hence the post title.
I personally had such a fun time and enjoyed the afterglow for days afterwards. So we want to repeat this success hopefully sometime around Sept/Oct …watch this space.
in other news
Sadly it was the last EMOM at Loading Bar, Peckham at the end of May due to the venue closing. This is London. It was such a great event there, but the whatsapp group was created to help this very eventuality and at least two have sprung up in its place in other parts. Hopefully before too long we can return to Peckham or nearby too.
I myself won’t directly involved apart from the usual light-touch moderation of the group. Talking of which, it was getting a bit congested so inspired by open source methods I forked it into another general chat group and the result? Blissful silence ha. Magic.
People have been using it, but now the onus is on chatting freely it’s a lot more focused and clear in both groups.
What I am planning though is to help kick start a regular monthly live code social with short open performances. I feel this will be crucial to fostering solidarity and talent, alongside helping new starters. It will also be great for algoraves too. One thing I feel London is not short of are live coders ooozing creativity. Exciting.
retail therapy
Tiny product review here - in May I purchased a pair of Røde headphones for stage and studio use. They’re really well engineered and have a forensic level of detail too. I needed something for monitoring on stage - sometimes you get no tops or no bass or neither - and as you would guess this leaves one somewhat flying blind.
Thankfully the ‘auto mix’ features that Syntə has make this a lot easier to deal with.
But the headphones have been great. They’ve been really nice for home listening too. I’ve never been a huge fan of headphones but these have been great for giving another and accurate perspective on mixes. Nice and comfortable too.
That’s it for now folks
Still planning a post on the updated sound engine gain/protection structuring. Should have a whiff more free time for a bit. Will keep you …posted.