Eartumpet : Roger Mills, Musician, Composer and Sound Designer

LICHT_redux by tranSTURM Collective and sound design by Roger Mills.
Sydney Fringe Festival 5-8th September 2019, Bay 43 (Circular Quay), The Rocks, Sydney.

LICHT_redux is a mixed-media installation of light and sound that includes animations projected onto a metal, glass, mirror, and perspex mechanism. The work draws on earlier tranSTURM collaborations and residencies at Sydney Olympic Park and exhibitions in VIVID 2016 & 2019.

The sound score includes sound produced, in, and around, the Armory at Sydney Olympic Park, and its environs. A lot of time was spent in Building 20, a munitions bunker made up of three large cylindrical concrete tunnels that generate a large space echo when noise is sounded in them. Drones, impulse responses and field recordings produced in these spaces capture both the internal and external acoustics of the park. These recordings were then granulated and time-stretched to create site-specific soundscapes that flicker, bubble and spit in sync with the animations. Underscoring this sound is processed trumpet drones and percussive instrumental techniques, which give the soundtrack, I hope, a sense of flowing movement that occurs in waves. Click here to view video documentation.

ruler

Aquatic Species Stereoscopic Animation - Holger Deuter. Dance Choreography Dean Walsh and Sound Score Roger Mills.
UTS DATA Arena, March 10th, 2019

Stereoscopic animation based on motion capture data of choreography by dancer Dean Walsh, who explore the movements of cephalopods and other aquatic species in his movement. The sound design brings out this movemenst with a mix of processed field recordings, which include hydrophone recordings of the Parramatta River, Sydney. The work has also been adapted for the Oculus Rift VR headset.

View

ruler

flow#1-3#fließen|-Multiscreen Animation and Soundwork by the tranSTURM Collective.
The Galeries- VIVID Festival, Sydney, 10-18th June 2016.

Multi-screen animation and sound work that was projected across 18 screens installed in the atrium of the Galleries, Sydney. Featuring work by tranSTURM artists, dancer Dean Walsh with soundscore by Roger Mills, the work explores the rich visual territory of the aquatic world re-imagined through dance, movement capture, animation, and music.

Video excerpt produced by Jason Benedict

ruler

Waterline Residency - blackhole-factory and tranSTURM Newington Armory, Sydney Olympic Park , November 2015.

Waterline was a 4 week artist residency featuring German media arts group blackhole-factory and Sydney based arts colective tranSTURM. During the residency both goups developed new work and provided demonstrations to the public through workshops and educational sessions with young people during the Youth Eco Summit. The residency provided an opportunity for tranSTURM artists to work with blackhole-factory, and share ideas and creative methodologies.

Image - Chris Bowman

Work developed by tranSTURM artists during the residency was shown over the last weekend of November 2016 at Building 20. The exhibition featured light sculpures and animations with sound score by Roger Mills, which included material recorded with Martin Slawig of blackhole-factory.

Supported by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (Artists in Residence Program), the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney and BENQ projectors.

ruler

Der Flug der Seeschwalbe (Flight of the Sea Swallow)

24 hour cross-reality telematic performance 24th-25th January 2014

Der Flug der Seeschwalbe is a multimodal audiovisual networked music performance based on the flight of the Sea Swallow from north to south in search of light. It takes place in a cross-reality 3D virtual environment that augments performers and audiences experiences with live data streams from temperature, light and physical movement from dispersed sensors in Sydney, New York and Braunschweig, Germany.

 

The work captured distributed moments in time as source material for live, improvised performances. Each performer contributed site specific sound, images, and texts that were incorporated into an evolving multi-modal tele-improvisation. Data from dispersed light, temperature and movement sensors was streamed and visualised within the virtual performance environment. Networked performers interacted remotely by navigating the 3-D audio-visual environment with wristbands containing accelerometers, visible as animated hands.

Sensor kit containing 3-axis accelerometer and temperature and light sensors.

Video Documentation

Screenshot of telematic Seeschwalbe environment by blackhole-factory

Audiences at Kunstmühle Studio A experienced the networked performce over 24 hours as performers moved throughout the 3D tele-environment responding to sound objects as they appeared and clustered.

Performances were also streamed live online from Kunstmühle Studio A, Braunschweig on the Der Flug der Seeschwalbe Channel

Technical programming and production by Martin Slawig & Elke Utermöhlen. Project research hosted by Centre for Digital Cultures at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Germany. View research video

Early Flight Test Video

Ongoing developments blog - here

Review and Radio feature by Mirko Heinenmann on Deutschland Radio

A blackhole-factory project 2013: Developed and directed by Martin Slawig & Elke Utermöhlen.

Performers:

Marc Sloan: guitars and electronics

Roger Mills: processed trumpets

Elke Utermöhlen: processed voice (Max/MSP)

Martin Slawig: processed percussion (Max/MSP)

Martin Kroll: Live Camera

Graphic Ships @ Culture Hub, Brooklyn, New York, October 2013

Tele-improvisation from Dance Generated Graphic Score

An interdisciplinary improvisatory performance featuring musicians Hervé Perez, Roger Mills, Dan Moschopoulos, John King and Jesse Rike repsonding to a graphic score generated by dancer Raja Kelly live at Culture Hub, New York. The project is part of ongoing performance series and beta interface development by Lisa Lee and Jesse Ricke.

Link to video documentation

Traces # 1

An immersive sound performance by Roger Mills featuring diffused sound streamed by listeners on mobile devices.

7th June, 2012 - Diffuse concert series, University of technology, Sydney.

Traces #1 is an interactive and indeterminate composition featuring processed trumpet and field recordings diffused by audiences via mobile phones.

The work was first performed at Noise Istanbul during ISEA 2011 and again at School of Noises, Falmouth, UK in September 2011. The diffused soundscape is produced from found and concrete sound sourced from field recordings in China, Turkey, Germany, and UK. As a temple gong beats out a rhythm, locusts are diffused by listeners via an Internet stream for mobile phones/laptops.

Traces#1 Except

High quality recordings of both tracks are available through Bandcamp.

More on Diffuse concert series II curated by Jon Drummond.

Diffusion Installation
Roger Mills and Neil Jenkins

Click image to play video

Memory Flows, 15 May - 20 June 2010, Newington Armory, Olympic Park, Sydney.


Curated by | Norie Neumark  | Deborah Turnbull | Sophia Kouyoumdjian

Diffusion contemplates the memory of water as metaphor for the residue of the toxic chemicals that have been dumped and continuously leach from the soil into the Parramatta River, moving up and down stream with the rain and tide, the industry and transport.

A sound and light installation that spits, pulses and glows as the otherwise silent underwater sounds reveal the ebb and flow of the water and agitate pollutants that move within.

Memory Flows is an ongoing and distributed media art project of the Centre for Media Arts and Inovation funded by the Inter-Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. It was featured as part of the Sydney Biennale affiliated exhibitions.

Participating artists | Ian Andrews | Chris Bowman | Chris Caines | Damian Castaldi | Sherre DeLys | Clement Girault | Jacqueline Gothe | Ian Gwilt | Megan Heyward | Nigel Helyer | Neil Jenkins | Solange Kershaw | Roger Mills | Maria Miranda | Norie Neumark | Shannon O'Neill | Greg Shapley | Victor Steffenson | Jes Tyrrell | Jen Teo

QT Video

Images

Idea of South - Contrapuntal Radiophonic Broadcast
Sunday 14th June 2009, 22.30 AEST / 13.30 GMT.

Idea of South has been restaged on two occasions:

Radio Papesse on Süden Radio, Berlin, Germany on September 8th 2013. Further details.

ASRA (Australian Sound Recordings Association) 2012 Conference More details.

A multi-stream radiophonic composition for two radio stations and Internet stream.

Inspired by resonances of location and memory, Idea of South sets out to explore, provoke and question our sense of place in the southern hemisphere. Combining networked terrestrial radio and Internet streaming, the work is composed as three individual audio tracks, comprising live music, field recordings, and spoken word. The three audio streams are broadcast simultaneously and experienced by listeners tuning their radios into both radio stations, and a home computer or iPhone for the Internet stream.

As the program moves through hot dry deserts or icy antarctic waters, the sense of location is enhanced through the diffusion of sound over a multi-channel broadcast. Taking radio out of the singular domain that it normally inhabits into an immersive radiophonic experience, it explores the quintessence of southerness though sound. It is a musical sound journey integrating live processed trumpet, violin and location recordings, contributed by sound artists and phonographers throughout the southern hemisphere.

Idea of South was broadcast simultaneously between Sydney radio stations 2SER and FBI, with concurrent Internet stream shoutcast from University Technology, Sydney on the 14th June 2009. To experience the work, listeners tuned their devices (radios and/or mobile phones, iphones) into both radio station frequencies as well as picking up a Shoutcast Internet stream from the site.

Idea of South seeks to push the boundaries of experimental radio by engaging listeners to become actively involved with the interactive decision making part of the entertainment. Listeners are encouraged to experiment with the position of their radio's, guaranteeing a unique and immersive experience, which will unsettle as much as it will sooth.

Radio as a Shared Experience
The performance was also sponsored by Don't Look Gallery, Sydney, as a BYO radio event where the work could be experienced in a multi player environment. Through an open invitation to bring a radio along, listeners tuned into either one of the terrestrial broadcasts, and the Internet stream was amplified through the venues sound system.

Listen to Stereo Remix

Idea of South Graphic Score
A graphic score was produced from the web map data base of latitude and longitude coordinates, by printing the raw data as points on a grid. Removing the grid, the data points were then given parameters in timbre, rhythm and structure. It has now been recorded and performed by percussionist Damian Castaldi and forms a unique collage of tones and rhythm within the soundtrack.

Download data score based on latitude and longitude coordinates of submitted location recordings.

Listen to Graphic Score

Live presentation @ Golden Eye Awards- featuring live Internet visual mix by Neil Jenkins.

For ongoing research and updates see Idea of South Blog.

Idea of South was suported by University Technology, Radio SER, FBi Radio, Utility Fog and Don't Look Gallery.

Speacial thanks to contributing sound artists

Reviews

Idea of South Web Map

Interactive audio visual internet installation by Roger Mills and Neil Jenkins at Loop Space Gallery, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Idea of South is an evolving Internet based sound map allowing you to mix locational recordings from all over the southern hemisphere in a contrapuntal collage of sound. Click to play online version.

Inspired by my relocation from the United Kingdom to Australia, Idea of South web map explores the quintessence of southern sentience through a collage of field recordings and found sound. Part phonography and part psychogeography, it maps an evolving collage of sound events through a web map interface supplied by contributions of recordings from sound artists throughout the southern hemisphere. As a work in progress, this impressionist soundscape will evolve as more sounds are added. Click for details on how to submit recordings please follow link.

Sound of Failure

Sound of Failure Q&A…Interuption Performance @ University of Technology Sydney Studio. August 27th, 2008.

Sonic interpretation of graphic scores projected onto a central screen at the University of Technology, Bon Marche studio. Scores were a mixture of manipulated film, abstract textural collages, celluloid manipulations and graphic patterns. Orchestration consisted of live processed trumpet, lap top manipulations and analogue synth.

Performers
Shannon O’Neill
Jessica Tyrrell & Chris Caines
Peter Newman
Roger Mills

Curated by Greg Shapely
Thanks to Brendan Lloyd at UTS for facilitating it all.

ruler

Istanbul

Audio Visual Internet Performance by Roger Mills and Neil Jenkins.
Plac.Art.X headphones Festival, Regensburg, Germany in August 2007.

A livenetworked audio visual performance by Roger Mills and Neil Jenkins for Plac.Art.X headphones festival, Regensburg, Germany in August 2007. It was performed live and shoutcast from Bristol UK, mixing field recordings, analog synth and live processed trumpet with live VJ mix in real time through the A/V platform visitorsstudio.org.

After visiting Istanbul in the weeks prior to the performance, we were captivated by the beauty and diversity of the city, but also the disparate cities within the city. It was a week after the election of Abdullah Gul, and the various topics of the election were still being hotly debated. As visitors, it appeared that no one seemed sure where the country was heading, but all agreed that a definite change had taken place.

Istanbul A/V performance highlights the beauty, joy, innocence and melancholy of this great city, while wondering where its future lies. A transitory sound journey composed by Roger Mills with visual mix by Neil Jenkins.

Play A/V mix

Month of Sundays

A Season of Live Networked Performances hosted by Furthernoise.org

Month of Sundays - Internet Performances - Roger Mills and Neil Jenkins

As part of the "Month of Sundays" season, Roger Mills and Furtherfield artist Neil Jenkins performed a live networked A/V mix at the Watershed (Bristol) in June 2006. This was the first in a series of four live Internet A/V performances by international artists and was also screened at The Point CDC Theatre (New York) and E:vent (London).

Hosted by Furthernoise.org

Play A/V mix

MULTI-AV Cross Continental Networked A/V Jam

Cross continental networked audiovisual jam session.

Friday September 10th, 2004
Sonic Circuits DC Festival @ Flashpoint
Washington DC

Multi-AV - Live Internet Performance

Cross continental networked A/V Internet jam in the database file mixing platform Visitors Studio. The performances featured Mikroknytes (USA), Sawtooth (aka Roger Mills) (UK) and Darren Zeising aka Stalker (AUS). The event was mixed in real time from all three continents and projected to the audience at Flashpoint (Washington DC).

for further information see the Sonic Curcuits website

Ryoanji (Tribute to John Cage)

Submssion to "Rocks Role, After Ryoanji" exhibition, Art in General, New York 2004.

Ryoanji (tribute to John Cage) produced for "Rocks Role, After Ryoanji" exhibition, Art in General, New York 2004. The work is inspired by Cage's composition Ryoanji, a composition created from tracings of the fifteen stones in the Ryoanji Temple stone garden, Kyoto, Japan.

The resulting composition focuses on the daily meditational ceremony of the temple monks raking the sand around the garden stones as a generative concept for an indetermintate sound work.

Sonic Rake

A 5 pinned "sonic rake" was constructed with contact microphones attached to the right and left sides. The rake was then ploughed through a marked of area 30 X 10 metres (the size of Rioanji Temple garden) at Sand Bay, Western Supermare, UK. Trailing through the sand it then recorded the texture of sands surface leaving a five line stave engraved on the sands surface.

As a metaphor for the stones of the Ryoanji stone garden, fifteen rocks of various sizes were sourced from the surrounding area. Passers by were asked to randomly cast the rocks onto the stave of the demarcated area of sand. This was repeated three times leaving a scattering of rocks in a sandy stave, indicating an indeterminate tonal and rhythmic composition taht was interpreted by improvised trumpet and the layering of concrete sound.

Interpretation of the generative score follows this simple equation: size of rock = length of note - space between rocks = duration between notes.

Listen to audio track

Essay and further project details

Dissension Convention

A transatlantic collaborative telematic multimedia protest jam
August/September 2004

Dissension Convention - A transatlantic collaborative multimedia protest jam

Coinciding with the 2004 Republican Party Convention in New York, Roger Mills & Neil Jenkins broadcast a networked A/V performance protesting the Republican Party Convention.

The event featured 20 artists networked A/V part as of an art-polemic against US foriegn pilocy. Performances were mixed live in the online A/V file mixing platform Visitors Studio. They were also projected at Postmasters Gallery's RNC NODE, which served as a physical node of an ad-hock public broadcasting system of networked online, real time protest performances and alternative news actions. The online stream was projected into bars and shopfront windows throughout New York.

Dissension Convention

Millennium Square GPS Public Sound Installation

Locative media and wearable technology research project.

Millenium Square

Sound design for GPS / wearable technology project Millennium Square Bristol, commissioned by the University of Bristol and Hewlett Packard Invent for Mobile Bristol. Conception and production of spatialized sound design as an immersive experience in a public space with specially designed jacket, housing a mobile interface and headphones.

Working in collaboration with artist Annie Lovejoy and the here nor there collective, Millennium Square is based on ideas of location and the spaces between borders as a platform for our work with artists from Bristol's twin cities of Tblisi and Hanover.

See the ...here nor there... web site for further details about the project

River Avon - Sonata for Cello & Flute

Multilocation performance project by here nor there collective.

Cello, Flute and concrete sound sonata composed by Roger Mills and performed live as part of here nor there in Dialogue arts festival, Bristol, UK July 13 2003.

River Avon - Sonata for Cello and Flute - Composed by Roger Mills

Sonata for cello, flute and concrete sound inspired by the Avon River (UK) that runs from the mouth of the Severn, passing through the Cities of Bristol, Bath, UK. It was commisioned for the Dialogue arts festival and performed at Netham Lock as part of the Here Nor There collectives 'where r u ?' art ferry trip, Sunday the 13th of July 2003.

Video excerpt from the performance (QuickTime, 1.8Mb)

...here nor there...

Sound SRC

Here Nor There at Kibla Media Centre, Maribor, Slovenia.

Sound installation and live performance for a two week exhibition by here nor there artists at Kibla Arts Centre, Maribor, Slovenia. The performance event featured sound system with Roger Mills (AUS, UK) - live mixing and trumpet, Natalie Deseke (DE) - voice.

The event was web cast by London’s Resonance FM and Watershed Media Centre, Bristol.

Exhibition site

Here Nor There Radio @ Radio Flora, Hanover, Germany, 21st June 2000.

Featuring here nor there artists Roger Mills, Neil Jenkins, Mac Dunlop, Annie Lovejoy and Natalie Deseke.

Here nor there radio / web broadcast at Radio Flora, Hanover, Germany as part of the Expo 2000 festival. This featured music from the collectives collaborations and sound art pieces. It was also web cast into the café bar at Watershed, Bristol.

For further information, see the ...here nor there... website

Walls Have Ears

Live conceptual music and sound performance by Roger Mills.


Walls Have Ears - Live at Exeter Phoenix. September 2001

As composer in residence at Dorset arts organisation PVA, I was commissioned to write a soundtrack as an epitaph to the Literary and Scientific Institute in which they are housed. The resulting soundtrack 'Walls Have Ears' was showcased as a live performance at the Swipe 2000 digital arts festival held in December 2000 at Bridport Arts centre, Dorset.

In collaboration with digital/video artist Neil Jenkins 'Walls Have Ears' was subsequently developed into a touring audiovisual performance and performed at Exeter Phoenix and Prema Arts Centre, Gloucester, UK in 2002.

Walls Have Ears website

 

ruler

top