Images show Parhelia, a real-time generative performance 2009Each week we chat about the tools of the trade with one outstanding creative to find out exactly how they do what they do. The questions are always the same, the answers, not so much. This week: Paul Prudence.Who are you and what do you do?
Paul Prudence: I am Paul Prudence, an artist primarily interested in real-time audio-visual performance using computational systems and generative methodologies. I’m particularly interested in the ways in which sound, space, and form can be synthaesthetically amalgamated in abstract ways. I am also a researcher and lecturer in the field of visual music, process art, and computational design.What hardware do you use?
I like to keep my hardware setup as simple and transportable as possible—I use two high-end specified PCs (one for sound and one for video), an assortment of midi controllers, an external soundcard, and a Triplehead for multi-screen span projections. I use a variety of portable sound recorders to collect field recordings that are later used in the sound compositions for each piece.What software do you use?
Most commonly I use VVVV in conjunction with Ableton Live during live performances. Aside from this I use an assortment of audio software for sound synthesis and processing such as Absynth and Super Collider.Talysis II (2006): artwork exploring the process of video feedback to create auto-catalytic self-generating artworks.If money were no object, how would you change your current setup?
Some kind of true VGA/DVI mixer solution and a state of the art professional field recording device that records in surround sound.What fantasy piece of technology would you like to see invented?
An EEG-driven narrative-encoder feedback device. It would enable the customization of live cinema narratives to confound expectations of individual viewers of a particular piece in real-time.Is there any piece of technology that inspired you to take the path you did?
The pencil.What’s your favourite relic piece of technology from your childhood?
Simply the common tape cassette recorder with an attached radio receiver. As a kid I used to scan the SW and LW radio spectra and tape incoming signals to create sonic collages. The phasing and signal distortions of frequencies combined with a myriad of different spoken languages, and added to the mysterious broadcasts of Number Stations created some exotic and strange sonic atmospheres.
Paul Prudence: I am Paul Prudence, an artist primarily interested in real-time audio-visual performance using computational systems and generative methodologies. I’m particularly interested in the ways in which sound, space, and form can be synthaesthetically amalgamated in abstract ways. I am also a researcher and lecturer in the field of visual music, process art, and computational design.
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I like to keep my hardware setup as simple and transportable as possible—I use two high-end specified PCs (one for sound and one for video), an assortment of midi controllers, an external soundcard, and a Triplehead for multi-screen span projections. I use a variety of portable sound recorders to collect field recordings that are later used in the sound compositions for each piece.What software do you use?
Most commonly I use VVVV in conjunction with Ableton Live during live performances. Aside from this I use an assortment of audio software for sound synthesis and processing such as Absynth and Super Collider.Talysis II (2006): artwork exploring the process of video feedback to create auto-catalytic self-generating artworks.If money were no object, how would you change your current setup?
Some kind of true VGA/DVI mixer solution and a state of the art professional field recording device that records in surround sound.What fantasy piece of technology would you like to see invented?
An EEG-driven narrative-encoder feedback device. It would enable the customization of live cinema narratives to confound expectations of individual viewers of a particular piece in real-time.Is there any piece of technology that inspired you to take the path you did?
The pencil.What’s your favourite relic piece of technology from your childhood?
Simply the common tape cassette recorder with an attached radio receiver. As a kid I used to scan the SW and LW radio spectra and tape incoming signals to create sonic collages. The phasing and signal distortions of frequencies combined with a myriad of different spoken languages, and added to the mysterious broadcasts of Number Stations created some exotic and strange sonic atmospheres.