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DUB IN LIMINAL SPACE AND ITS TRANS-MEDIA DEVELOPMENT
dub2
• verb (dubbed, dubbing) 1 provide (a film) with a soundtrack in a different language from the original. 2 add (sound
effects or music) to a film or a recording. 3 make a copy of (a recording).
• noun 1 an instance of dubbing sound effects or music. 2 a style of popular music originating from the remixing of
recorded music (especially reggae).
liminal
/limmin’l/
• adjective technical 1 relating to a transitional or initial stage. 2 at a boundary or threshold.
— DERIVATIVES liminality noun.
— ORIGIN from Latin limen ‘threshold’.
space
• noun 1 unoccupied ground or area. 2 a free or unoccupied area or expanse. 3 the dimensions of height, depth,
and width within which all things exist and move. 4 a blank between typed or written words or characters. 5 (also outer
space) the physical universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere. 6 an interval of time (indicating that it is short): forty men
died in the space of two days. 7 the freedom and scope to live and develop as one wishes.
• verb 1 position (two or more items) at a distance from one another. 2 (be spaced out or chiefly N. Amer. space out)
informal be or become euphoric or disorientated, especially from taking drugs.
trans-
• prefix 1 across; beyond: transcontinental. 2 on or to the other side of: transatlantic. 3 into another state or place:
translate.
medium
• noun (pl. media or mediums) 1 a means by which something is expressed, communicated, or achieved. 2 a
substance through which a force or other influence is transmitted. 3 a form of storage for computer software, such as
magnetic tape or disks. 4 a liquid with which pigments are mixed to make paint. 5 (pl. mediums) a person claiming to
be able to communicate between the dead and the living. 6 the middle state between two extremes.
development
• noun 1 the action of developing or the state of being developed. 2 a new product or idea. 3 a new stage in a
changing situation. 4 an area of land with new buildings on it.
PIN LANE
In Plymouth’s Pin Lane, I found a small car park, rubbish bins, a few passing people
and pigeons. The cars in the car park, the rubbish, the people and the pigeons were
all transient. I photographed them, and made short audio recordings. I arranged the
photos in grids - like storyboards.
Next I photographed my route to Pin lane, constructing photocollaged panoramas. I
omitted parts which wouldn’t work, creating a time line with absent moments.
The storyboards and time lines could function as graphic scores, making the omissions
equivalent to a dub reggae producer’s mix down.
While investigating dub I encountered the term ‘liminality’ (Navas, 2008) and applied
it to Pin Lane, referring to the transient nature of what I found there.
Pieces were fitting together:
• Arrangements of images captured elements of time
• Gaps in time represented gaps in consciousness
• Gaps in the image sequnences corresponded to gaps in dub tracks
• Pin Lane is, or represents, the liminal space in which dub thrives
I devised:
Project 1 - apply the principles of dub audio mixing to arrangements of images of Pin
Lane and its environs, and develop the results.
Project 2 - further develop the idea by applying the dub principles, and principles
derived from Project 1, to an audio project.
Project 3 - a moving image project.
I can use sensory devices in Pin Lane to provide data, along with archived past work.
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1. Pigeons in Pin Lane, Plymouth; long exposure digital photos with colour adjustment
2. EEG recording of 5 seconds of my left temporal lobe brain activity
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Pin Lane
Halfway along Pin Lane is an entrance to a small trader’s
car park. Double yellow lines ensure no cars stop in the
lane.
Looking for some history for the lane I found that 130
years ago 3 fishermen lived at number 4. The lane is
only a few metres from the harbour. Now, the most life I
find here on my visits is buddleia, lichen and pigeons.
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Pin Lane
(google map, 2010)
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Pin Lane pigeons
Scanning Pin Lane for points of interest I focused on pigeons,
photographing them with approximately one second shutter speed. I
found the resulting images intriguing - Turneresque. I gridded them,
arranged them in rows and layered them in Photoshop to obtain deep
and rich frames. Vector graphics sit sweetly on top of these images.
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audio visualisation
I made a 55 second audio recording at Pin Lane, of passing cars, people
chatting and background noise. I visualise the data using some simple
techniques available as part of Adobe Audition software. This is my first
brief foray into trans-media work with Pin Lane data. The visualisation is
more impressive than the audio.
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55 second audio recording in Pin Lane
Above; top & bottom left, bottom right: Spectral Frequency
Displays secs x Hz, resolution varied.
top right: Waveform Display secs x dBs.
Below: Frequency Analysis Hz x dBs
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images & time
Contact sheets, story boards, graphic scores and
choreographic plans: all place images on time lines one
way or another. So can electroencephelographs of brain
activity and motion capture devices.
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Left: Photocollage of University of Plymouth
Top: ‘Seizure Map’ - manual motion capture from video of body
motion during secondary generalised seizure
Above: Electroencephelograph of brain activity at seizure onset
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liminal space
Liminal space is primarily defined as transitional space,
between places or states, where boundaries break down
and ambiguities set in. It includes borderland, airports
and hotels - places that people pass through without
staying pemanently.
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dub
The dub genre has evolved since it began in the late ‘60s. It originated simply as B-side versions of
Jamaican reggae songs on 7” singles with the vocal track removed. At the beginning of the 1970s
sound engineers began to add sounds back into the B-sides -
• key words or phrases from the vocal track with added delay and reverb
• accentuation of the bass and drums with delay added to snare drums and high hats
• percussion and sound effects
Dub singles were widely played by sound systems (groups of DJ’s with large speaker stacks) who
toasted back over the tunes, and tracks were released with toasting incorporated. Sub genres have
developed since the 1970s, including spacious minimal recordings, tracks saturated with effects and
sounds, and dub from many countries.
King Tubby: ‘He is often cited as the inventor of the concept of the remix’ (wikipedia, 2009)
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project 1
phase 1
visual
dub
I photographed the route from Plymouth Uni to Pin Lane, getting these pictures by ‘shooting from the
hip’ - a way to keep my camera out of sight and get less planned compositions.
I arranged this suite in a 3 x 3 grid, making no selective decisions. When I began to consider
transfering dub devices to other disciplines this was available.
Initially I just looked for equivalents to accentuating the drum and bass; the central structure of the
piece. I decided to accentuate the lowest and highest tonal values; like the bass guitar, snare drum
and high hat.
This tonal adjustment eliminated most of the subject matter (narrative) of the images, equivalent to
the vocal track of a song being removed.
Next I applied directional blur to the high values in reference to reverb, as well as pasting the high
value areas back into the image slighlty offset from the original position to suggest delay. It seemed
natural to work in a left to right direction for these time related effects.
At this point I wanted to drop some selected subject / vocal back into the mix, but here I stumbled.
Up to now I had been happy with the results from my randomly selected images, but I couldn’t get
an aesthetically pleasing result bringing them back in. So I decided to follow a different route - to
dub in the style of Adrian Sherwood (producer and sound engineer of On-U Sound records.)
I played with the image I had at this point, and distorted it beyond traceability. I then used some
circles to suggest extended delay, and dipped into my archive of images to find some Seizure
Mapping graphics, which I overlaid.
SUMMARY
I have taken drum and bass from one piece of work - the route to Pin Lane minus its narrative, and
used this as the central structure. I have added ornamentation, and highly developed elements from
another project, Seizure Mapping, that were put to one side and not exhibited, that work well with
this project.
EVALUATION
I think I failed in that I set out to apply Tubby’s devices to a visual work, and abandoned this aim
when it became difficult, opting to work in a more Sherwood style. However, this was due to
selecting the wrong starting material, and I devised a working procedure. It can be developed.
I like the fact that a social artwork has been inserted into an aesthetic artwork, somewhat parallell
to toasting over a musical drum and bass rhythm - albeit far less accessible or readable. This quality
can also be developed.
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drum & bass = central structure added sounds = ornamentation
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project 1
phase 2
co-op
dub
For Phase 2, I took a series of photos from
a fixed point, using a tripod. They had
a stronger time property and element of
narrative (ie. ‘Person A went to the Shop,
then Person B went to the Shop’ etc.)
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This image combines
• Co-op Dub ornamentation
• Seizure Map deconstruction
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project 1
phase 3
liminality of
nocturnal travel
Travelling by night from Plymouth to Bristol,
by motorway, is a transient and trance like
experience. Motoways skirt round towns and cities,
passing through liminal land. Nobody pauses
on a motorway except at service stations, where
divisions of class and culture break down.
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excursions in versions:
• sniper’s sights/medical red cross
• seizure map
on top of inverted and enriched night
photos of the Plymouth-Bristol journey
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project 1
phase 4
I combined this with hospital recordings from the same video telemetry
sessions that I had used to make visual seizure maps.
phase 2
Finding Phase 1 dissappointing, I used Reason software and its pre-
synthesised sounds and loops to make some digital dub style tracks.
These were easy to make and listen to and combined well with extracts
from Phase 1.
They departed from the spirit of the Liminal Dub Project though, which is
to carry processes from one project and medium to another, so I paused
before constructing a framework for Phase 3.
phase 3
A backwards glance: on page 15 is a summary of devices in a King
Tubby Dub Mix and on page 16 a translation into visual processes. The
processes developed through 4 Phases.
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I describe 2 visual processes from Project 1 and sonic equivalents.
The first refers to Phase 2 ‘Co-op Dub’ culminating in the image on pages
20 - 21 in which the central structure is absent.
The second refers to the Phase 4 image on pages 30 - 31.
phase 4
Consolidate previous phases.
Lay visual siezure maps onto music graphic notation.
EVALUATION
The Sonic Aspect project did not produce any sound files that pleased me
as much as the visual files from Project 1. However, the development was
moved forward. Through trying to extract sonic rules from Project 1 it was
looked at from different angles and deconstructed more thoroughly.
The visual project was largely the result of graphically representing time
and frequency along with harmony, timbre, narrative content, history,
culture and so on.
In the Sonic Aspect, this conversion was reversed. Actually, the process
was not completed, but some of the areas of interest were identified.
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trans-media
project 3
moving images
9th March 2010 - Notes for film
The only character in the film begins in Plymouth’s Pin lane. This
is a place that I found mundane, but which led me to discover the
concept of liminal spaces – sites of transience, borderland and
marginalization.
Finally, she appears a last time in Pin Lane, and the film closes.’
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The protagonist appears in Pin Lane and walks towards the viewer.
There is a drum beat, and the screen darkens. On the second beat a hill
appears; a city borderland liminal space with a spriritual history. Next an
animated graphic is drawn on screen. This is a seizure map - a motion
capture of limb movements during an epileptic seizure.
Again, in time to the music, the protagonist’s head and shoulders appear,
moving in longer loops. This closer shot is more intimate.
The next shot is close on the face, and the music remains trance like.
Without warning the music ceases and the screen splits. Now we see the
whole body descending from a church ceiling in slow motion and fading
on contact with the ground. The church is St. Paul’s in a culturally hybrid
city central liminal space.
The graphic of a circle and cross represents the borderland and city
centre church.
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Before making the moving image project I watched the ‘Cremaster’
series 1 - 4 (Barney, M. 1997, 1999, 2002, 1994), and was
influenced by them. I particularly liked Barney’s use of a closed
system of symbols and representation, which is virtually unreadable
without contextualsing information, but fascinating to watch. Having
previously produced a series of paintings according to a personal
cipher this is a way I like to work.
EVALUATION
When I watched the first edit, I was aware that it had weaknesses.
I regard it as a maquette. I would prefer the soundtrack to be
composed and played by musicians, to have a cameraman and not
to be constrained by money. However, I see that the project succeeds
in conveying a lot of what I want it to.
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conclusion
SUMMARY
In dub, vocals and melody are often removed at the mixing stage,
and reinserted in fragments with audio effects applied. New sounds
are also introduced.
In the moving image project I was able to carry over the gridding
and tonal simplification applied to
the still images, and intuitively convert it to temporal moduling and
similar visual tonal techniques. The soundtrack was developed rapidly
from the final work I had produced at the sonic stage. Temporally
the sound and visual modules were tightly synchronised. The content
drew on previous work.
EVALUATION
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While the treatment of the still images felt successful I am reflecting on
people’s reactions to the moving image project. This gives this area
of the work greater depth for me. It requires further developement,
and is drawing me into language, memory and philosophy.
The most challenging task has been writing about my own work.
Producing the work feels fairly intuitive, however analyzing it helps
push it to new levels and this is a challenge I must rise to.
References:
Barney, M. (1995, 1999, 2002, 1994) Cremaster 1 - 4, 1995, 1999, 2002, 1994. Series of films (5
in total). Directed by Matthew BARNEY. USA: Matthew Barney.
Harris (Callaloo, Vol. 18, No. 1, Wilson Harris: A Special Issue (Winter, 1995), pp. 110-124)
Navas, E. (2008) Dub, B Sides and their [re]versions in the threshold of Remix, http://remixtheory.net/?p=345,
accessed 3rd Jan 2010.
Turner, V. (1974) Drama, Fields and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society, Cornell University Press
Bibliography:
Emery, M. L. (1995) ‘Limbo Rock: Wilson Harris and the Arts of Memory’, Callaloo, Vol. 18, No. 1, Wilson
Harris: A Special Issue (Winter, 1995), pp. 110-124, The Johns Hopkins University Press, accessed 10th May
2010
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Musical Producers refered to:
Software used:
Adobe CS4 Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign - to produce and modify still images
Adobe CS4 Premiere Pro, AfterEffects, Media Encoder - to edit, modify and encode moving images
Adobe Audition 3.0, Reason 4.0 - to produce, modify and edit sonic work
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