PhD Thesis and Portfolio
Mechanical Techno: extended turntable as live assemblage
Portfolio
All files are available to download via google drive (total 31.5GB)
Streaming links are below.
4.1 Sheffield Performance (Video 44’37)
https://youtu.be/rkyfG9pVi6w
5.1 Chronic Data Poisoning (Audio 4’16)
https://audio.com/grahamdunning/audio/chronic-data-poisoning
5.2 Tentacle Motion Study (Audio 5’29)
https://audio.com/grahamdunning/audio/tentacle-motion-study
5.3 Suboptimal Beats (Audio 3’14)
https://audio.com/grahamdunning/audio/suboptimal-beats
5.4 Perpetuum Mobile (Audio 3’02)
https://audio.com/grahamdunning/audio/perpetuum-mobile
6.1 Technical Developments (Video 28’24)
https://youtu.be/sBhGbHVQYvI
7.1 Graham Dunning & Cath Roberts (TACO! excerpts) (Video 1’30)
https://youtu.be/p-ihzeuJbec
7.2 Sam Underwood & Graham Dunning (Line Up! excerpts) (Video 1’30)
https://youtu.be/B21N1axCsGE
7.3 Graham Dunning & DJ Food (FogFest excerpts) (Video 1’30)
https://youtu.be/91p63XCfPwg
7.4 Heavy Lifting vs Graham Dunning (Peckham excerpts) (Video 1’30)
https://youtu.be/1pQmRDBBCG0
Abstract
This practice-as-research thesis uses Mechanical Techno, an automated musical instrument-system and kinetic sounding sculpture, to analyse liveness in electronic music, framed by the concept of the assemblage.
As a project Mechanical Techno uniquely bridges several fields of research: experimental turntable practice, electronic dance music, sound art, and new musical instrument design. The research project shows a new body of work developed across these areas. A portfolio comprises documentation of a live performance, studio recordings, musical instrument designs, and new collaborations. Led by the practical work, the exegesis discusses the way the instrument-system works and what it can do, framing the work at different scales of assemblage.
Mechanical Techno is presented as a system which embodies a high degree of action-sound-coupling and machine liveness, enabled by the particular performance approach and set of affordances which are built into its design. Through live work in the studio, the project is considered as a physical audio workstation, enabling a discussion of the resulting mechanical and human signatures which define its aesthetic. Mechanical Techno sits between an automatic playback system and a playable musical instrument, and uses various interfaces for live inscription developed during the research project. This enables an investigation of the role of the setter in contemporary music practice. By combining Mechanical Techno with other artists’ projects, new collaborations are considered as live assemblages. The thesis argues that the use of the extended turntable as a mechanical musical instrument is a category of turntable practice distinct from both dance music DJing and instrumental turntablism. The several strands of creative practice contribute to an overarching discussion of liveness and its relationship to assemblage theory within experimental and electronic musicking
Graham Dunning 