Here's what I want to do. How do I do it?
I have a computer, and I want to use it as a "tape recorder", only, you know, without the whole retro tape version. I know a very quiet & open area, so I won't need soundproofing, but I want to take my computer out there, make my music, and have it then be on the computer. What else do I need in the middle to make that possible? Or if I can't do that without being tethered 3 feet to the computer itself, what do I need to do to record myself and then get it onto the computer? (the internet and as a stored recording). Long things, not digicam shorts. Video recordings and audio recordings.
You need a microphone. I use the "Blue Mic" professional USB mic and it's been useful ever since I got it.
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Welcome to My Living Room
I timed the show to take place when a computer graphics convention was in town, got their mailing list and mailed full color invitations to everyone on the list.
I was amazed at the response. The line wrapped around the block. The fire marshal’s limit of 800 people forced the nightclub to close its doors after it reached its limit.
Thanks to the generous support from Mike Canfield, the crew from Park West and my fellow students. Without them, this couldn’t have been possible.
A lot of work went into this show. I went through all of the lab‘s video tapes. I included what I considered the best videos in their entirety, interspersed with segments of other videos and clips from old commercials like,
“Sugar Twins (cereal), They pick you up and give you energy!! (nothing like tons of sugar)
“Camels, for a smoke that soothes your throat.” (didn’t know cancer was so soothing)
I intermixed these with clips from old black and white cartoons and TV shows with references to the future.
These were edited with old-fashioned channel change sounds and placed in between lab video segments and full pieces. I also included a fellow student’s and my thesis videos. The goal was to combine images from the past with the present and highlight the lab’s work. It wasn’t about just me. It was about the lab. I didn’t even give myself end credits.
The staging was great fun as well. A dear friend of mine, Steve Heminover, built for me a twenty foot long green vinyl sofa which I padded and splashed with various colors of thin iridescent paint. It was very retro, very psychedelic, and huge. Those that sat in it looked like little kids.
There were about two dozen lava lps strategically placed on the stage around a giant video wall encased in a fake TV made of thick cardboard. Smaller video wall monitors were randomly placed on stage. With the nightclub’s large suspended projection screens, the environment combining past and present visualization was complete. It was show time!
Processed images, two-dimensional animations, three-dimensional animations hand virtual images filled the nightclub. Thinking back, I remember feeling exhausted, but happy to see hundreds of smiling, happy faces from both the audience and the crew. It was a definite re-enforcement that although yet unsophisticated, the future was on its way.
© copyright 1991 Margaret M. Rawlings
About the Author
Retired Associate Director
Electronic Visualization Laboratory
University of Illinois at Chicago
BA,MFA Electronic Visualization
Handicapped with MS, affecting vision, coordination, walking. Attempting writing to help pay bills.
