Barry Schrader, Morton Subotnick and John Payne - CalArts studio B-304

"The following flickr stream was from CalArts studio B-304 taken in the fall of 1976 featuring Barry Schrader, Morton Subotnick and John Payne and a whole lotta Buchla 500. John as you may remember came up a couple of months ago on Matrixsynth in the posting regarding Mort's use of the 300 at Ircam [link]. He went on in later years to become the Assistant Dean of the CIA School of Music and founder of it's Music Tech department. Photo b_304.2 has a good view of the entire studio, save the three other JBL's which are out of frame (it was a quad studio - there was one in each corner)."

b_304.1 pictured.
"Barry Schrader, Morton Subotnick and John Payne stand in front of the Buchla 500 in CalArts' sudio B-304 in the fall of 1976."

via Peter Grenader. 


Posts featuring Barry Schrader
Posts featuring Morton Subotnic
Posts featuring John Payne

Update: As always check the comments for more info.

via Peter:

"There are two more 500's that I know off - at Evergreen and another somewhere in Europe (pardon the senior moment, i don't remember where exactly). This is not to say there aren't others...I'm just not aware of any. The one in the photo here was the first - the development system Don constructed while on staff at CalArts. I do know the 500 was adondoned quickly and resurfaced as the 300 series which included direct routing of computer control the various modules (259 VCO and 292C Gate for example) -and- the digital VCOs."

"the box screwed into the side of the main cabinet is a speaker selector which i f i remember correctly wasn't on line. Another bit of trivia - this was taken about the time of Mort's Game Room project that Gary Chang, Jill Frazer, Darrell Johansen, Sue Harvey and I worked on. The room next to 304 (other side of the wall which is shown behind the Buchla) was 305. It had a large 100 system (three cabinets) and for the Game Room we cut a hole in the base of that wall to run audio cables out from the tape machines to play quad audio snippets into the game area. This also took signals directly from the game board in 305 where signals were decoded and sent to the various controllers (audio, film, Buchla-controlled OCR light dimmers, etc.).

Against the other wall - opposite the one behind the 500 - was studi oB-303, which was pretty much a duplicate of this one sans the computer control - so it was a 200 studio, not a 500 studio. It also had the huge JBL monitors which were hung form the ceiling on metal brackets made by Chas Smith (which are still in place today). There's a photo of 303 at Barry's Schrader's website: link

Most people preferred working in 303, mainly because the 258's were easier to get to. On the 500 system they were all on the top row, which was a pain for most. The upside - studio time was easy to book in 304 for this reason I spent a lot of the early mornings here - tarting usually at 4AM and going until classes began around 9."

via an anonymous comment:
"Evergreen has/had an early 300 its computer is non functional. There were 3 500s from what i understand, 1 went to Norway, 1 to a campus studio in NY and the 3rd was of course at CalArts..

the Norway one was moved around a lot as it was purchased by 2 or 3 studios/organizations and because of its fragile nature it didnt survive.. it was apparently parted out after it became nonfunctional.

The CalARTs system was also disassembled and parts were sold to various buyers around the US in the famouse 90's sale ..nobody is too sure what happened to the digial components..

the 3rd that was in NY was sold to a collector in the 90's, tho it should be noted that that system was returned to Buchla for upgrading/overhaul in the late 70's and was reassembled with 300 series components, so it is more of a 300 now then 500... I don't believe it has been tested or turned on in over a decade.

another note, there were 2 versions of the 300.. the early system used tech from the 500 (the gating matrix for example - which controlled early versions of the 281 and 292B gates - the remote function on later 281s and 292Cs was never implemented) the later 300s were more of a self contained system ( with 200 modules for processing ) which eventually became the Touché and the 400."

Gary Chang and Neil Leonard Illuminate Sacred Spaces in Italy

Via the Grant Richter of Wiard on the Wiard Group:

"During the month of June, 2007, notable composers Gary Chang and Neil Leonard will visit several sites in Italy with the task of completing 5.1 installations of a program of music entitled "Sanctuaries," which are meditative ambient analog electronic music pieces composed by Chang and realized on a Wiard Modular Music System, specifically designed for playback in churches and other public locations.

The tour is sponsored by Sguardi Sonori 2007, Festival of Media and Time Based Art, for which Leonard is a also a curator.

The cities in the tour will include Rome, Benevento, Torino, Venice, San Galgano and La Spezia. While in La Spezia, Chang and Leonard will also have access to the Naval base, where there are very large rooms (indoor drydocks for warships, for instance) and other interesting ambiances, such as marble quarries and museums, where further explorations in unusual ambient spaces will be recorded and cataloged.

Utilizing Blue Sky Monitors and extensive Taralabs wiring at each installation, each
location will be recorded using a Soundfield SP422B mic, which is a recording system that can yield from mono up to a 7.1 playback. Recording will be achieved using a tcelectronic Konnekt Live, interfacing to a laptop computer and portable firewire drives. In addition, Impulse Response data will be collected from each of the locations to create a library of interesting convolution reverb spaces for McDSP's Revolver.

Following the Italian journey, Chang and Leonard will give many presentations on the
project, including a workshop presented by GASP Gallery in Brookline for senior students in electronic music at Berklee College of Music.

This project would not be possible without the generosity of sponsors, who include The City of Rome; The City of Venice; La Marrana - environmental art park, (for graciously coordinating recording and installation sites during a week long residency in La Spezia); Sguardi Sonori 2007, Festival of Media and Time Based Art; Blue Sky Speakers; TaraLabs Cables; tcelectronic digital audio interfaces and processors; The Wiard Synthesizer Company; Transaudio Group/Soundfield Microphones and The Berklee College of Music.

Confirmed Schedule - (Actual locations to be announced).

June 12/19 LA SPEZIA
June 20 ROME
June 21/22 BENEVENTO
June 23/24 TORINO
June 26/27 VENICE
June 28 SAN GALGANO (Installation includes "Echoes and Footsteps" by Neil Leonard in addition to "Sanctuaries")
June 29 - July 4 LA SPEZIA

SANCTUARIES
An installation by Gary Chang and Neil Leonard
San Galgano, Sienna, Italy

NOTES: GARY CHANG
The music entitled "Sanctuaries" that I have composed for installation in churches is designed for such an environment of spirituality and meditation. The musics are ambient in quality, designed to fill the space with warmth and emotion, but never does the musics every confront the visitor - though there is some abstraction, the dynamics of the pieces are quite controlled, never overtly dramatic. In the best of all things, I am hoping that the music installation will simply be another contributor to the specialness of the Church's ambiance - my special prayer in the space. In loving memory of Diana Lee Chang.

NOTES: NEIL LEONARD
Echoes and Footsteps is a reflection on the sound of Italy, where I lived and work for much of 2006. The primary sources are the sound of cowbells recorded in the region of Lazio, and the songs of workers celebrating the end of the work day in the Palazzo di Ragione market in Padova. The pointed gestures of the bells and bursts of cathartic song were transformed using time-stretching and delay techniques. The resulting composition evolves in slow motion and outlines large sonic contours that celebrate the essence of daily life as I head it while living here.

GARY CHANG SHORT BIO
Sound artist and esteemed film composer Gary Chang worked his way up through the LA
studio musician ranks playing with the best musicians in the country (e.g. Robbie Robertson, Herbie Hancock and Weather Report, Barbara Streisand and Henry Mancini,)
later to compose music for many eminent filmmakers (including John Frankenheimer,
Jonathan Demme and Stephen King). Few composers have mastered such a wide range of
musical genres that Chang has (orchestral, electronic, installation, jazz, soundtrack, dance). Chang is a protagonist in the field of music synthesis. He has recorded on and programmed almost major every hardware and software synthesizer over the last thirty years, built dozens of custom systems, and designed a personal studio that is optimized for recording synthesizers in multi-channel and high definition audio. Chang won the National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Jazz Composers while attending California Institute Of the Arts. Chang is a pioneer in the use of 5.1 surround sound in cinema, concert and installation settings.

NEIL LEONARD SHORT BIO
NEIL LEONARD is a sound artist, composer and saxophonist. His compositions are a
synthesis of concert, improvised and electronic musics that transcend categorization. Leonard's recently premiered works include Dreaming of an Island for orchestra, electronics and live-video (performed by Kirk Trevor and the Indianapolis Chamber
Orchestra), Totems (performed by Byron and Caine at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City), and the music for Relatives (by Tony Oursler and Constance DeJong that was featured at the Whitney Biennial). His collaborative work with visual artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was featured by premier venues for modern art including 49th Venice Biennial; Museum of Modern Art, NY; and presented by the U.S. State Department at DakArt/Dakar Biennial in Senegal.

Leonard is co-owner of Gallery Artist Studio Project GASP and curator of the GASP sonic arts series in Boston. His ensemble has featured Marshall Allen (Director of the Sun Ra Arkestra), Bruce Barth, Dave Bryant, Don Byron, Kenwood Dennard, Robin Eubanks, Frank Lacy, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Uri Caine.

Neil Leonard is an Associate Professor in the Music Synthesis Department at Berklee
College of Music.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Mr. Chang and Mr. Leonard wish to thank Bruce Weisberg of Blue Sky Speakers, Rebecca
Barnhardt of TaraLabs Cables, Ed Simeone of tcelectronic, Grant Richter of The Wiard
Synthesizer Company, Bradley Lunde at Transaudio Group/Soundfield Mics, and Carl Dito at Coast Audio for their sage advice and contributing their companies' products on behalf of our project. Gary wishes to thank his family, Ann and Arthur Chang and Margaret Craig-Chang.

Special thanks goes to Stephen Croes and Kurt Biederwolf of Berklee College of Music for their continued support.

Thanks to Anthony Baldino, Tara Sarmov and Pierce Warneke, students of the Music
Synthesis Program at Berklee College of Music for assisting with the installation.

Extra special thanks are extended to Carlo Fatigoni, Sandro Cecchi and Marisa Corazzol of Sguardi Sonori 2007. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons of Gallery Artists Studio Projects GASP Gallery, Colonel Sergio Cavanna of The SAVTAM Aeronautica Militare, Cadimare - La Spezia Italy, and Gianni and Grazie Bolongaro of La Marrana di Montemarcello, La Spezia Italy."

Plan B Custom Modules

Title link takes you there.
Currently listed:
Gary Chang's MIlton Sequencer (pictured above)
John Frusciante's triple LPG
Steve Roach's dual Analog Shift Register
Gino Robair's quad LPG
Frac'd Model 15
NIN's Quad LPG
John Duval's custom panel o'fun
Dennis Verschoor's Serge (ish) VCO panel (posted here)
Dan Levey's Sawtooth Animator
Gary Chang's Frac'd Encore Frequency Shifter