“A record without (or with) prior acoustic information” and “Given: 1.Manet, 2.Coil—Oscillation from a minimum unit of speaker”

In this demonstration, we’d like to introduce two of our work, “A record without (or with) prior acoustic information” and “Given: 1.Manet, 2.Coil—Oscillation from a minimum unit of speaker.” The first one is a work in which we computationally draw a groove of a record as a vector graphic (with Adobe Illustrator or other tools) by calculating frequencies with a number of zigzags and engrave the groove on diverse materials on diverse material including paper, wood, or acrylic with laser cutter or cutting plotter to produce sounds. Through the demonstration, we show a process of making the record with a cutting plotter on the spot. The result and other examples would be played on a standard analog record player. The second one is a work in which we split a unit of a speaker into a magnet and a coil. We demonstrate an example of the work by Johnsmith as a cartilage conduction hearing with a set of neodymium magnets and a pair of coils with stereo mini jack. Through the demonstration, people could listen the sound from her/his portable audio player by directly vibrating her/his cartilages. Both of the work would present alternate embodiments of matured audio technologies (i.e., vinyl record and headphone) with a help of later technological developments. The demonstration shows basic principles of how audio technologies work. Through our practices at the intersection of media archeology and personal fabrication, we’d like to reconsider the ordinariness of acoustic media technologies.