PrototypingThePast – MLab in the Humanities

Prototyping Sounds at MLab

Fiona Keenan — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 18:56:32 +0000

I research historical sound, more specifically the work of sound effects designers from late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century theatre. These designers worked with acoustic materials and simple mechanisms to create everyday sounds, such as wind, rain, and thunder. A lot of my PhD work so far has focused on recreating a historical design, a theatre wind machine, following instructions left in the writings of sound effects designers. But these designers haven’t only left behind specific instructions for particular effects; they also advise the reader to experiment with their designs and develop their work further, to investigate new materials and grow an individual sound effect making practice.

I came to the MLab as a visiting researcher to spend a month working with the team on Prototyping the Past, and to try to figure out how their approach to prototyping might work for sound making using historical methods. Working on and through various problems via prototyping got me thinking more clearly about the most relevant parts of historical theatre sound texts in terms of developing skills, rather than just following design instructions correctly. I started prototyping my own “noisemaker” designs using tin cans, and this led to an introductory workshop at UVic.

The workshop was held right at the end of my research placement and was hosted by CFUV’s Women’s Radio Collective. It was useful to put some of my learning over the month into practice and see what people made of my approach in practice. I made a zine for the workshop, and we made quite a bit of noise.

I’ve learned that prototyping sound with materials is indeed a gateway to sound making more broadly and that, given the chance, people will take a basic design and improvise with it to develop something more complex. The most important bit, and my biggest takeaway from this month in general, is that you need to give them the space to experiment in the first place.

Many thanks to the White Rose College in the Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH), who fund my PhD research and also supported this placement. Thanks to CFUV’s WRC for hosting all the noises, and to Miyoko for the podcast fun. Finally, thanks to all at MLab for being so welcoming and supportive all month, and especially to Teddie for all of her work getting the workshop and press set up!

Post by Fiona Keenan, attached to the PrototypingThePast and Makerspace projects, with the news tag. Featured image for this post care of Fiona Keenan and Teddie Brock. Download the zine for Fiona’s workshop as a ready-to-print-and-assemble PDF.

Prototyping the Past, Workshop 2

Maasa Lebus — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 18:05:57 +0000

As Danielle mentioned about a week ago, the MLab’s primary project this year is writing and designing a co-authored book tentatively titled, An Illustrated Guide to Prototyping the Past. Here are some photos from our second collaborative workshop on the book.

Jentery, Evan, Tiffany, and Kat Talking about the Book with Danielle

Tiffany Reviewing Materials for Our Chapter on the “Imitation Problem”

Kat Piecing Together the Book

Experimenting with Ways to Let Scholarship Speak in the Book

The Team Discussing How to Explain the Prototyping Process to a Broad Audience

Post by Maasa Lebus, attached to the PrototypingThePast project, with the guide tag. Images for this post care of Maasa Lebus, featuring Tiffany Chan, Katherine Goertz, Evan Locke, Danielle Morgan, and Jentery Sayers.

Prototyping the Past, Workshop 1

Danielle Morgan — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 00:40:53 +0000

For the 2016-17 academic year, the MLab’s primary project is writing and designing a co-authored book tentatively titled, An Illustrated Guide to Prototyping the Past. We’ll have more details soon. For now, we’re starting a series of regular posts that will share photographs from our collaborative workshops on the book.

Kat Cutting Up Material for Chapter 1 (Photo by Danielle)

Kat, Tiffany, Teddie, and Jentery Working on Chapter 1 (Photo by Danielle)

Kat, Tiffany, Teddie, and Jentery Still Working on Chapter 1 (Photo by Danielle)

Post by Danielle Morgan, attached to the PrototypingThePast project, with the guide tag. Images for this post care of Danielle Morgan, featuring Teddie Brock, Tiffany Chan, Katherine Goertz, and Jentery Sayers.