TRISSA DODSON

(p.s. volume is hella quiet)

How to Get Lost in NYC

"Post-Truth" speed edit assignment

Gif from a video loop assignment :)

For my first materials project representing “body,” I used paper bags as a type of vessel or container. However, I got feedback that I didn’t really use those bags in a way that contained much. For my final project, I PUT ALL THE THINGS INTO A PAPER BAG and tried to express my relief that the semester was over. :)

Started my first .gif at ArtWorks. Chicago peepz, come do art with us at the Harold Washington Library on Mondays :)

Treating my every day thoughts and activities like an art project, provided me the necessary distance to observe my own behaviors and recognize areas to improve.

In this song, I blended some of my audio recordings with sampled sound clips. The last ArtWorks song represented a few of the group member’s favorite sounds, however my favorite sounds weren’t included with them! My inclusion in the song was represented by the overall organization and manipulation of the sounds, however, I wanted to include my aesthetic preferences into this song as well. One of those preferences manifested as a recording of a construction site near my apartment. By using the hand-recorded sounds and including my own favorite sounds, I felt like this process brought me closer towards “building” a better understanding of the ArtWorks group and of this media. 

Instead of sampling sound clips of wind howling, leaves rustling, or engines revving, I recorded a few of the sounds first hand. This in some way, felt like a more authentic way of representing the group members’ favorite sounds. 

Everyone in the group seemed really open to being included in my sound project. It was particularly encouraging to use this project as a way to break the ice with the newcomers to the open studio, but it was also a casual way to get to know the returning members better. 

Using my collage process as a guide, I began thinking of more ways I could compose a song. With visual art, I typically just collect pieces I’m drawn to and then intuitively arrange them, but how do I arrange them? Sometimes the individual fragments mesh to create one whole image, and other times, each piece stands out at different moments and creates a narrative within the imagery. This was my attempt at storytelling.

After talking with some people who are familiar with sound sampling, I was direct to the program Ableton, which several DJs utilize to easily blend and manipulate their sampled sounds. In this piece, I played with textures--both from the original sounds made and the applied textures generated from the software--and composed them in a program much more suited to my needs!

I’ve mostly been sampling other artist’s songs and combining them with my own sounds. Due to the lack of technical ability to play the instruments I love to hear (plus not actually owning any instruments), I tried experimenting with makings sounds only derived from my voice. I felt ridiculous making sounds without the accompaniment of any music and eventually just went with it. After several different takes, it was actually liberating to make silly noises and my self-consciousness took a more intentional, comedic form. 

Instead of exclusively using clips from other people’s music, I’ve tried incorporating my own sounds into the mix (”mumble” from Day 2). I still have this disjointed aesthetic in mind, although I’ve abandoned all ideas of producing “good music!” Instead, I’ve mainly focused on how the sounds can be altered in Audacity. As an artist, it’s a very uncomfortable feeling to be in a creative world in which I can’t fully actualize my ideas!  

I quickly realized that I was going to accomplish very little by just using words. What was really interesting me about my inspirational songs wasn’t just the distorted elements, but rather the juxtaposition of sounds (DERP, that’s what music is. It’s embarrassing how simple these concepts are, and how they’ve been going straight over my head). The songs I’ve been attracted to are simultaneously eerie and calm, aggressive and lonely, organic and mechanic. I sampled and manipulated a clip from a particularly energetic song (King of Song by Marching Church) and paired it with a sound typically associated with serenity. 

I may know nothing about music, but I do know when I’m moved by it. & lately I’ve been moved by music that sounds distorted in some way, like hearing noise that sounds like words, but don’t sound like words. So that’s where I started. I made nonsense words by studying simple phonetic sounds and using an app called “Syllables Trainer.”