Installation Description

- To construct a piece of plastic 8” by 5’ that is etched and embedded with record imprints.
- This piece of plastic will be attached to the wall of the installation and to a track that will move in a vertical motion therefore causing the plastic to move slowly up and down the wall.
- In conjunction to this vertical movement the phonographs attached to the typewriters will move horizontally.
- Sensors from the typewriter will be placed either within the installation or room and whenever activated will cause the phonograph to move left or right.
- Record player tone arms will also be placed beside the plastic and move in a circular motion.
- The goal is that by having the plastic be etched and embedded with record imprints, when the phonograph and tone arm pass over it sound will be amplified (both will have microphones for listening).
- Even though they will be playing the etchings they will also be recording too as the needles from both will etch the plastic as well.
- Therefore the plastic becomes a devise for recording and playing sounds and a continues loop as it is always being played and etched on to.

Crit Notes:

- refine idea and develop further
- has to go beyond just recording sound
- can it be looped?
- components can be pulled apart
- inscribe sound onto the wall
- level of craft necessary fro the sake of precision
- phonograph is constantly recording and playing back
- could you record and play wall surfaces?


Troubleshooting/Precision

I have reconstructed some of my phonograph in the hopes of recording the human voice. In order to get it to function at a much higher quality I reconstructed the horn out of metal flashing and reinforced the tuna can and needle with extra support. The cylinder was also reworked by adding to new ends to the piece of plumbing tube in order to make sure both sides were both moving in perfect unison. Lastly the supports for the threaded rod that spins the cylinder were fastened more securely to the stand. In doing these upgrades I was hoping that the phonograph would perform at a higher quality. However unfortunately I was still unable to record the human voice but I am able to amplify and pick up textures on surfaces using the phonograph, which in itself is very interesting to me, and I hope to incorporate this phenomenon into my installation.