Biography

David Burraston is an award winning artist/scientist working in the areas of technology and electronic music since the late 1970s. His experimental arts practice encompasses field recording, landscape-scale sound art, chaos/complexity, sound synthesis and electronic music. He performs, lectures, conducts workshops and creates art installations in Regional NSW and around the world. David also designs and builds sound synthesizers based on his theories of chaos/complexity science.

He has previously released his highly original form of experimental research music on numerous cult labels such as ALKU (in collaboration with RUSSELL HASWELL), IMPORTANT RECORDS/CASSAUNA, TAIGA, .MEDS, CATACLYST, ENGRAVED GLASS, TOCHNIT ALEPH, BETA BODEGA COALITION, SEVCOM EDITION and featured in THE WIRE MAGAZINE Below The Radar series.

Full bio here: http://www.noyzelab.com/about.html

Composer website: http://www.noyzelab.com/

Featured Works

RAINWIRE PROTOTYPE, for rainfall, long wire, field recorder, home made piezo contact mics.

Rainwire encompasses the investigation of rainfall & its application as a medium for artistic, cultural & scientific exchange. The Rainwire project includes development of a prototype Acoustic Rain Gauge using suspended cables (long wire instruments), and subsequently expanded through various collaborations in a range of creative & environmental contexts. Rainwire is an experimental approach at technological appropriation of agricultural based objects for art and science, with particular emphasis on climate change issues and agriculture.

Long-wire instruments are made from spans of fencing wire across the open landscape. Rainwire developed from using contact mic recordings of rainfall ‘playing’ the long wire instruments for music compositions. This enabled a proof of concept study to the extent that the audio recordings demonstrate a wide variety of temporal & spatial rain event complexity. This suggests that environmental sonification has great potential to measure rainfall accurately, & address recognized shortcomings of existing equipment & approaches in meteorology.

Rain induced sounds with long wire instruments have a wide range of unique, audibly recognisable features. All of these sonic features exhibit dynamic volume & tonal characteristics, depending on the rain type & environmental conditions. Aside from the vast array of creative possibilities, the high spatial, temporal, volume & tonal resolution could provide significant advancement to knowledge of rainfall event profiles, intensity & microstructure. The challenge lies in identifying distinctive sound patterns & relating them to particular types of rainfall events.

Featured in Place Waves, May 2018