Circuit Bending

Over the last week or so, I've gone off on a bit of a tangent. Aside from researching photographers and playing around with movement in self portrait sequences, examples of which should be online asap, I've been looking at sound manipulation; specifically Circuit Bending.

Circuit Bending is more and more becoming seen as an artform in its own right. Developed by mistake in the 1960s by Reed Ghazala when by chance he short circuited a toy transistor amplifier with a metal object. It made a range of weird and unusual sounds but he found it interesting and starting working on trying to find out how and why it had happened so he could develop and control it.

Skip to nearly 40 years later and examples of Circuit Bending can be seen in a whole range of musical applications, either overtly or covertly. The biggest example of which can be seen in electronic music but Circuit Bending is far from confined to electronic music, more and more its seen in guitar based rock and indie music - a perfect example would be Crystal Castles.

'Bending' techniques can be used in anything battery operated from toys such as 'Speak and Spell' through to Guitar Pedals and stomp boxes.

There's something inherently Lo-Fi that I love about this, its completely random and even following other people's 'bending projects' usually leads to a difference in the noises that can be created.

Also, VJs are now using bending ideas to manipulate Video.