Featured Project.

This is a work in four sections which flow seamlessly in and out of each other to form an 8 min 23 sec piece.

“80% of the sounds you hear are all custom sound design, using four synthesizers. From persistent repetition to monumental block chords, the tiny sounds of nature awakening to screaming alarms and fat basses – tortured analog electronics provide a rich array of sounds to listen out for. I’ll often just set things recording, and then spend sessions working the controls of my equipment, giving me material to chop up and utilise throughout the piece, before further manipulating sounds working with analog tape and effects. The remaining 20% of sounds are me playing piano – recorded using the same upright that I practiced on as a teenager 20 years ago – and bassoon.

Lastly, I added further visuals: there are clips of me working with synths and playing acoustic instruments, all with overlaid projections, manipulation of the footage to match audio cues, and a series of video synthesized responses to the audio, which were overlaid onto the film to provide further textures, colours and movement.

This is a piece which has thousands of details: I very much hope to inspire repeat viewings, and that each time through, you’ll hear and see different things.”

Video Synthesis.

Holbeck uses a Critter and Guitari ‘Eyesy’ - a hardware video synthesizer - to create evolving visuals. Working in Python and ofLua to manipulate code, the resulting graphics respond either to sound inputs or midi, and can also be affected in real time using the Eyesy’s various knobs and buttons. Explore this playlist for a flavour of Holbeck’s work and development in this area.