GPS Beatmap from Jesse Stiles on Vimeo.

“Locative art,” the idea that somehow location will feed into music and visuals, has eluded culture. We have the technology, in the form of sophisticated databases of location information and highly accurate, publicly-available GPS satellites. But it’s one of those solutions in search of a problem, and begs the question, why?

That is, until you unleash a nearly 6-liter V8 Ford LTD Crown Victoria on the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats, and your driving gets translated to music. Now it makes sense. And sweeping through the salty dust in one of America’s greatest action-car-chase cars of all time, manipulating music on a Max/MSP software patch, all becomes right with the world. (That’s how it is in my head, anyway.)

The planet is your control surface.

Such is the project sent by co-creator Jesse Stiles, who worked with Rich Pell (and editor/documentarian Olivia Robinson) under the name Face Removal Services to perform this vehicular musical production. (Thank, as well, The Center for Land Use Interpretation / GPS Expo 2006. PS – I think we now know what to do with all those clunkers Americans are turning in for Cash for Clunkers.)

Now, this covers only X and Y axis. I think we need to add the Z-axis, for base jumpers. (I had a dream last night in which I was hang gliding from the rim of the Grand Canyon to the Colorado River below, a reminder that the Earth – and computer interfaces – do not have to be flat.)

Of course, the ensemble is real, and we’ve talked a bit to sound designer Bill Milbrodt about the details. Now, it seems Ford and the ad makers have finally released a video interview with Bill. There’s something about talking to people on camera that helps — and Bill has great stuff to say.

Personally, I think the confusion about what people were watching may be more interesting than the car itself. It shows just how much editing and design choices can impact perception — something to keep in mind whether your aspirations tend toward Madison Avenue or the underground.

Previously:

Interview: Building a Musical Ensemble Out of Ford Focus Car Parts

Yes, Virginia, There Really is a Ford Car Part Musical Ensemble

It’s always fascinating to me how people hear, what they thing of as “real” or “authentic,” and what meaning they find in the things they listen to.

Yesterday, we got a glimpse of a new car advertisement for Ford in the UK featuring instruments constructed from automobile components:

Interview: Building a Musical Ensemble Out of Ford Focus Car Parts

What you see on the screen, of course, is not literally what you hear — the TV ad and soundtrack are edited together, and this is a car ad, not a documentary. But quite a few readers (and even blogs elsewhere) wondered if they were actually hearing instruments constructed from the Ford Focus — or if there was some audio fakery going on, as well.

Following up on our interview (which was evidently an exclusive for CDM, whatever that’s worth), sound designer Bill Milbrodt actually called me last night and we got to have a long chat about the whole process.

Here’s the short answer:

Yes, the instruments are really made from a Ford Focus. (The strings are conventional strings, which has a huge impact on timbre, but until Ford starts putting something that can substitute for strings into their cars, you’ll have to live with that.) Yes, musicians really did play them. Yes, you really do hear that recording (edited) in the ad. Bill points out that they could have saved a lot of money by just creating props. This is, indeed, the real thing.

And yes, the musical effect is awfully close to classical music played on conventional instruments. That was apparently the requirement of the agency and director. The sound of the Car Music Project is very different — and I suspect a little closer to the tastes of the readers here. Here’s what the ensemble sounds like live, at least until we get live footage of the Ford Focus ensemble (got my fingers crossed for that):

I just find it really interesting that people reacted the way they did — and to the whole issue of authenticity and recordings. We’re both immediately suspicious of anything recorded, yet cling to the idea of a recording as a “factual record” — despite the fact that sound depends entirely on your point of view. Even with live sound, you might experience a different concert in a different part of the hall. With recordings, mic choice, mic placement, and other factors impact the sound even before someone’s had a shot at digital “manipulation.” You know that, I know that — but still, we have some sort of deeply-ingrained expectations about what a recording is, or what we want it to be, that go beyond even the technical knowledge of a group of practictioners.

Of course, it’s curiosity about how things are actually done that drives some of this site, so I say, keep asking questions and questioning your ears.

But, for the record, this ensemble is, for all practicality, real. And there’s really not a cello on that recording, I swear.

Here are the full technical details from Bill, with links to still more information — and this answer actually winds up going into more of the nuts and bolts (sorry) of how these instruments were used musically:

The music was recorded on the instruments at Capitol Records, Los Angeles prior to shooting. At the shoot, the musicians performed to a playback recording. Television is a visual medium and the shooting, which occurred on a sound stage at Universal Studios, L.A. was done over two days. The instruments had added ornamentation for the shoot. But what you hear is really our instruments … They were tested in the workshop in PA, tuned and refined, then tested again (a few times over). A week before we shipped them to L.A., Craig Richey, the composer, came to PA and we assembled the Car Music Project musicians with some additional hired musicians — Craig spent two days working with the instruments plus two four-to-five hour evenings with the instruments and musicians. This helped him adapt his music to the ensemble, and helped us to find out where we need further refinement to make the instruments better able to deliver Craig’s music.

What you hear in the recording is the car part instruments. Obviously, if someone made a mistake, they went back and re-tracked that instrument as they would in any contemporary recording. You need to know, too, that the musicians were terrific players. They were picked for their skill and for attitude. Other things: the flutes and reeds have holes and therefore required players who were comfortable with baroque flute fingering, similar to that of a recorder or wooden flute. Because of this, I have found, for the flutes and reeds, it is best to work with a flute player who plays reeds as opposed to a reed player who plays flutes. Also, for the spike fiddle, which is the violin-like instrument that is played vertically like a cello, it is best to work with a cello player. For a violin player who normally tucks his/her instrument under the chin, the fingering is upside down. So, a cello player just needs to adjust to the tuning and the smaller fingerboard — that’s where attitude comes in. A player with the right attitude — a love of the unusual and a love of problem-solving — jumps right in and starts figuring it out.

FORD FOCUS MICROSITE:

On the Ford Focus microsite, there is some video from Capitol Records (video #6 or #7 I believe). It is a little tricky to get there. 1) Go to the URL below. 2) Click the link for the Ford Focus microsite. Let it load. 3) Once loaded, go to the link on the right and choose “Media”. The videos summarize the process. But I believe video #6 or #7 has a bit of recording session footage. Here is the link:

http://www.ford.co.uk/safari/focmca/-/focmca_micro/-/-/-/-#

“CLASSIC FM” CLASSICAL MUSIC STATION WEB SITE:

At the bottom, there is an interview with Craig Richey, just below the interview with me. Check it out.

http://www.classicfm.co.uk/article.asp?id=565284

Finally, the commercial’s director is Noam Murro. The first requirement he put forth, before hiring us to create the instruments, was that the instruments must play and must play in tune. The Car Music Project instruments can also play in tune. However, they are of an earlier vintage and were built without experience, so they are a little trickier (But that’s what we like about them!)

I hope this helps.

Bill Milbrodt

Car Music Project

We’ve seen basses and turntables made from motorcycles, and bicycle parts turned into DJ setups, ensembles, and The Nutcracker. But The Car Music Project has gone further, building two entire ensembles out a single car, first a sound designer’s old Honda Accord and, more recently, deconstructing a brand-new Ford Focus into a full instrumental ensemble in just five weeks.

In other words, before — a five-door 2008 Ford Focus hatchback as built for the UK market looks like this:

… and after the Car Music Project gets to it, 21 parts from that car become 31 individual instruments:

The ad campaign premiered yesterday in England. Above: the extended, three-minute version.

More: More cowbell! Ford turns Focus into musical instruments [Autoblog]

I got to talk to New York-based sound designer Bill Milbrodt, who led a 22-person team to build the instruments, with Ray Faunce III managing fabrication. Composer Craig Richey, who scored The King of Kong, Friends With Money, and Lovely & Amazing (among others), wrote the music for the ensemble.

Bill describes to CDM the daunting task of going from Ford hatchback to chamber ensemble. It’s an incredible insight into instrument design and construction, whether your DIY instrument tastes tend in the acoustic or digital realms.

PS, to the Crave blog and other doubters: the music is real. They actually made some fantastic-sounding instruments out of that Ford Focus. I certainly know when I buy an automobile, I like the peace of mind that comes from buying one I could later deconstruct with 22 skilled metalworkers and play original scores on.

You describe taking delivery of the car with one mile on its odometer, then immediately proceeding to deconstruct it. How much pre-planning was involved to figure out how to construct the instruments? How much was sort of improvised on the spot with the car?

[None of the construction] was really improvised on the spot. The car was dismantled completely, and the parts were sorted into boxes and around the workshop (door parts with door parts, etc.). I had previous experience making the Car Music Project instruments from my old Honda Accord, so that experience was applied. But, the basic process is one of putting together a puzzle.

We had requirements for wind, brass, percussion, and string instruments that could play the music that was presented to us. We were also required — for credibility and authenticity — to make instruments from intact car parts as much as possible (as opposed to making major or defining parts out of sheet metal from the body of the car). And most important, the instruments had to A) be able to play in tune according to traditional western standards, and B) they had to be physically close enough to traditional instruments to enable professional musicians to learn them quickly because they would only have one or two rehearsals before recording the music. Finally, they had to be visually attractive; call it compelling if you like. In other words, television is mainly a visual medium and they needed to look great.

Back to putting together the puzzle … We laid the car parts out, on the floor and on work tables, to see what parts might fit together in functional and interesting ways. We tried this with that, that with this, and both this and that with the other thing, drawing on our previous experience along the way (i.e.: “That won’t work because …”  or  “Ah, that will work nicely because …”). We combined and made notes, along with videos, photographs, and sketches that were sent to the director, Noam Murro. When he liked and approved an idea, we began building.

Now, you must realize, a car has only so many parts. Two cars were shipped to us from Europe. So, in considering the “puzzle,” we had to make sure we did not use a part on a not-so-necessary instrument that would be needed on a necessary instrument. But, that is the kind of issue that gets sorted out along the way and which having done it previously helps.

What’s in the actual ensemble – we can see some in the ad, but happy to know more. What are some of the instruments of which you’re most proud?

Some of the instruments in the ensemble include the:

• Clutch Guitar (ornamented with a backdrop from inside a door),
• a Spike Fiddle made from a rear suspension mount and a shock absorber,
• the Ford Fender Bass made from fenders and a pillar/roof support,
• a Shockbone made primarily from shock absorber parts,
• a Window Frame Harp,
• an Opera Window Violin,
• and a Dijeruba which works both as a dijeridu type of instrument and a primitive sort of tuba.

My personal favorites are the Ford Fender Bass and the Window Harp.

How long did the construction process take?

We had an approximate total of five weeks from the day the car was taken apart to the day the instruments were shipped from Pennsylvania, where we built them, to Los Angeles, where they were being recorded and where the commercial was being shot. The bulk of the construction occurred during a three-and-a-half week period in the middle of that. Then, on the west coast, we added visual enhancements and made additional props for use in the visual commercial.

How much rehearsal was necessary to learn to play these essentially “new” (if traditionally-inspired) instruments?

The musicians had two rehearsals: One evening rehearsal of about 2-1/2 hours and one Saturday rehearsal of about 6 hours.

What other sorts of instrument building have you done? I see you’re offering to create more custom instruments for paying customers!

I built all of the instruments for the Car Music Project which also represent all 4 families of the traditional orchestra. They include the Tank Bass, Air Guitar, Strutbone, Exhaustaphone, Convertibles, Tube Flutes, Frame Harp, Doorimba, Wheel Drums, Floor Cymbals, Trunk Drums (55 percussion pieces altogether).

For clarification, I want to point out that I am not a metal fabricator. I pull a team of very talented people together and direct the instrument-making process. The fabrication processes of the Ford Focus instruments were overseen by Ray Faunce III. Ray also fabricated the Car Music Project instruments. Although I oversee the design and construction processes, contributions to the designs and construction come from a lot of people. I don’t do this alone. For the Ford Focus project, I had about 22 great people working for me and contributing their immense talents. My job is not unlike that of a film director: It’s my job to understand the vision and direct the entire process toward the achievement of that vision. In the case of the Car Music Project, the vision was mine. In the case of the Ford Focus project, the vision was director Noam Murro’s.

What was Craig Richey’s involvement; were there special considerations composing for this kind of ensemble?

Craig Richy composed the music for the Ford Focus Orchestra commercial. He was involved from the beginning because it was his music that our instruments needed to be capable of performing. I communicated with Craig through the process as we determined how many of what kinds of instruments we would need. And, once the instruments were built, Craig needed to adapt his music to the instruments.

In other words, they are car part instruments. They are not manufactured, traditional instruments with hundreds of years of engineering and technology behind them. Each is one-of-a-kind. So, although they were intentionally designed to perform in manners similar to their traditional counterparts, he still needed to adapt. If a player could not get an instrument to play a melody quickly enough, he would modify his arrangement a bit, perhaps swapping parts with another instrument or splitting a melody between two instruments. Everyone in the process needs to adjust!

This was, of course, a new car – but can these techniques offer new methods of recycling waste materials?

Well, for the Car Music Project, I recycled an old car. I don’t see why old cars can’t be recycled into other things. To some extent, I believe that is done today. Auto salvage companies/junkyards crush cars, separate the materials, and sell the residual materials off to be made into new things. My guess, though, is that we can always do a better job of it.

Were there parts left over?

Yes, but not much that was useful.

Side note: Synclavier Disk Recording Number 5

By the way, Peter, I noticed your site is largely about digital media. Related to sampling, etc., I had one of the first commercial studios to record directly to disk. In 1987 I installed a New England Digital Synclavier with Direct-to-Disk recorder. The manufacturer told me I was #5. Can’t prove it was true, but that’s what they told me (besides, it really ages me; eh?!?)

Here’s the finished ad spot:

And if this is entirely too much automobile talk for your more environmentally-minded soul, here’s the Nutcracker Suite as realized on (sampled) bicycle parts, from composer Flip Baber:

For more music on car part instruments, check out the ensemble’s full page — there are even DVDs and CDs available:

The Car Music Project

More music and videos and info at the Car Music Project MySpace Page

See also:

Milbrodt Music, Bill’s page

More Details — And Yes, These Are Real

Questions about the authenticity of the ensemble actually wound up leading to a lot more details about how the instruments were played, why this particular ensemble wound up sounding somewhat “classical” or conventional, and what you’re hearing when you watch the ad:

Yes, Virginia, There Really is a Ford Car Part Musical Ensemble

The Chevrolet made an appearance and “performance” at Carnegie Mellon’s Miller gallery with the help of a motorsports company, which apparently was experimenting with avant-garde installations on a break from their usual racing and bikini contests. (Takehito is a CMU student.) The work also comes complete with a wicked-looking installation version involving a flaming hubcap on a wall, just in case you need this in your living room.

Check out the project site for details and videos, including a Max/MSP interface that looks and sounds like the heart monitors on Star Trek, and a music video demonstration of how to use this technology to pick up girls.

Courtesy musician and developer Dan Nigrin, who notes, “Now if *this* isn’t CDM material, I don’t know what is!” Well, Dan, I was hoping for a heart monitor plugged into a hovercraft, but I guess I’ll settle.

Looks like this was originally on We Make Money Not Art. Budding interactive artists, feel free to pimp your creations here, too.

Two things most people don’t care to understand: physics and how the heck your car works. But you’re different. Why, you probably already know that phase cancellation occurs when a sound source is delayed slightly (by a real-world reflection, or in recording and mixing), so that two coherent waveforms of opposite phase are superimposes and cancel each other out. (Er, in plain english: one wave’s crests cancel out the other’s troughs and vice versa.)

Now, did you know this principle is what keeps your car’s exhaust from making a racket?

How Mufflers Work [Howstuffworks]

Basically, the muffler is a chamber designed to create lots of echoes, and thus lots of destructive interference.

See an extended discussion above, plus some variations on the design used in luxury automobiles (think active cancellation, as in noise-reducing headphones). And, of course, this is exactly what doesn’t happen when your remove a muffler and get that ear-splitting noise.

Got other candidates for acoustic science in the real world? Let me know!