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Following on from a blog post a wrote last year, Compression, EQ and the female voice, I have been invited to give a 10 minute presentation at an exciting new postgraduate research Event at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London.

The event, called Sound::Gender::Feminism::Activism will be held on May 17th 2012 by CRiSAP (Creative Research in Sound Arts Practice). CRiSAP is a research centre dedicated to the exploration of the rich complexities of sound as an artistic practice.

So, I am currently tweaking my passionate waffle to deliver a provocative presentation offering questions at this stage (not answers). I will also attempt a practical demonstration on how standard pop compression and EQ settings affect the performance and tone of a female vocal.

I would like to acknowledge that is thanks to support from Manchester based arts organisation Full Circle Arts that I am able to attend this event.

This event is linked to the Her Noise Symposium (which unfortunately I missed) whose programme marks the donation of the Her Noise Archive to the University of the Arts London Archives and Special Collections housed at London College of Communication.

And here is a nice lil snippet of the amazing and very active Pauline Oliveros who turns 80 this year:

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TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN – nuff said

you know it makes perfect nonsense..

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Just a quick one to share the release of new album Abandonware by Shirokuma, one of my fellow electronic music maverick Manchester bands whose latest independent album comes out this very fine day on Manchester music label Valentine Records.

Available on CD and downloadable digitalia over at planet Bandcamp, it includes a few vocal featurings and collaborations from yours truly. And the cover is the most wonderful polaroid photo above – which is actually Mark’s Grandad. What a fine ancestry.

It’s true Shirokuma feel good electronic pop with a healthy nod to experimental electronic music. And this time there are a couple of more rough and ready and even political numbers therein.

Hope you enjoy – Here be a taster:

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Well here is my first podcast.

For some reason I felt drawn to cluttering up with chat a selection of experimental music, creative music and electronic music created by artists I know and ones you might already know.

Also included is a couple of tracks from the free electronic music compilation we put out very recently Blinkered remixed.

Photo by kind permission of Shay Rowan – caro snatch live at Future Everything 2010

Office Ekiti is the HQ of fellow collaborator, producer and independent label manager Ekiti Son

Hope you enjoy and magic springing regards!

Please do share, if so, and please do feel free to share some more via your online and human networks.

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Here you go people – BLINKERED remixed ready for the snatching!

Mammoth thanks radiate to all the competent and creative music makers who have messed with my elements from my latest experimental music album Til You’re No Longer Blinkered.

And done such a grand job of it. For free. So glad to have happened across you all on my musical meanderings.

Thanks in abundance to Infinity Modulator for mastering the majority of the tracks and putting up with my fussy requests.

So, hope you enjoy this veritable smorgasbord of free electronic music.

Please do share, if so, and please do feel free to share some more via your online and human networks.

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Just a quick one to flag up that today is indeed Dynamic Range Day 2012.

And now DRD has apparently gone global. The initiative was instigated by Turn me Up which is a not for profit music industry organisation that aims to increase dynamic range in music and to make loud music a choice for artists – not the only way to mix and master their music.

You can find out more at the Dynamic Range Day hub. This site seems to be the intiative of Production Advice engineer Ian Shepherd whose mastering course I am currently enjoying.

And the challenge has now increased to 10dB difference in volume between the quietest and loudest signals in a track. And there is an award for the most dynamic release – Elbow won last year for their latest album “Build a Rocket Boys”. Here’s the Manchester band’s producer and engineer Craig Potter and his take on it.

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Well folks, just to let you know that BLINKERED remixed is still on its way to you and unfortunately not gift wrapped and ready to receive yet. Got to get the mastering tweaks just right and 15 valued remixers to do justice to here as they have toyed with the elements of all tracks on latest album Til You’re No Longer Blinkered.

Just a few more days hopefully and we should be done. So probably be more like next week til I get it up as a free electronic music download on the Bandcamp

In the meantimes, here’s the artwork..can you guess what the photo is?

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I am rather stoked to now be at the stage of almost being able to offer you Blinkered remixed – a free electronic music download.

Blinkered remixed will be a creative collection of remixes my latest album Til You’re No Longer Blinkered.

Currently being mastered very kindly by Infinity Modulator and i’m just sorting some minimal artwork. There might even be a ‘guess what it’ is competition in there..

Some 15 tracks in all, produced by just some of the wonderful electronic music artists i have connected with in UK, mainland Europe and the US including friends from my homes since being musically active of Newcastle, Berlin & Manchester. Full artists’ links and names will be revealed upon release – hopefully on WED 29 FEB – a nice date i thought seeing as though there is a 29th of february this year.

The creative music compilation will be available as a free download on Bandcamp and, as previously promised, I will be more than happy to despatch full resolution waveform packages to those that prefer and bother to demand it.

In other news, i love Reggie Watts (and Radiohead and Thom Yorke):

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And we’re kickstarting 2012 with a free electronic music download that I hope to be available next month.

More than a dozen most competent electronic music artists have been beavering away on tracks from my latest creative music album Til You’re No Longer Blinkered.

These artists who have kindly agreed to mess with my elements, hail from my various musical nests over the years: Newcastle upon Tyne, Berlin and Manchester with a couple of connections that have only grown thanks to the ever-expanding online clan of independent electronic music in the US.

The compilation will be available as a free download on Bandcamp and I will be more than happy to despatch full resolution waveform packages to those that prefer and demand it.

I will be mastering this collection of creative music alongside the more competent Liam Maloney of live drum & bass quartet The Broken Door

And in other news, a wonderful new live recording of the bountifully creative lady Bunty:

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Just wanted to flag up a new page I have compiled. Compiling a list of resources I have come across along my sonic journeys and/or am part of.

Entitled Women in.. it is intended as a bit of a spotlight on what we lasses are doing in the fields of electronic music and studio recording. Though discussion and debate is of course helpful, I have felt compelled to provide this counterpoint to regular articles and debates about how few females are active in these fields..

So do refer to it, enjoy, explore and please do add to it if you can..