Sonic Arts Union: Hardware Hacking Workshop with Nicolas Collins
This event is free. Please RSVP using the EventBrite link at the bottom of the page.
Please note: the time for this event has changed to 10am. Admission to this event is limited to 25 and will be handled on a first come, first served basis, but you must be on the RSVP list to be admitted.
Composer, musician and professor Nicolas Collins leads a workshop in “hardware hacking.” Assuming no technical background whatsoever, these workshops guide the participants through a series of sound-producing electronic construction projects, from making simple contact microphones, through “bending” toys, to making oscillators and other circuits from scratch. The curriculum is drawn from Collins’ book, Handmade Electronic Music—The Art of Hardware Hacking.
To enhance your experience, Mr. Collins will be covering different hacking projects, including: Jumping Speaker Oscillator, Radio Crackle Box, Contact mike, Coil pickup, and Tape head (for those who bring tape players).
Audience members are welcome to simply follow along, or actively participate by bringing these materials for their own hacking enjoyment:
• A portable, battery-powered radio or boombox, with appropriate batteries. Make sure it works! It should be cheap enough that you won’t be too angry if it never works again. The AM band is more important than FM, but it doesn’t matter if the radio picks up both. It should have analog tuning (i.e., a dial) rather than digital presets or scan buttons. Larger radios are easier to work with than tiny ones, and older ones always sound better than new ones. It should have a built-in speaker, not just a headphone jack. And most importantly: IT MUST BE BATTERY POWERED! Beware: an alarm clock radio with a built-in “backup battery” is not suitable, since it requires AC power to function as a radio.
• One or more raw loudspeakers of any size (just the speaker, not enclosed in a cabinet/box).
• Three nine-volt batteries.
• A small piece of corroded or rough-surfaced scrap metal.
• A soldering iron (lightweight, fine point).
• Hand tools (diagonal cutters, wire strippers, a knife, etc.).
• Optional: an expendable cassette player of some sort (Walkman, boombox, etc.)
Please note: admission to this event is limited to 25 and will be handled on a first come, first served basis, but you must be on the RSVP list to be admitted.
Sonic Arts Union Retrospective has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project.
