[update: Sorry I let this post fly too soon. I meant to include some behind-the-scenes notes which are in this version]
This video is a 6-minute highlight reel from the 30-minute Frankenstein Multimedia Performance by Carbon Diablo Ensemble at the [LEAF] Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival 2023.
It was recorded on April 22nd, 2023, at Grimes Hall Center for Musical Arts in Lafayette, Colorado, to a standing-room-only crowd.
Original audio room recordings via GoPro Hero 11 and iPhone 12 built-in mics.
THANKS
Thanks to [LEAF] for inviting us to perform and making the show possible. A huge thanks to all who came out and our families and friends for supporting us throughout the process.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Carbon Dioxide Ensemble and Diablo Montalban joined forces as the Carbon Diablo Ensemble to present a multimedia deconstruction, reconstruction, and live score for the 1910 silent film Frankenstein.
The Carbon Dioxide Ensemble performs improvisational musique concrète with interactive visuals. Members include Thomas Lundy on Copper Heart articulated with dry ice, Victoria Lundy on Theremin and Live Electronics, and Mark Mosher on Live Sampling, Visuals, and Mix.
Performance artist Diablo Montalban, the Master of Audio Disaster, mixes live art through sound collage, drawing inspiration from music, pop culture, and noise. Diablo works spontaneously, creating pieces that are unique for the moment.
CREDITS
This improvisational performance is the culmination of 3 months of work. The show was designed collaboratively by workshopping the show in a series of rehearsals following a pre-production phase to analyze and break down the film elements.
- Diablo Montalban – Sound Collages, Spoken Word https://hypnoticturtle.com/diablo-montalban
- Carbon Dioxide Ensemble – https://carbondioxideensemble.com
- Thomas Lundy – Copper Heart with Dry Ice
- Victoria Lundy – Theremin, Live Electronics – https://www.victorialundymusic.com
- Mark Mosher – Live Visuals, Granular Synths, Mix & FX -https://MarkMosherMusic.com
- Lizzy Mosher – Voice of Mary Shelley – https://lizzymosher.com
Source for 1910 Frankenstein silent film via the Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/2017600664/.
Behind-the-Scenes Notes
Here are some behind-the-scenes notes for my rig for the Frankenstein Performance. Also, we dedicate our show to our dear late friends Dino and Darwin. Their title card that was rotating through the pre-show is attached here as well. I thought of them often when preparing for this show and their past mentorship inspired and informed many of my decisions.
As we were headlining, I spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to make a super resilient rig. I didn’t go so far as making the rig A/B switchable and instead went with using a dedicated laptop and iPad both of which could be hot swapped with a backup machine in less than a minute.
Note, we were improvising live with a palette of video and musical objects and live instrument performances and did not have a master clock or sync between the performers.
The laptop is running Resolume Arena. We broke the 1910 film “video objects” that I manipulated live (instead of simply playing back the film. 77 assets in the end. This allowed me to control the arrangement and effect for each object so I could improvise the clips and layers. I used the new Akai APC Mini MKII to control Resolume. The laptop is a Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 with a backup Surface Laptop 3 in my backpack for hot-swap.
In addition to visuals, I mixed the show on a Mackie 802VLZ4. I took the output of the Coper Heart into FX send so I could process it in the iPad. The show PA was a Bose L1 Compact.
The iPad Pro M1 played many roles. I used AUM with audio input and output to a Focusrite 4i4 via USB-C with no hub. AUM had 8 tracks and a master track. A few tracks to play some one-shots during transitions and Lizzies voice overs. 2 tracks for processing the audio from the Copper Heart using a variety of digital FX and live-sampling via Spacecraft. 2 tracks for processing Arlo’s vocal. One for FX, the other live Frippertronics looping with pitch shifting. On track held all my custom granular “reels” which I played live using Samplr. The Launchpad pro controlled AUM via MIDI vis Kenton MIDI USB Host mk3. The latest gen iPad mini was in the backpack available for a hot swap if needed.
Mark Mosher 