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That’s my friend from Truman State University, Scott Quade performing on a set we made.  Scott, like many others at the school, is a fantastic percussionist.

Anyway, James had some sketches of a set of blocks which belonged to a former teacher.  Along with this, Kolberg makes “Power Blocks”, which are often used for the piece.  There is a great video of percussionist Pedro Carniero playing Rebonds B.  Carniero’s blocks are cool, but of course I’m partial to “XenakibloX”!

…next up will be designing and building a mounting system for the blocks.

Matt_Jacklin_Recording_Project

We recorded three pieces:

Session I (4.11.2010):  Bernard-Francois Machet – Phenix (for vibraphone and 9 tom-toms)

Session II (4.18.2010): Andrew Thomas – Merlin (for marimba),  Jacob Druckman – Reflections on the Nature of Water (for marimba)

Session I Photos:

Session II Photos:
 

MAIN IMPROVEMENTS/FEATURES:

Damper System

Damper Bar – New felt on damper bar

Pedal- Completely new, wide damper pedal for easy access while playing through whole range of instrument.

Resonators

Dimensions – 1/4 wavelength one-end-open, one-end-closed (half open) aluminum tubes, 1 3/4″ outer diameter (equal to the bar width).

Tunable – Tube stops made with aluminum discs with rubber o-ring as a seal (similar to a piston in a combustion engine). Each tube stop has a 1/4″ hex bolt through it, allowing each resonator to be tuned individually with a hex wrench.

End Correction – Gap between bar and tube provides end correction for 1/2 open tube resonators. This ensures the vibrating bar is at the anti-node of the wave, which is slightly (about 1/2″) outside the open end of the tube.

Finish- I investigated several finish options, (anodizing, lacquer, etc.), but decided a “brushed” finish would be best (least expensive and cool looking).

Bars (keys)

I cleaned the keys (along with cleaning and lubricating other existing metal parts) using Scotch-Brite, steel wool and acetone.

THE PROJECT

Design

I designed a pedal mechanism which would mate to the existing damper bar hardware and that would be easy to remove and reassemble at performances. I had it machined from aluminum at Wagner Machine Co. in Champaign, IL (they were in Urbana, IL at the time). This was the easy part…

Because the resonators are part of the sound-producing system of this instrument, designing and building them was particularly challenging. They needed to work with the existing frame and be easy to assemble/disassemble, in addition to making the instrument sound better.

The operating principle of resonators in keyboard instruments is that when a vibrating bar is situated near the end of a tube of equal fundamental frequency (f₀₎, the column of air in the tube will vibrate sympathetically. Because the bar and tube resonate sympathetically at f₀, but have different resonances at the harmonics (f_n), f₀ is amplified more than the higher harmonics. This means that the loudness of f₀ is greater than the loudness of f_n, making the instrument sound less “bright” or more “mellow”. There may be matching of higher harmonics between the resonator and bar, along with the vibraphone, but the main amplification is at f₀. This is the signature sound of the vibraphone, and what I sought to achieve in my design.

Fabrication and Assembly

As mentioned above, the damper pedal was machined at Wagner Machine Co.:

Note that significant mass has been removed from the pedal to keep the action lighter.

Wagner was also the site of drilling the holes for the resonator tubes and rails. The tubes were cut using a plumbing pipe cutter. The brushed finish was achieved using sandpaper, steel wool and Scotch-Brite with the tube spinning on a metal lathe. The tubes are attached to the rails by round head hex bolts and nylon-insert lock nuts.

U-Channel aluminum was used for the endpiece on each resonator set. The original instrument included a small metal bracket with a raised knob in the middle. The U-Channel endpiece has a hole into which the knob fits, holding the resonators in place.

The curve of the resonators made smoother after the “rough” photo above was taken.  The curve was made more smooth.

The vibes on a sunny fall day before being returned to their owner!

Krannert's Audio Team for Ellnora '09 - The Guitar Festival

I work and study at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My activities include providing live sound reinforcement, recording and sound design for many of the performances at the center, as part of the audio team.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Recently, the graduate students, Andy (Krumeich, the Krannert Audio Events supervisor) and I have been doing major upgrades to the facilities and equipment.

Current Audio Facilities:
Audio Offices
Great Hall Recording Studio
The Kitchen (storage)
The Vault (maintenance, testing and storage)

Current Audio Facilities being renovated:
Post Production Studio (currently in use)
Graduate Audio Lab (being renovated in to Sound Design Studio)

New Audio Facilities (coming Summer 2010):
Audio Archive
Video/Surround Studio
Festival Theatre Multi-track Studio

Here are some photos of the facilities as they are right now:

Cable storage in the Audio Office

This is the Great Hall Recording Studio

Visible here are the acoustic treatment panels on the ceiling. This design was developed by Andy and I.

This is the room that is becoming the archive room. A WORK IN PROGRESS!

The Vault, the KCPA Audio Department's newly renovated maintenance shop/electronics lab.

The Vault also has storage for less frequently used cable and equipment.

The view as you enter The Kitchen, the main equipment storage room.

Gear in the Kitchen

More gear in the Kitchen

Cable storage in the Kitchen

Backyard Shark at Bentley’s 7/25/09 Photo by Taylor Thornton

I play in a couple bands based in Champaign, IL.  One of them – definitely the most domestic-aquatic themed one – is called  Backyard Shark.  I love playing with Ed, Tony and Tommy B – we’ve been together for several years now, which not many bands that have members in 3 cities (4 from Aug. ’08-May’09) can say.  We’re kinda loud, and we play a lot of chuck-a-chuck-as.  We have a lot of fun, and we like to think our audiences do, too!  Check us out at:

• Facebook! A book with pictures of our Shark-face
• MySpace! OurSpace
• Flickr! Awesome pics, mostly taken by the awesome Taylor “Hawkins, drummer from the Foo Fighters” Thornton
• Purevolume! LOUD!
• Twitter! Does this have something to do with texting?  I don’t text – I don’t have anything to do with this one…

SHARKIFY!

• Faster Forward on Facebook

Below you will see video of the premiere performance of his Little Puppets’ Symphony, a chamber work involving collaboration between music, dance and theatre, a feature of many of Deraco’s works.

The piece offers a peak in to the mysterious (and sometimes absurd!) process of creative invention, and is a bit of a wink of the eye in self-acknowledgement  of the composer’s own eccentricity.

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