Saturday, May 30, 2009

Dictaphonia #2 nearly full - four more recordings received- and radio play


In recent days I received four more recordings for the Dictaphonia project. Volume 2 is nearly full. I might have room for two or three more.

44) Dada Action Group
Seattle, Washington, USA
"For Naum Gabo"

45) Hanson Ono
Griffin, Georgia, USA
"Incomprehensible Frustration"

46) Death Factory
Chicago, Illinois, USA
"Memorial"

47) Douglas Ferguson
Austin, Texas, USA
"v96+7gDL"

The Sum Of Your Life is a weekly radio program on growradio.org hosted by Ironing (Andrew Chadwick). During the May 25th program he played three tracks from Dictaphonia Volume One: by Dave X, Krysten Davis, and Hal McGee.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

four contributions for Dictaphonia received from Europe


I received these four contributions to Dictaphonia within the last three days:

40) blanco estira nuestro (+), hermana Hélice
Athens, Greece
"position lines within an afternoon movement"
41) Fried Marlenstahl
Rennes, France
"Étude pseudo-électronique #1"
42) NXP
Bodø, Norway
"Spiders"
43) Rez Epo
Kielce, Poland
"Seen Her In The Very Heart Of The Ocean"

Volume #2 of Dictaphonia will probably be full after I receive about 5-7 more submissions. Then I will create a third volume, so keep on sending your submissions, if you have not yet done so.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

DICTAPHONIA #1 is now available


DICTAPHONIA
Microcassette Compilation
Volume 1 is now available


25 artists
61 minutes of sound recordings made on microcassette,
released on microcassette

this is a homemade product!

featuring simple homestyle packaging
each tape comes with a j-card cut out of a Chinese restaurant menu
with a black and white photocopy insert in a ziplock plastic bag
with collage artwork on one side
and a list of the artists and their piece titles on the other

Dictaphonia #1 will be available online on my web site for download in a few months. Get yours now in its original microcassette format.

I have created a special Dictaphonia page
at my web site

$6.00 postage paid USA and Canada
$7.00 Air Mail postage paid everywhere else
PayPal to haltapes1 @ aol.com

1) Dave X
Carterville, Illinois, USA
"Keeping my hand in"
2) Su Sous Toulouse En Rouge
Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA
"brugmansia tea"
3) Kathy Burkett
Lady Lake, Florida, USA
"Dachsooka Radio Buzz"
4) Istituzioni Ambienti Naturalismo
Rome, Italy
"Nastro #13b"
5) Otolathe
Tampa, Florida, USA
"Unorchestratable"
6) IWANTTOKILLEVERYHUMAN
DeSoto, Texas, USA
"One Dogless"
7) Mike Khoury
Livonia, Michigan, USA
"Solo Violin"
8) Black Beast Of Arrrghhh
Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA
"Micro-Boogie"
9) Horseflesh
San Francisco, California, USA
"Hyper Flies"
10) Vagina Teeth/Jesus Teeth
Clemmons, North Carolina, USA
"The Sky and The Sea Bed"
11) William A. Davison
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"Garbage Guitar And Objects 090410"
12) Homogenized Terrestrials
Princeton, Illinois, USA
"air"
13) Krysten Davis
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
"BBBBBAD"

14) Violet
Bethesda, Maryland, USA
"Spring"
15) Fiver's Stereo
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
"Back Woods Preacher"
16) Hal McGee
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Inverse Square Ratio"
17) 3D-MAN
Stafford, Virginia, USA
"Untitled Guitar Solo"
18) Chefkirk
Eugene, Oregon, USA
"no-input for microcassette"
19) Ironing
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Microcaßettestraße"
20) Concrete Violin
Houston, Texas, USA
"Distant Envelopment
(dedicated to GX Jupitter-Larsen)"
21) Jeph Jerman
Cottonwood, Arizona, USA
"Metamatic"
22) Blind Umizato
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
"Microcassette 04132009"
23) Dave Fuglewicz
Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA
"Liquid Glass"
24) Big City Orchestra
Alameda, California, USA
"Treasure For Daddy"
25) Waterdigger
Polk City and Tampa, Florida, USA
"Hal McGee Has Stipulations"

-------------

I am still accepting recordings for the Dictaphonia project. Volume Two is about two-thirds full, and I will produce a third volume as well. Top priority will go to artists who have not submitted materials yet.

Here are the guidelines and info for submitting:

Please contribute to the DICTAPHONIA Microcassette Project. Anyone can contribute any sounds of any sort!

Send a recording on a microcassette that is at least one minute in length and no longer than three minutes.

You must send your contribution on a microcassette. I will not accept submissions in any other format - no CDR, no minicassette, no standard cassette, no mp3 or WAV, etc.

Do not send more than one contribution. If your submission is longer than three minutes it will be rejected. Do not send a tape containing a recording longer than three minutes and ask me to choose three minutes for the compilation.

Your submitted microcassette should be recorded at the Standard Play (SP) speed of 2.4 centimeters per second - NOT at the Long Play (LP) speed of 1.2 centimeters per second. If your microcassette recorder has two tape speeds, choose the higher/faster one. The compilation will be mastered at the SP speed, so if you submit a microcassette that was recorded in LP speed it will sound speeded-up.

Your submission should be recorded specifically for this project and I prefer (but do not require) that you make your original recordings in the microcassette format. One of the emphases of this project is to highlight the microcassette as a unique audio art format with its own unique properties.

Participants are urged to bear in mind the particular and peculiar characteristics of the microcassette format, such as limited dynamic range (usually 400-4000Hz), low fidelity, and tape noise and hiss. Most people who hear the compilation will be listening to it on their cheap portable hand-sized microcassette machines which have a speaker that is about one inch in diameter. Also remember that there will be a two-generation loss in sound quality from your tape to the microcassette master to the copy. Your submission should be composed and created for optimized transmission under these conditions. You might want to avoid submitting a piece that contains subtle shadings, colorations, and nuances, or quiet passages.

If you do not yet own a microcassette recorder (alternatively called "dictaphone") but would like to participate in this project you can usually purchase one on eBay or at second-hand shops for a small amount. Most recorders come with a built-in microphone.

Any and all styles are welcome.

Here are a few suggestions for submissions, keywords, and possible themes:

lo fi, lo tech, minimalism, harsh noise, tape collage and cut-ups, minimal synth, micro metal, loner punk anthems, feedback modulation, erotic confessionals, spoken dream diary excerpts, kazoo solos, soliloquies, street rap, 8 bit chiptunes, recordings of street musicians, surreptitious recordings of private conversations, voice beat-boxing, circuit bent sounds, ravings of lunatics and insane people, minimal electronics, no-input mixer, pedal noise, outsider folk songs, children's and toy instruments, answering machine messages, everyday sounds, public transportation sounds, urban noise pollution, machine sounds, shitnoise, construction sounds, plunderphonics, free improvisation, broken instruments, prepared guitar, shortwave and AM radio static and tones, video and computer game sounds, spoken word whatever, beatnik bongo rave-ups, tapes of your lover or spouse cheating with someone else, doctor's consultation notes, barnyard sounds, interviews with nursing home residents, broken and skipping records, dada, fluxus, Situationism, psychogeography, assemblage, micro-dub mash-ups.

Send your microcassette to:

Hal McGee
1909 SW 42nd Way
Apt. E
Gainesville, FL
32607-5407
USA

I will not return your tape to you.

Submissions will be added to the microcassette compilation masters in the order that they are received.

Each participant whose submission is used will receive one complimentary copy of the compilation, with an option to purchase additional copies at a reduced price.

When you send your submission please include a piece of paper clearly stating artist name, track title, and your postal address.

No deadline. I have received enough material for one 60-minute volume. I will continue to accept contributions and will produce a second volume, and a third.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

5 more recordings received - Volume 2 is filling up!

35) Kurt Gottschalk
New York, New York, USA
"A Difficult Fortnight"

36) Julie Schubert
Cottonwood, Arizona
"Spinning Naiad"

37) Andrew Coltrane
Redford, Michigan
"Death Letter"

38) The Raytownian(s)
Huntsville, Alabama
"We Are In A Corporatist State (Pt. 2)"

39) Belltonesuicide
Easthampton, Massachusetts
"Your Mouth Is An Open Sore"

After I receive about 10 or 11 more submissions I will have enough material to fill up the second volume of Dictaphonia.

Yesterday I mailed out 18 contributor's copies of Dictaphonia #1. I will mail out the others today and tomorrow.

Dictaphonia #1 will be available for sale in a few days. I will post bulletins and make announcements via e-mail, on MySpace, and on my web site, halmcgee.com. Contributors can purchase additional copies at lower prices - contact me for info.

Friday, May 15, 2009

three recordings received from the United Kingdom

32) Zebra Mu
Norfolk, England
"Micro Junk Cassette Slicer"

33) Ian Watson
Cardiff, Wales
"Untitled"

34) Crap Last Tape
London, England
"passive - aggressive's bring the worst out of you"

I will start mailing out contributor's copies of Dictaphonia #1 within the next few days.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

two more submissions received on Monday May 11th

Yesterday I received two more submissions for Dictaphonia, which will appear on the second microcassette tape volume of the project:

30) Douglas Burkett
Lady Lake, Florida, USA
"Spin Cycles"

31) Jamison Williams
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
"Francois Boucher (1703-1770)"

Saturday, May 9, 2009

check out some of my previous work with microcassette

You can check out some of my previous work on microcassette by listening in streaming audio and downloading these 2007 works on my web site...

The Man With The Tape Recorder
You can hear a combination of cassette and microcassette material on Zen And The Art Of The Tape Recorder
Plus, I am working on some new microcassette material for publication on my web site.

Happy listening,
Hal

Friday, May 8, 2009

May 8th - four more contributions received, for Volume 2

Since Wednesday, May 6th I have received the first four contributions which will appear on the second volume of Dictaphonia:

26) Dave Wright
Tucson, Arizona, USA
"Cattle Gas"

27) Richard Orlando
Flushing, New York, USA
"Farrington Street Blues"

28) Mark McGee
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Capoeira Blitz Squad"

29) Sonic Disorder
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
"Ugly Chemical Junk"

This morning I completed the master for Volume 1 of Dictaphonia and I am now in the process of making test copies.

Monday, May 4, 2009

2 more submissions received - keep sending your stuff for Volume 2

Today I received what I think will be the final two tracks on Dictaphonia Volume 1:

24) Big City Orchestra - "Treasure For Daddy" (Alameda, California, USA)
25) Waterdigger - "Hal McGee Has Stipulations" (Polk City and Tampa, Florida, USA)

I might be able to fit one more piece on Volume 1, but I will not know for sure until I make the final master.

I am very pleased with the response to the Dictaphonia project!

Remember, anyone can participate! Individuals, groups, non-audio artists, anyone who likes the concept of the project and wants to take part.

I am heavily promoting the project in an attempt to get as many interesting artists from all over Planet Earth to contribute as possible. I have sent out more than 900 invitations so far. I need more contributions from Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and areas in addition to North America.

After I have received another 25 submissions I will release Volume 2 of Dictaphonia, so keep on sending your microcassette masterpieces. If you do not get your piece to me in time for Volume 1, you will be on Volume 2.

A word of caution, warning, and advice - make sure that your piece does not exceed three minutes. If your track is longer than three minutes you will force me to edit your piece, and I might not be able to do it the way you would like it to be done!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

4 more submissions received recently - Dictaphonia Vol. 1 nearly filled up

I recently received four more contributions to Dictaphonia, three of which arrived today:

20) Concrete Violin - "Distant Envelopment (dedicated to GX Jupitter-Larsen)" (Houston, Texas, USA)
21) Jeph Jerman - "Metamatic" (Cottonwood, Arizona, USA)
22) Blind Umizato - "Microcassette 04132009" (Fort Worth, Texas, USA)
23) Dave Fuglewicz -  "Liquid Glass" (Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA)