Enter our making competition to win a workshop voucher worth £150 and see your work promoted in our channels.

We want to see examples of your music tech hacks, new inventions, homemade sound devices, DIY instruments and projects. Upload your photos or short videos to Twitter or Facebook using #musichackcomp

Entries will be shortlisted by social media likes.

The competition closes on Monday 1st of August and the winner will be announced on Thursday 4th of August.

Please see our T&C’s for more details.

For any questions please email curators@stagingmhs.local

Terms and Conditions

1.How to Enter

1.1 To join the competition entrants will need to upload a photo or video/vines etc to Facebook or Twitter using the unique hashtag #musichackcomp. We want to see examples of your homemade devices making sounds, DIY instruments and music making projects.

1.2 The entrants may enter more than once, each posting counts as a separate entry

2.When to Enter and Who Can Enter

2.1 The competition opens on Friday 17^th July 2016 and closes Monday 1^st August

2.2 Entrants can enter at any point between these dates

2.3 Entrants may enter as many times as they wish.

2.4 The competition is open to all, however under 16’s would need to be accompanied by an adult when attending the workshops due to health and safety because of the equipment being used. No one professionally connected with the administration of the competition can enter.

3.Prizes

3.1 The prize for winning the competition will be £150 of vouchers to be redeemed against one or more workshops to that value within a 12month period. Final decision on winner to be made by MHS and winner announced and contacted on 4^th August.

3.2 The prize is not exchangeable for cash

3.3 The prize is non transferable

4.Data Protection and Publicity

4.1 On entering you consent to your full name, photograph and basic information (as available via social media profiles) being disclosed on MHS digital channels or other media if you win the prize

4.2 Any personal data relating to participants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. By entering the Competition, you agree that MHS may contact you in relation to the Competition

4.3 The Competition Winner will be contacted by MHS. You must provide accurate contact details on notification

4.4 MHS reserve the right to use the image, voice, photograph, name and likeness of the Winners for publicity and in advertising, marketing or promotional material without additional compensation or prior notice to the Winner. In entering the Competition, all participants consent to such use of their voice, image photograph, name and likeness

5.Competition Rules

5.1 The Competition will run and prize awarded at the sole discretion of MHS

5.2 We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the MHS website or apps, and to refuse entry to the Competition

5.4 We reserve the right to change the Competition rules and these terms and conditions from time to time. If we do so, we will always have the most up to date terms and conditions on the website and in the case of discrepancy between these terms and conditions and those on the Website, the Website terms and conditions will apply. Your use of the Website will constitute your acceptance of the new rules/terms and conditions

5.5 All intellectual property rights in the images or materials on the Website may not be used without express permission of MHS.

6. Liability and Indemnities

6.1 Except in the case of death or personal injury arising from it’s negligence, or in respect of fraud, so far as is permitted by law, MHS and it’s associated companies and agents exclude responsibility and all liabilities, whether direct or indirect, arising from:

6.1.1 any postponement or cancellation of the competition;

6.1.2 any changes to, supply or use of the prize; and

6.1.3 any act or default of any suppler which is beyond MHS’s reasonable control

6.2 MHS shall not be liable, whether in tort, contract, misrepresentation or otherwise for loss of profits, loss of anticipated savings, loss of goods, loss

of use, loss or corruption of data or information or any special, indirect, consequential or pure economic loss, costs, damages, charges or expenses

6.3 You agree to indemnify MHS against all liabilities, claims and expenses that may arise from any breach of your agreement with MHS

Jurisdiction

7.1 The Competition and these Terms and Conditions are governed by English Law. England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with these terms and conditions.

As part of our ongoing collaboration with Sónar Barcelona to promote networking opportunities among related communities around music and the creative industries, we are offering to our community 20 Delegate Passes with 20% discount to attend Sonar 2016 (
promotional price: 200 euros / price without promotion: 250 euros). Delegate Passes give full access to Sónar+D&Sónar.

Contact promotions@sonar.es to get your promotional pass. This special deal is valid until 30th of March 2016.

SIGNUM_Portable Analog Instrumentation Amplifier from animazon on Vimeo.

In this workshop participants will build and take home their own Signum device, which is designed to experiment with hidden signals and usually un-hearable sounds. The device includes a transducer, optical, coil, germanium diode and small loop antenna that will allow you to both to listen to and record the sounds hidden in the electromagnetic spectrum. The workshop will also cover the use of the electromagnetic spectrum in art practice.

With Victor Mazon Gardoqui.

Signum is a portable device designed to provide a clean, line level & micro controller friendly output signal to various input sensors: different bandwidth antennas, high impedance transducers, photosensitive cells, infrared, ultraviolet, sound pressure or line level.

The electromagnetic spectrum will be used as a creative resource where participants will build a device capable of modulate the invisible phenomenæ on various media or devices.

SIGNUM performs a fully analogue difference operation between its input and reference output level, multipling by a factor of 100 times in the first stage  -controlable by potenciometer- and 10 times magnification on its second stage, providing a controlled amplitude output line suitable to be safely connected to any audio input: sound card, computer or mixer, providing the input signal a maximum magnification ratio of 1000: 1 and a signal-to-noise distortion of 0.007% THD.

The kit contains two amplifier circuits operating in parallel to accommodate different impedances of sensors and a final amplification for line output. The 3 sensors embedded on its surface measures close range electromagnetic frequencies, a central SMA antenna connector for long-range signals and an external line input via the 3.5mm jack to amplify self made sensors and physical devices.

It’s powered by a 9V battery or supplied 1,3mm power jack to USB connector.

The workshop will be lead by Victor Mazon Gardoqui who’s the author of workshop concept, electronics design & documentation | CC 4.0 BY-SA ://victormazon.com/signum

Victor will be also giving an Artist Talk about his practice at the Music Hackspace on Thursday 22 October

SIGNUM Portable Analogue Instrumentation Amplifier

Specifications:
Voltage gain 10 to 1000 (w/ ALPS potentiometer)
Amplitude control (w/ ALPS potentiometer)
Bandwidth set to 15.9kHz (w/feedback capacitors), or 100kHz (w/ caps removed)
Line IN / Line OUT (w/ Jack 3,5mm)
SMA Antenna Input
Self-centering output quiescent voltageBattery operation ~3V–30V
1,3mm power jack to USB cable included
220v to 5v USB adaptor included
Current drain ≤160mA
Size 70×70 mm
8x 30mm. metal stands
Sensors: transducer, optical, coil, germanium diode, small loop antenna included
Industrial PCB manufacture
Material FR4
Thickness 1,6mm
Surface Finish ENIG Immersion Gold  on both sides
Black Matt Soldermask on both Sides

 

 

 

 

When: Saturday 24th October: 11h to 19 h and Sunday 25th October 11h to 15h.

Required skills: No previous experience in electronics is necessary, but interest and patience mandatory.

Cost: 95 GBP (Keep you device! All electronic materials and documentation are included).

Enquiries: please email workshops@stagingmhs.local

 

 

 

 

An evening of extreme sonic presentations, of extreme sounds made with extreme DIY electronics. Spanish circuit bent orchestra LCDD will be leading a fiesta of handmade live electronics, musical cynicism and playful noise, followed by solos of circuit bending master and free improviser Tasos Stamou and Lithuanian sonic performance star Arma Agharta.

When: May 23d @ 20:00 – 23:00
Where: 132 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DY

BUY TICKETS  http://www.wegottickets.com/event/319341

More details:

LCDD (Los Caballos De Düsseldorf) (ES)

One of the very few exclusively circuit bent toy orchestras globally, LCDD from Spain were formed from the ashes of a previous punk band, while the members replaced their traditional rock music instruments by strange toy looking noise machines. LCDD are based in Madrid and spread their obscure live electronica around the globe through their channel of devoted followers, also by a number of physical releases in vinyls and cassettes. They are visiting London for a two-day residency at Cafe Oto and before that they will first introduce their music performance and their unique instrument designs at the Music Hackspace. LCDD have toured throughout Europe, Japan, USA and Mexico performing at festivals such as Sonic Protest in Paris, Bent Festival at the Silent Barn in NYC, Art Basel in Switzerland, at Le Dernier Cri’s Vendetta Festival in Marseille and venues ranging from Pudel in Hamburg, SuperDeluxe in Tokyo to the Antique Toy Museum (MUJAM) in Mexico City.
Band leader Olaf Ladousse, a talented illustrator, musician and instrument designer, is responsible of making all the band’s obscure and unique electronic instruments and interfaces.
http://lcdd.bandcamp.com/

 

 

TASOS STAMOU (GR)

Tasos Stamou is a senior Music Hackspace Member, a music technologist and an exploratory music performer. He has been presenting his free improvised electronica in venues such as Cafe Oto, Apiary Studios, NOISE=NOISE in London and abroad (Bent Festival NYC, SOTU Festival Lithuania, etc.).
He also has a number of releases of his  his music and sound projects through various record labels (Absurd, Kukuruku Recordings, ORILA record, Lal Lal Lal, Linear Obsessional Recordings, etc.)
His current setup consists of circuit bent sound toys and hacked domestic equipment, specially modified to incorporate with an analogue modular synthesizer as parts of the system. Vivid and playful, his music music performance consists of a constant sonic conflict between structured forms and chaotic patterns of live manipulated and hardware hacked electronic equipment.
www.tasosstamou.info
www.stamouinstruments.blogspot.com

 

ARMA AGHARTA (LT)

The sound performances of Arma Agharta span a broad territory between unbridled eruptions of chaotic noise and hypnotic psychedelic rituals. Although his live sound, created by analogue instruments and vintage or modified electronic equipment, formally fits into the familiar shelves of lo-fi, drone, ritual noise etc., it contains many more shamanic elements that are hard to describe yet are perceived instinctively and gutturally. Techno-ritualism, absurd humor and extreme costumes characterize the nature of his performances.
Since 2007, under different conceptual solo projects he did over 150 shows in Canada, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, UK, Norway, Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Serbia, Slovakia, 
Hungary, Czech republic and Baltic states. 
Participated in the festivals: Sonic Circuits (USA), Cocart (Poland), Experi-mental (USA), Sound Around (Russia), Sonic (Denmark), SOTU (Netherlands), Porin Juhlaviikot (Finland), and in all the main Lithuanian festivals: Speigas, Supynes, Menuo Juodaragis, STRcamp, Centras, Dezintegracija, Creature. 
His music has been released exclusively on limited edition cassettes on Russian and Lithuanian labels.

www.arma.lt

Date: Thursday 2nd of April, 6.30pm

Location: Unit 15, 5–10 Corbridge Crescent, E2 9DS

“Ether Pad is in the final stages of development. It is an innovative instrument that gives drummers and percussionists a new way to control reverse sample playback in real-time. During this presentation, those attending will have the opportunity to test and play a prototype.

This presentation will be particularly useful for musicians who choose to perform with electronic drums/pads and who would like to enhance their musical expression. It is also aimed at developers/hackers interested in augmented instruments and looking for new ways to control and perform with them.

That said, anybody who finds this idea interesting is welcome to attend. As the developer of Ether Pad, I look forward to the feedback I receive from members of the audience.

With a passion for innovation, and with a number of ideas waiting to be progressed, I would also like to meet people who are interested in collaborating on the further development of the Ether Pad concept and on similar projects.
Looking forward to seeing you there!”

Edward

Join a LAB with deaf dancer Chisato Minamimura to consider visual representation of sound for Chisato, to experiment with a number of sonic/digital elements and their responses to her new score ‘Time’ which she will develop in the next few months with her dancers. This new work explores time within sound & music from a deaf perspective and cultural differences between Japan & UK including the Japanese concept of MA (negative space).

The work will be developed here and shared in Japan. Chisato is looking for collaboration to work with digital artists, engineers and programmers to visualise her new choreographic score and this is the first phase of the process.

Chisato Minamimura is a Japanese deaf dance artist, choreographer exploring the experience of sound/voice/music from a deaf perspective. Chisato has been on this journey for a while and is developing a new score exploring the notion of time from a diversity of perspectives, in London, Brighton and Tokyo.

Date: Thursday, 19 March 2015 from 18:30 to 21:30

Location: Music Hackspace, Unit 15, 5–10 Corbridge Crescent, E2 9DS

More info about the project.
http://chisato.h-and-c.jp/profile_e.html

Musica Dispersa is a London based platform which operates internationally and is dedicated to the dissemination and diffusion of experimental music through a wide range of projects in radio broadcast, cassette releases, live events and exhibitions (more info www.musicadispersa.co.uk).

When: March 26 @ 18:30 – 23:00

Where: Unit 15, 5–10 Corbridge Crescent, E2 9DS

Entrance: £4

Following recent collaborations and a residency in Haggerston, Musica Dispersa are coming to the Music Hackspace bringing a line up of experimental music and sound artists, in an event that will focus on the space, the artists and the sound; from noise music to abstract ambient, the event is open to a variety of sonic proposals within the experimental music fields.

Featured artists include Clara Black, Phil Mill, Rasul, Ewa Justka and elpueblodechina (more info of the artists can be found below).

SET TIMES:
19’00-19’30 Clara Black – electronics
19’45-20’15 Phil Mill – field recordings
20’30-21’00 Rasul – tapes/loops
21’15-22’00 Ewa Justka – experimental/electronics
22’15-23’00 elpueblodechina – noise

Join us at the space for drinks and chat from 18.30. Drinks will be available at the bar.

ELPUEBLODECHINA (NOISE,LIVE)
Alejandra Perez (Chile) is a noise artist, media designer and current phd student at the University of Westminster in London. Her research is focused in the detection of rhythms and frequencies that are imperceptible in space. Further research develops into the study of semiotic energies. Her areas of work include writing, live noise performances, education, designing new interfaces, free tool sound art and the development of instruments to detect high and low frequencies (Pure Data, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, electronica DIY-DIWO, Gnu Linux). Recent work includes recording low frequency sounds in Antartica with vlf (very low frequency) hydrophones, and previously measuring UV radiation in Punta Arenas in the desert of Atacama. Her performances are noisist by definition, leaving open doors to improvisation and interaction.

http://elpueblodechina.org/

EWA JUSTKA (EXPERIMENTAL/ELECTRONICS,LIVE)
Ewa Justka is a Polish electronic noise artist and instruments builder based in London. Justka’s main field of research is based on exploration of materiality of objects, vibrant, ontological systems (human bodies, plants’ bodies, electronic circuits: varied range of micro and macro environments and relations between them) and an investigation of modes of quasi-direct perception through noise performance actions, interactive installation, DIY electronics, hardware hacking, plant-molesting, breaking, deconstructing and collaborating. In her artistic work Ewa attempts to explore the concept of materiality of the hidden.

http://ewajustka.tumblr.com/

PHIL MILL (FIELD RECORDINGS,LIVE)
Phil Mill began experimenting with sound and musical composition exploring the use of environmental sound within a musical context, practising improvised music and electronic music.More recently he has began to look at the aesthetics of listening at first within an improvised context and then within field recordings and acoustic ecology.

https://philmill91.wordpress.com/

RASUL (TAPES/LOOPS,LIVE)
Rasul is an experimental musician based in London that practices loop-based improvisations. Relying heavily on found objects, Rasul captures sound through different techniques, favouring methods that allow the compositions to become autonomous and unintentional. Inspired by Eastern spiritual traditions, Rasul’s performances evoke a mystical atmosphere that provides the listener with a contemplative space to wander and dwell within; a space where the role of an artist is not too different from the role of the listener.

https://soundcloud.com/peopleoflu

CLARA BLACK (ELECTRONICS,LIVE)
Starting to produce her own music from a young age, and always with an interest in experimentation, as well a being a resident DJ, Clara is currently creating music for experimental films and short movies.

Nuno Correia will present his artistic work and research on audiovisual performance. The first part of the presentation will focus on his artistic work with Video Jack (www.videojackstudios.com), which was the subject of his PhD thesis and book: “Interactive Audiovisual Objects”. The second part will focus on work with tools for audiovisual performance: the vector graphics oriented AudioVisual Vector eXchange – AVVX (www.avvx.org) and the recent project on generative audiovisuals – Gen.AV (www.gen-av.org). The latter is part of his current research at Goldsmiths, University of London.

When: March 5, 18:30 – 21:30
Where: Music Hackspace, Unit 15, 5–10 Corbridge Crescent London, United Kingdom

 

Nuno N. Correia (www.nunocorreia.com) is a researcher, media artist and musician. He is interested in enabling interactive multi-sensorial experiences. Since 2000, he has been teaching and conducting research in media art and design, in universities in Portugal, Finland and the UK. Nuno holds a Doctor of Arts degree in new media from Aalto University (Media Lab Helsinki), with the thesis “Interactive Audiovisual Objects“, and an M.Sc in innovation management from the Technical University of Lisbon. Currently, he is a researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London (EAVI Group), working on the project “Enabling Audiovisual User Interfaces” (http://avuis.goldsmithsdigital.com), for which he obtained a Marie Curie EU fellowship.

Nuno’s work has been presented in more than 20 countries, in such festivals and venues as ACM Multimedia – Interactive Arts exhibition (Scottsdale), Electro-Mechanica (St. Petersburg), FILE (São Paulo), ISEA (Istanbul), Le Cube (Paris), Mapping (Geneva), NAME (Lille), Optronica / British Film Institute (London), PixelAche / Kiasma (Helsinki) and SXSW (Austin). His articles have been published at conferences such as ACE (Advances in Computer Entertainment), NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression), SMC (Sound and Music Computing) and TEI (Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction); as well as at the Journal of Visual Art Practice, Leonardo Electronic Almanac and Intermedial Arts (book chapter). Nuno’s projects have been featured in CreativeApplications.Net, Create Digital Motion, The Creators Project, Leonardo Reviews and Digicult, among other specialised media.