A Machine (04:57)
by Rodrigo Constanzo

Alan Turing, and his work as a cryptanalyst and pioneering computer scientist, was the thematic inspiration for A Machine. Using the idea of encryption and decryption as a starting point, I collected files relating to Alan Turing that ranged from academic papers and personal letters, to photographs and biographical texts. The files were processed in a number of ways, including optical character recognition and en-masse concatenation. This was done in order to make them suitable for sonification--the process by which the data within the files was converted in to audio. 

Additionally, some software tools were developed to dynamically and variably compress audio, using psychoacoustic analysis in much the same way mp3 compression works. The compression was used as a processing/sculpting effect as well as a structural and form bearing mechanism. 
 
The use of field recordings is minimal, with the field recordings being used primarily to frame the electronic sounds. They provide a reference point from our reality for the rest of the work to juxtapose against. 

A Machine

Rodrigo Constanzo is a performer and composer living in Manchester, England.  He is an avid improviser and performs regularly using home made electro acoustic, and modified electronic instruments. He is currently working towards a PhD in Composition at the University of Huddersfield and co-runs The Noise Upstairs, an improv collective and label which puts on monthly nights and quarterly workshops in Manchester.

He lives in Manchester with his partner, artist Angela Guyton.