User:Jacob Sperber

Could you please post up the other info I asked for like your email, department etc. Look at User:Jon Phillips to see an example of what to add to your page. --Jon


 * Name: Jacob Sperber
 * E-mail: Jacob_sperber@sbcglobal.net
 * Website: www.DeeJayPeePlay.com
 * AIM: I talk live
 * MSN: This program is the devil
 * Phone: email me for it.

Personal FAQ
What experience do you have with sound software and what kind?

I have experience with sound recording through my experience in Filmmaking. I have expereince editing sound mostly on Final Cut Pro with some experience in other programs. I also have an extensive record collection and am constantly evolving my knowledge of sound equipment and music production. I don't play any instruments but I am fascinated by them.

What experience do you have with programming and what kind?'''

I don't know any programming as far as C++ goes. I used to do some web site stuff and maintain my own website but didn't build it upon my own knowledge of HTML (basically my friend ZANA helped me build it).

What do you know and how interested are you in Free Culture, Open Source, and Programming?

I am not really sure what that is exactly but if its what it sounds like, I am "open" to it.

What kind of experience with building speakers and external sound hardware do you have?

I know how to set up speakers but not build them, I would love to learn though.

What type of installations / performances have you done?

I have done some live video installations that involve "behind the scenes" performance, mostly technical operations rather than content within the piece. I also regularly perform at parties I throw or DJ at.

'''Which aspects of audio interest you? (recording / performance / sound installations...)'''

I am interested in all aspects of audio. For this class I am most interested in the recording and editing of sound for other use.

Do you play an instrument and what is the instrument(s)?

Nope, nutin'

What do you want to get out of this class?

I would like to become comfortable in some sound software, both mastering and editing as well as some production software.

Do you take another sound class this semester and what is its name?

No

'''What kind of music are you into? Art, pop, whatever...'''

I am into just about everything. I am currently obsessed with DancePunk (Tom Vek, The Rakes) as well as newer hip hop classics like David Banner's "Play." Im also re-discovering music in my collection that I wasn't too hot on upon first listen like KID606's Kill Sound Before Sound Kills You and MadVillany. My favortie records to rock out to right now are the Re-Issue of Gang Of Four's Entertainment and Veronica Lipgloss and The Evil Eyes new record.

oh yeah, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, fucking rule!

'''What field trips would you like? '''

I would like the class to cut out early and go see the free live performance Four Tet is doing at Amoeba in a couple of weeks which is at 6pm (during class). I WILL NOT be missing Four Tet play free, he is one of the most compelling live acts I have ever witnessed and he is an electronic solo act, which usually suck live!

What is your secret weapon?

Those little bottles of liquor they sell at the corner store, there is one called "Pucker Green Apple"

Wanna check out something cool? go to my website: http://www.DeeJayPeePlay.com

Projects
Class Project If I were to focus on the main reason I joined the class It would be to learn how to create more finished audio for my filmmaking. In particular I am working on a film that is turining out to be more of a sound piece than a film. In fact as I work on it more and find it increasingly more difficult to place images to the sound I have acquired, It might end up not being a film at all.

This sound I am referring to are answering machine messages I have been selectively collecting over the past 7 or 8 months. I now have what seems to be a good amount of messages or what I feel like will be a proper amount to complete the project to my satisfaction. Now it is a matter of editing these down to a narrative and fixing any issues the recordings might have. I am also looking to develop the idea more in terms of how to accent the messages with more sound or what else is needed to help along the end goal I am looking for.

So, If a film dosen't end up getting completed by the end of the semester, a score and soundtrack will, and that might even end up being enough to satisfy the idea.

'''

1-5 Minute Soundpiece Due: 9/14/05
''' The assignment was to explain my experience with art making up to the present through a minute to five minutes of digital audio. My brain immediately went to the medium of expression before coming up with an idea for the sound when I decided to use my cell-phone answering machine to complete the project. Given my current frustration with the world I knew I wanted to get some steam out and use this project as an outlet. At first I had some horrible idea to slow down and speed up the sound of applause and some other ideas that got trashed to keep my dignity. I knew how I wanted to respond to this project and what I wanted to express. When you discover something or create something new you will get exhilarated by its completion but can ride the high of its success for only so long. I feel like the thing I am most exited about when making art, the viewing of my completed works by others, turns out to be the most damaging and frustrating part in the whole experience. When work becomes presented to others they will take their interpretations of it and stabs at it but even more frustrating are the interpretation you make on your own work. When I first finish a new piece, I have to enjoy what it looks like at that moment, the time before it reaches the outside world, because it will never look the same. The moment you see your own work being tested under fresh eyes the work will change completely and sometimes reveal itself as fraudulent, a lie to even yourself. I know this sounds extremely negative view on a subject I enjoy so highly, but this is just how I feel. At this moment in my journey as an artist, I can look back on each work I have completed and feel accomplished in all I have completed but also feel optimistic in knowing how flawed and juvenile those pieces feel now that I have completed them.

Now, you might ask just how my sound piece fits in with this view. It kind of does and it kind of doesn’t. Put yourself in the situation of the person receiving these messages. One at a time, they would instill a different reaction and emotion. These emotions are what I experience when I release a work onto the world:

Message #1: There is the exhilaration of finishing a piece. Message #2: The pride of hearing support from friends. Message #3: The frustration of criticism Message #4: The embarrassment of catching your own mistakes or the disappointment of things not working out to your expectations Message #5: The offensive nature for defending your work and ideas Message #6: Finally settling back into realizing its just art and that there things out there other than your ego

Of course there are different levels of reaction and emotion to different pieces, but I feel this is a good synopsis of the general roller coaster of showing work. Not to mention there is the whole process of making the work that has its difficulties and embellishments as well. I think I chose to focus on this subject as a response to the general question because up until I went to school for art It hadn’t been a regular practice for me to show off my work. But, over the past years of making that a habit I was able to find the frustrations that drive you to making accomplished work. Knowing there is going to be a critical audience for my work has been the turning point and drive for my development as an artist and that is probably why I can hear something other than cynicism in this sound piece.