Ten xTen 2017: Dual Practices has begun with artists working in pairs to produce new work utilizing the
full-service recording, mixing, and mastering studio at ESS and the fine art
editioning services at Spudnik Press Cooperative.
Throughout the
summer we’ll be documenting and sharing each pair’s process. First up: AmbrosiaBartosekulva and Melina Ausikaitis tell us a little bit about their
collaboration and process for their track recorded in ESS’s Studio A at the end
of April:
“The theme of location was only vaguely
addressed by Ambrosia and I from the start. After we started talking, what
we found common ground on was a place in time. We traded stories about
growing up and our parents. It turned out that we had quite a bit in
common. The stories that we tell in the recording were retold and fleshed
out after this first meeting. I think the link between the two stories is
sensory experiences; smells and materials, etc.
Our two stories and a loose framework
of three stages were all we walked into the studio with. I brought my fake
guitar and pedals with me.”
–Melina Ausikaitis
“I was really inspired by a line in Melina's
story to use a story I had with almost the same line as an opening. We both had
these very similar experiences, yet our processes are on two very different
layers. With sound I wanted to create a space that highlighted the contrast of
Melina's very visceral tactility and physicality vs my kind of etheric
non-locality. I wanted to integrate the two and have multiple layers in our
sound as well, some up close and abrasive and some far away and hard to grasp.
I affected multiple channels of my
voice and a drum machine through a series of analog effects, handmade
electronics and loops. We practiced a few times and had a structure to our
piece, but improvised within that framework.”
–Ambrosia Bartosekulva