David Kasdorf
US visual artist
example of soundart 1
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Interview:10 questions
1. When did you start making music, what is/was your motivation to do it?
No one would call it music, I don’t think. Spoken work, sound, well, I did sing on one thing I did so I guess that is music.
2. Tell me something about your living environment and the musical education.
I like music. I have thousands of LPs. I even compiled playlists and wrote liner notes for DCC Compact Classics back in the 90’s. I listen to WFMU freeform radio on the internet and have been exposed to tons of stuff I wouldn’t hear anywhere else. The records and the radio have been the extent of my musical education. I don’t play an instrument.
3. Is making music your profession? What is the context in which you practice music nowadays?
No. I’m a visual artist. I teach digital media to support myself.
4. How do you compose or create music or sound? Have you certain principles, use certain styles etc?
My foray into sound has been a natural extension of making videos. Sound has been, at times, an important component of the videos. Sometimes by deleting the images the sound can stand on its own. It becomes something else. I like that.
5. Tell me something about the instruments, technical equipment or tools you use?
Final cut Pro, Soundtrack, standard Mac tools. I bought a mic, a Blue Snowball. It’s a decent product. I record onto my ipod. I have a phone that records sound, an iSight camera. Audio Hijack and SnapzPro are nice applications that take sound and images off the internet. Mactheripper off of DVDs and so on. Really though, the sound work I make, and everything else for that matter, is quite primitive.
6. What are the chances of New Media for the music production in general and you personally?
Absolutely. The sky’s the limit. There are so many tools now. If you have a decent computer off you go.
7. How about producing and financing your musical productions?
I’m tethered to the institution. They own my computers and software. Given the rate of obsolescence in anything digital, we’re all just renting anyway.
8. Do you work individually as a musician/soundartist or in a group or collaborative?
Collaboration is something I’m very interested in. I’ve done it once or twice and hope to do more of it. I work alone most of the time, though.
If you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
I don’t believe in the myth of the artist toiling away in his or her garret. We all owe somebody something. Collaboration, when it works, can be extremely satisfying. Often, though, people are threatened, egos are involved, it can get messy. Find the right person or persons and it’s gold.
9. Is there any group, composer, style or movement which has a lasting influence on making music?
There are so many artists. Warhol, Nauman. I like Miranda July and Maria Abramovic a lot. Negativeland, People Like Us, Ergo Phizmiz, all the mash-up artists. Yes, I could keep going.
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a soundartist or musician?
I’m finding a way to make it all work, art, money, etc. Getting tenure is key but mostly I want to do what I want, teach what I want and make what I want. Pretty much what I’m doing now.