Q&A with Martin Viktorov about his “An introduction to Field Recording- workshop series”, his creative practice and time at the Pervasive media studio. 

Through regular monthly meetups, annual camps and pop-up activities, our Make Shift initiative supports early stage creatives to develop networks, projects and practice. In this Q&A, writer Hattie Daley and Martin Viktorov, a Bristol-based experimental electronic musician, video artist and Make Shift Meetup regular, discuss Martin’s creative practice, his workshop series and the unconventional support he has received via Make Shift.  

Q. How did you start experimenting with electronic music and what is your creative approach? 

A. I decided that I wanted to learn how to make music after moving to Bristol for university and discovering electronic music. It heavily influenced me because a lot of it is wonderfully weird and experimental. My favourite artist that I was listening to at the time was Burial. I did some researching and found out that he was using very rudimentary software to create the tracks. Beautiful stuff with very basic software…  

I realised that I have no idea how to do this but I have all the tools, I have the software and the laptop. So, I decided that I'll start learning. And then I just never stopped.  

The more I learnt, the more I wanted to experiment. Then I came across field recording and realised that you can capture the environment around you and use it in your tracks. So that became part of my practice as well. 

Because of how I got into this music creation thing, I kind of embraced this clean slate start, having no preconceived notion of what I'm doing or where I'm going, instead allowing sound to lead the way. I start by picking out a drum pattern that sounds interesting and then I will slowly add to it, trying all sorts of things. It’s all very smoke and mirrors until that point where it “clicks” and suddenly I know that it is going to be a track.  

Q. How has your practice as a sound/video artist evolved over time and what is the connection between these two mediums? 

A. With sound it's been kind of a wild ride because I started at ground zero.  

And then I taught myself all these technical skills and began understanding what all the compressors, sliders, buttons and effects were doing.  

But I got boxed into this way of thinking where everything has to be technically sound or there is no point. That really limited my scope of the things that I would try. I’d be like, “oh, no, I can't use this, this is not good enough” and then kill that idea at the very start. It felt so frustrating. And then, just a couple of years back, I regained this beginner's mindset of, “I can try anything”. 

With video, it was very weird because I stumbled into it during the lockdown by accident. I realised that a video signal is very similar to audio signal but it's got a different structure and a higher frequency. I tried plugging the output from an old function generator into a USB capture device that you use to digitise old camcorders. It started making a grid or a shape and then I began creating triangles, squares and patterns. I went down this rabbit hole of video visuals and began experimenting and manipulating the signal, adding effects to feedback loops, and getting crazy looking live visuals. 

I apply the same logic to video as I do sound. I love what you can do live with analogue equipment without needing computers. It's very hands on. I like to incorporate pre-recorded material in my videos and I approach this in the exact same way as I do sound, except you're recording on a camera rather than a microphone.  

I also incorporate live elements through a single camera that's pointing somewhere in the room. For example, if you place a camera right on top of the projector, it will pick up the little dust particles. The things we don’t see. 

I like to create something that will amplify the minute and overlooked aspects of everyday life and space itself. I feel that dust is very similar to background noise. We don't acknowledge it at all, but it's everywhere.  

Q. Where do you like to record? 

A. My absolute favourite place for field recording is Cabot Circus at night. The main hall area with the escalators, has such weird acoustics. It's got an acoustic echo, so if you clap, you get different responses from different places because it’s glass, and is all very uneven. So, if you clap your hands, you hear the reflections as loud as your clap. It's a 360° super surround sound. It's very interesting, because you don't hear that during the day because there's so much noise it just masks everything. But at night when there's no one there, it really shines.  

I often take my recorder with me when I go for long walks, just in case I come across something that sounds interesting, or sometimes I will specifically choose to go to a place to record how it sounds. Oftentimes, I will record directly into my Ableton projects, whatever I can find around the house that happens to fit whatever project I’m working on. 

I use zoom h2N (recorder), It has four microphones and it can record surround sound. It instantly brings the space where you're recording, into the track. It's very immersive. 

Q. What are some of the challenges that you face with your field recordings?  

A. Navigating the library of recorded sounds, that's definitely a challenge. Because all of them are so massive and instantly bring you back to where you were, what you were like, what you were going through at that time. It's very intense. You get completely side-tracked and derailed. I'm still kind of figuring that out. 

Q. Why and how did you start your workshop series? 

A. I think Watershed is a wonderful cinema. I was following their Instagram where I came across ‘Make Shift’ which sounded really interesting because it was for early-career creatives. I came to one of the sessions in September or October for the first time, and I've been coming to every single one since then. Make Shift has been absolutely fantastic in supporting me and developing my workshop series.  

I remember how incredibly frustrating and difficult it was to learn how to experiment and work with sound. It required so much perseverance until I could actually have fun and do something that’s just playful. Even just figuring out where to look…sifting through online materials and resources. 

Over time I accumulated all these things that I’ve learnt on my own, so I thought “maybe I can talk about it and share it with others”.  

I think what inspired me to run this workshop series, was the desire to try to make something as complex as sound experimentation, accessible. 

So, I had this idea and I knew that I wanted to do something with sound. I was recording on my phone quite a bit at the time because I would forget to bring my recorder with me and phone microphones are quite good. So, I was like, “hmm, maybe we'll do field recordings.”  

I spoke to Tony Bhajam from the Make Shift team, about my idea for a workshop and he said, “yep, that's a great idea” and helped me to develop it.   

Q. What did the workshop series entail? 

A. The workshop series was fantastic… lots of people signed up and it sold out! It was really great.  

The first day of the workshop was an introduction to field recording, listening and rudimentary recording. There was some theory in the first half and then the second half was a time to practice. The second day was more aimed towards listening and recording in the city, and what tools you can use to navigate recording.  

Exploring how to narrow down this infinite field of possibilities, into something workable. 

Then the third day was about familiarising people with the software and helping them to arrange their soundscapes. The last day was the showcase. 

 

Q. What is Make Shift, for those who do not know? 

Make Shift provides a space to meet local creatives that all do very different things. Everyone shares their own stories and struggles. It's hugely inspirational to learn from this and incorporate some of that into your own practice and into your own journey.  

It’s a community where everyone's encouraged to share something or try something they haven't done before. It provides a low-stakes, supportive and nurturing environment to just try something different and experiment. 

I think there's huge value in this space and approach. This has tremendous power and I want to see more of this in the world. It's such a valuable, kindling for real beauty to emerge. 

Image: Makeshift Camp Participants ©Shamphat Photography

What are you working on now? 

One of the things I’m trying to work on for the future, is the ways that we can expand these workshops into a course. 

I would love to expand it a little bit more and give people more technical skills to take home, whilst making sure that this remains easily accessible and available.   

The workshop sessions were two hours each, and I feel like they could be longer so that we can focus on certain aspects of recording and arranging, in a deeper sense. Adding a few more themes and interactions could provide a more holistic introduction to sound and sound manipulation.  

If you’re interested to find out more about Make Shift, why not come along to our next monthly meetup?! Meetups happen on the first Tuesday of the month between 17:30-20:00 (it’s informal so no worries if you need to arrive a little late, or leave a bit early). You can put a hold in your diary, and we always announce the theme of the session in the run up, on our Instagram. Why not give us a follow! 

Visit Martin Viktorov's Website: 

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