So this piece is called "Mga Tenga Ng Puno". To me, trees are very much the ultimate archivist. They see, hear, feel and ultimately become the true unconditional listener. Where ever I have toured ranging from the continental U.S., to South America to Asia, I've sat and have been present with trees at parks because I've wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of touring. When ever I was lucky enough to find that space, I've always noticed there were these ominous trees that were surviving and thriving even amongst the craziness of cities and these times we live in. This lead me to think: what have these trees heard over time? That's when all this began. I wondered what did this tree hear before us humans? What did this tree hear when it was first born, what is this tree hearing now. From there I created 4 different sound collage compositions. All representative of 4 layers of a tree: the roots, the trunk, the branches and the canopy. The roots represent what the trees ancestors/roots heard. The cosmic explosion of the Big Bang, the clash of rocks becoming planets, the primordial goo creating the voodoo of life. The trunk represented pre human existence: the formation of land masses, the evolution/migration of living beings that inhabited earth before us humans. The branches represented our crazy times. Our disconnect as humans living in the 2000's. I basically created an audio riot using the hood I live in, the hood I work in and various frisco 5 demonstrations I was present and marched at with my friends. And finally the canopy revolved around a ambient composition using 337hz, 537hrz, 635hz, 662hz, 696hz, 835hz, 1576hz (look all these tones up if u wanna see what they mean. It's just too much to explain lol) these tones are healing tones that I tuned with w a multimeter for full accuracy. This layer is the force field and ultimate wellbeing sonic skin of the tree. After those compositions were done, I then mapped and fabricated the multi layered sound system that would play these compositions. Here is the process

Step 1: Sketch on Paper

It all begins with a sketch on paper

Step 2: The Come Up

Its easy finding all kinds of speakers on either the side of the road or at friends houses. I came up with 6 speaker systems!

Step 3: Dismantle, Wire Cutting and Desolder

Yup, I had too. All the wiring could not reach from speaker to pre amps. I had to organized a point to point wiring system. I then mapped how to discreetly wire the system so even the back would look like a tree :D

Step 4: Visual Layout for Tree

At first we tried being hella basic by making a 4 x 6ft rectangle. But after a couple of beers and walking around the Pier we gained the inspiration to create a 7 ft tall canvas shaped like a tree. Such good memories making this happen ! !

Step 5: Organization and Planning for Speaker Configuration

After wood bolting down everything in place, we flipped it over and I began the mounting process.

I ended up mounting the speakers 3 inches above the wood using screws and bolts. I wanted to suspend them to give more waves to hit the wood. Not pictured is at the end of the process i created a cone around each speaker to direct the sound waves even more to the wood. I basically created a resonance chamber of sorts.

I followed my map (which was destroyed by a bottle of gatorade)and mounted the preamps to their check points. I then measure each point of soldering from wire to each pre amp terminal.

In the last picture you can see how i wired and stapled down the wires so it had a discreet look instead of looking like a rats nest.

Step 6: Priming the Wood

The fun part!!!

Wood does not hold spray paint well. So we took brown and green left over buff paint and created a earthy tone to be the base of the picture and to also help with holding down the spray paint to the wood. Essentially we created the trunk and some of the leaves using the primer

Step 7: Painting Process

We then began to add the colors. My collaborator created an amazing earthy palette that gave a wonderful contrast to the chaos of noise that colored the back with all the sound systems.

Step 8: Mounting and Creating the Stand

So this was crazy heavy. We ended up t barring a 5 ft 2x4 all along the back. we then created a dismantling joint so we could transfer it to the show. Luckily it didn't slide off of the car. We went from the water ship yards in the dog patch to the SoMa so it was not that bad!

Step 9: Exhibited and Interaction With Public @ SomArts

Big shout outs to the SomArts stage building crew (zack, Pete, Mateo, Nick, Jose all yall motherfuckers are the most artistic sensitive roughnecks I've ever know and aspire to be hahah) who helped make this all happen. The day of the show I set up my home made modular synth and a 4 track machine and connected it to all the wired sound systems. I also made it so that you can pick what tape u would want to use with your interaction (yes I made 2 tapes, I got inspired 4 days beforehand after I had a dope bike ride and made another tape of a complete ambient track using all 4 tracks the tape using the hz/frequencies I spoke of earlier.) I made it so that the 4 track machine could interact and interface with both my modular synth as well as the soundscape pieces. At the day of the show i was able to interact with 7 people, one being a young man who got hella stuck on the piece (he's the MVP in the pic). To see how much the user was effected by the chaos yet seeing viewers smiling through the whole audio ordeal was a humbling experience and really gave me a fresh way of listening and talking to people about using/making "noise" (I wouldn't call my stuff music lol, but I will own up to calling my shit audio vandalism). Let alone I was able to make art with a friend and someone I highly respect as a human and artist. In the end it was great to be a part to a greater sum. The UXI and SomArts Fam gave me and my collaborator the space to be who we are with our community of rad folks!