Visual Beats

In the first experiment in the series, I created a fragmented typeface based on a timing phenomenon found in a certain type of hip-hop beat.

In this type of beat, the kick and snare drums — which usually define the pulse of the music — are placed slightly earlier than expected. This creates a limping and fluid sensation, while the beat's repetitive nature still maintains the experience of cohesion. The dominance of the kick and snare means their early placement can be perceived as the pulse, but since all other elements in the music suggest a slightly later pulse, a discrepancy arises. One could say there are two parallel pulses, and this creates a distinctive groove.

A visual analogy might be a composition with two identical grids layered on top of each other, with one slightly shifted to the side. Some elements then relate to the shifted grid, while others relate to the original. Based on this idea, I created a typeface derived from my handwriting, where I let the upper half of each letter come “earlier” — that is, slightly more to the left—than the lower half. This gave the writing a fragmented — or elastic — quality that resembled the limping sensation of the drum beat.

The playing with the spacing of the letters in experiment 1 - making it so narrow that they ended up on top of each other - gave me associations to sound clusters.

This gave me the idea of creating graphic scores, and I ended up with a score in three pieces.

On short notice, while working on the graphic scores, I got the opportunity to participate in an exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus. I decided to use the opportunity to conduct an experiment for my master project.

I exhibited the graphic scores and performed it musically on the opening together with Gabriel Nils Edvinsson.

In this performative experiment, I explore creating visual material and music simultaneously.

In this piece, I filmed myself trying to draw in a drummerly way. Then I recorded a drum solo, watching the video while playing, following the gestures of my drawing. Then I added the drum track to the video.

The marks made in Experiment 5 was now turned into a digital font and used in a visualisation of a drum solo, as typed on a MacBook Pro.

The writing created can be seen as a form abstract transcription of the drum solo. This transcription might also be used as graphic score, to not reproduce the drum solo, but create new music.

In this experiment I visualise the circular movements of drumming brushes by dipping them in blue colors and playing with them on a cotton canvas, filming and recording the sound.

Here I made a series of gestural drawings, focusing on the movement of my hands and the sound of the markers against the paper. I experimented with drawing with my eyes closed to focus my attention towards the movements and the sounds, rather than the visual.

Then I started to look for potential letter shapes in the drawings, tracing them digitally to create a digital alphabet.