This website has been prepared as an Appropriate Durable Record (ADR) of Eliot Palmer's Master of Arts (Sound Art) candidature at the RMIT School of Art (College of Design and Social Context), in Melbourne, Australia. Project submitted in January 2010.
This website contains text describing the research questions and process, with images, sound and video.
The research program concerns vibration - how it is felt as sensation, and how low frequency vibration can create sound, by causing materials to resonate and vibrate.
Testing and composition has explored perception and engagement with vibration. It has also explored the referencing and abstraction of dub and related basslines in a non-musical context. See the Overview for more information.
This website has been principally prepared for the purposes of assessment of the Masters research program - the questions asked, the methodology applied, and the outcomes.
The Masters assessment is primarily through an installation/ presentation showing compositions applying a tactile table system, which engages the body directly with deep sensation. This text and media supports the evaluation of the works by giving body to the research program.
Given the vibration medium, the descriptions and audio provided can only partially illustrate the creative process and the outcomes. However, a focus on the conceptual development and research process around composing for the body is provided, showing the new ideas covered in this field.
This website also enables other viewers to see the research process and findings around composing material for the body, and for using vibrating materials such as window panes and sheet metal in composition. These compositions are intended for gallery installation with the tactile table system.
Many thanks to Nic Whyte for his invaluable assistance, without which this website would not have been possible. The design of this site is loosely derived from a template from Gordon Mackay.
Please note - many audio samples herin have significant low frequency content. They should be listened to with adequate loudspeakers or headphones.
If using this document from a CD or hard drive location, you may need to enable the Adobe flash player. If prompted, access the Global Security Settings in the online Flash Player Settings Manager, and allow the location "plugins/player.swf."
Note to examiners for the purposes of assessment - please see the presentation section, noting that the examination setup is for accessing my compositions and research, rather than being provided as an installation work. The following research documentation should be read before assessing the works. As some works, such as those that are vibration only, cannot be documented in this ADR, summary notes will be provided on the examination dates covering the compositions presented.
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Eliot Palmer can be contacted at
Thank you to the composers whose material has been employed in the research. Permission has been given for use of all works cited / sampled in this ADR. Unless stated (i.e. in Phase 1), other artist's compositions have not been used in the creation of the original works for this masters program.
There are six phases to the work, aligning to key foci and findings in the research program. These are organised horizontally at the top of the pages.
There is also a page on the installation and presentation context to the research, and the examination/assessment. A works page provides a summary listing of key experiments and works throughout the masters program.
Within in each of the phases, there are subpages with detail on the work undertaken. The sections align to the key research questions of the Masters program.
Reading the overview of each page in sequence gives a snapshot of what was asked and achieved. Further reading of the subpages gives the depth to the research, with supporting media.
There is also a graphical overview of each phase, which can be bought up as a higher level guide within each phase and its subsections.
Alternatively, information can be accessed from the overview, which outlines the entire program, with links to milestones and key findings.
The research included detailed examination of four main research aims, at different times, over a number of years.
Accordingly, this website is designed to provide a range of ways to access information - both linear and non-linear - to provide general, detailed, or topic specific access to research outcomes.