Electric Frisbee

[jvduruz]

I'd like to put two cars about 300 meters away from one another. Place large amplifiers on the roofs, attach electric instruments and "throw" sound back and forth. Try to groove on the natural delay, etc.

[sputnik]

Camp out on the outer ring and 10:00, you could probably set this up.

[dragonfly Jafe]

are you talking 1 band or two (300m of cabling might get spendy)? You would get around 1 second of delay with that distance, would that be enough? Interesting concept, might be annoying if the volume has to be very loud.

I have always thought it would be cool to setup two parabolic reflectors on either side of the city, allowing people to talk back and forth (size might be prohibitive though).

[jvduruz]

I think the amps will have to be quite loud, but I imagine a morse code style conversation, eventually evolving as the players hear the effects of the enviroment.

The things I'm wondering about are "power"
How long can the amp be powered by a car battery before it goes dead

and of course "the other car"
at this point I have no vehicles but could probably find one

Just one instrumentalist at each car playing at a time, not bands

Sputnik, what did you mean by 10:00?

- J

[dragonfly Jafe]

I think the amps will have to be quite loud...

...How long can the amp be powered by a car battery before it goes dead...

...Sputnik, what did you mean by 10:00?- J

The loudness required to travel 300m would require amplification - which requires power. Depending on how many watts, you may get anywhere from ~30 minutes to several hours of amplification with a car battery. If this is not long enough, use two or more batteries in parallel.

The City is layed out like a clock in a horseshoe shape - 2:00 and 10:00 are at the "open ends" of the horseshoe, and are where the camps with "loud" stereos must camp (loud is defined as more than 300 watts of amplification). Then there is the open Playa, outside the city, where most of the art installations are.

Before you do this, I recommend you read the pages on Art Installations and amplified sound to get a feel for what is to be expected.

[AntiM]

And then there's the entire mutant vehicle licensing thing if you were planning to drive the cars around instead of parking them.

[robotland]

And don't think "Electric Frisbee" won't get co-opted as a Playa Name!

[jvduruz]

the eventual goal is to someday have four or more stations with enough amplification, and have them improvise, toss the electric frisbee, wage sound war, make sound love, for days at a time.

For people who are "the audience" (dancers, meditators, walkers, talkers, musicians waiting to get on deck at one of the stations)
the range of sounds they could experience will only be limited by the speed at which they're moving and their realtive position to the different instruments.

I'll try some prelimiary experiments in june in Seattle, but for putting this on at Burning man I'll admit: I have no car, no generator no BM ticket and no joke here don't laugh.

I have some speakers, and can get some amps... but it might wait until next year unless you've got the 'lectric frisbee fervor.

Meanwhile, a half-second delay is probably enough to make some truly trippy rift opening things happen. so 150 to 200m would maybe also work maybe perhaps.