In a previous very awesome blog post we interviewed Sam Wiehl and collaborator Luciana Haill about PZYK SKAN, an amazingly cool EEG Controlled Sound and Visuals project. This week we are extra excited to have Sam back to tell us about more about his background as a live visual performance and show off his latest work for the infamous band Ladytron!

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Sam Wiehl, I’m a visual artist focusing on the relationship between sound and image. Nearly all my work centres around my collaboration with musicians / sound artists - producing live show design, installations and moving image making. One of the processes I enjoy the most is creating a visual experience to compliment a live music performance and I’ve worked with a number of great artists including Forest Swords, Vessel, Actress and recently Ladytron.

2. What tools (software, hardware, other) do you use to create the content?

My approach to a project has always been guided by the collaboration and how I’ll deliver it so this has meant working in different ways and learning new processes along the way. For a live show design I start by storyboarding the set establishing with the artist the overall approach. For Ladytron’s live shows I wanted the new record’s dystopian vision to guide the visual experience. I wanted to use the human form in the work - ideas developed of a recurring motif - figures who existed in suspended animation - drifting through empty landscapes. This became the main focus and starting point for the work. To create the content for the show I used 3D scans - iSense scanner and itssez3d software to capture all my human characters and additional imagery. I then brought everything into Cinema4d where I created a series of ‘sculptures’ I could use live. Alongside this I also produced additional animation content in Cinema4d.

3. Tell us all about how you delivered the show for the latest Ladytron tours!

Live I used two MacBooks running into a Roland V1 mixer - one machine running the linear content in VDMX using a midi controller (this also acted as my live backup machine). I also ran an iPad into VDMX where I could manually play with the 3D scans. The other machine ran Vuo compositions which contained the 3D models as part of my VDMX patch and CoGe which I also syphoned into VDMX which allowed me to create feedback loops using the content. The 3D models could then be manipulated live and through audio feeds. I also layered up the 3D models to create new ‘sculptures’ during the show. I used Madmapper to split content on to two screens or one large screen depending on the venue. Alongside the video I added the lighting design then to create the final show.

4. New work

I’ve just finished making a new live project entitled Jettison with the band And So I Watch You From Afar which will start touring late 2020 (hopefully). The project centres around utopian ideas for our future! For this I’ve used Unreal Engine and VDMX to deliver the show.