Jabber (2008)
a film by Gary Lee Nelson

View the Film (8:00)

This piece began as a demonstration for my Technology 210 class in the fall of 2006. I was
illustrating techniques for recording and playing back sounds in real time. As source
material, I used my own voice speaking the lines of Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” which I
had long-since committed to memory. A few weeks after the class demonstration I decided to
make it into a proper piece for the Oberlin composer’s concert on November 21, 2006. I
limited myself to the resources of my new laptop that included a digital camera as well as
the usual built-in microphone. I made a studio recording of myself with the help of Paul
Eachus, director of the Oberlin Conservatory audio services. During the performance, I
process that recording, my voice live and my face as captured by the computer’s camera. A
stereo version with just the audio will be released shorty in the CDCM series from Centaur Records.