Tim O'Keefe

LIVE ELECTRONIC MUSIC/SOUND PERFORMANCE 

When I first began composing & producing electronic music, it was before the desktop or laptop computer was the centerpiece of the studio. In order to compose and perform, you would have use a variety of electronic music hardware including synthesizers, drum machines, sequencers, effects processors, and mixing consoles. This approach helped me to learn the fundamentals of synthesis, drum & sequence programming, and mixing. Although the ability to do everything on a laptop with a USB midi controller is convenient and opens up new opportunities for composition & performance, I still appreciate how an all hardware method creates opportunities for experimentation and improvisation that I still don’t find in contemporary setups. They both have their strengths and you can evolve your craft through exploring both methods. I often perform and compose with a hybrid setup combining contemporary equipment (laptop, midi controller, Ableton Live, Max/MSP/Jitter) and hardware (synthesizers, drum machines, sequencer, mixer).

Although electronic music is classified as ‘music’ and I for a long time considered myself a musician of sorts, I’ve come to realize that in many ways I am an artist working within the medium of sound and that my work often crosses over into what is categorized as music. I think differently than a musician. I think in very visual and spatial terms about sound. It inhabits a space that I visualize internally and as an artist I try to articulate that through my compositions & performances. To me, sound is like a continuum that I tap into. Each performance or time-based recording is like a snapshot from that continuum.

RECORDED AUDIO WORKS

Birthday Gift was composed & produced in 2014 as part of a film score for a short film written by Harmony Korine that was never published. The score was composed using a combination of hardware synthesizers and plug-ins and recorded in Logic X. Conceptually I composed with the idea of memory, and childhood nostalgia in mind due to the plot of the film. I was influenced by the soundtrack from the original Blade Runner and the film Drive.

SoundScapes 01 was composed & produced in 2011 as part of an meditative experiment where I would record a new improvised sound work within one short studio session. I would create an initial sound and record it while manipulating its character, frequency, and tone over time. I would then proceed to design a new sound element and repeat the process over the previously recorded elements until the work was complete. Each piece usually consisted of anywhere between 3 to 6 layered elements.

90’s World Wide Web I was composed as part of a soundtrack for short artist profile films that were part of the Guggenheim Museum’s Art and China After 1989: Theater of The World exhibition. The filmmaker told me to think about the early 90’s internet when composing which inspired me to use old modem dial up sounds in addition to dot matrix printer sounds as part of the composition for this score.

Into The Forest features Andy Rourke of The Smiths on bass guitar. We composed & produced Into The Forest the Mexican electronic music record label Trafico Records. Composed using hardware & software based synths & drum machines in Logic Pro X.

DIGITAL MEDIA INSTALLATION WORKS

Breaking Out (proprietary code, arduino, sound, water) Pixilerations Festival 2011

Dueling Frequencies ((proprietary code, arduino, sound, glass) Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD) 2011

FILMMAKING & EDITING

The Central Mainframe 2011

The Central Mainframe is a day in the life of an electronic musician as he awaits contact from the Central Mainframe through its agents of inspiration. He must navigate through a world filled with empty overly programmed humanoid shells known as the "others" who are unaware of his continuous inner thoughts, observations, and his overall hidden purpose. He must blend in, and make sure that none of the "others" become aware that he is not one of them.

This film was inspired from my experience of being an electronic musician in Providence, Rhode Island in the early 90’s. A city where the music scene was much more rock-centric, and the attitude towards electronic music was that it wasn’t really music at all. I suppose this is my satirical humorous expression of the imposter syndrome feelings I had back then in the environment I was in.

The film was shot on 16mm which was converted to digital for editing. I also used a found image technique, like visual sampling, pulling photographs from old Life Magazines and books to visually illustrate the story. The score was composed using analog synthesizers and Ableton Live. I recorded the voiceover using a vintage dictaphone microphone as if the viewer is listening to the protagonist’s private recordings.

CURRENT PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

Neon Lightning

I’m currently finishing up on a collaborative full-length album as Neon Lightning with Andy Rourke, a founding member of The Smiths. Pulling from both our musical backgrounds and influences, the album brings together various styles including art rock, electronic, alternative/indie, punk, shoegaze, ambient, and experimental sounds. My role for this project includes as a composer, producer, songwriter, and singer.

Tim O’Keefe

I’m currently finishing up on a solo full length album bringing together various styles of indie & electronic music I’ve explored over the years including ambient, techno, indie dance, and retro new wave flavors. I’m the composer, singer, songwriter, and producer of this album. This excerpt entitled Summer Pond 3am is my sonic interpretation of the feelings I would get sitting outside in the late summer night by my childhood pond.