Vasco Alves is a sound artist living and working in Lisbon, Portugal. His work investigates the materialities of sound through uses of synthesis, amplification and unstable electronic systems. The results are often of a volatile nature, but also subjected to rigid live processing techniques.

With his ongoing works for Gaita de Fole (Portuguese bagpipes), there is a distinct focus on the complementation and contrast between the acoustic voice of the Gaita set against computer generated sound (and other similar instruments or sound sources).

This particular type of instrument has been used for centuries, mostly in rural contexts of the northwestern Iberian peninsula (roughly between Galicia and Lisbon). After a few years learning and playing the traditional repertoire, a development of material outside of conventional context was initiated, focusing distinctly on the potential for materiality in the Gaita de Fole's sound and spatial impact; The use of multiphonics and other 'unwanted' sounds caused by subtle disruptions of the airflow within the chanter can be highly textural or grainy by itself, but also set against electronic generated audio to create intermodulations, masking and colour shifting.

This evolving body of work has been taking shape as a series of short, composed, synthesised studies that resemble not only the acoustic properties of the bagpipe chanter and drones, but also their frequency range.

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Recording notes
Tracks 1-4: Sennheiser MKH 30/40 (MS stereo), MKH 20 x2 (AB stereo)
Tracks 5-7: Line feed, Sennheiser MKH 30/40 (MS stereo) + MKH 20 x2 (AB stereo)
Tracks 8-9: Line feed, Sennheiser MKH 40 x2 + MKH 20 x2 (AB stereo)
RFZ V781 (2ch), Sonosax SX-R4+

Recorded by Adam Asnan in Lisbon, December 2019.
Special thanks to André Neto.