Inventions:

Here are some invetions that Brendan made for use in film and music creation.

XL135

35mm Lens Converter for the XL1s

I just designed and built a 35mm Lens Converted for my XL1s. It adapts full frams 35mm SLR (known in the film world as "double frame", as it runs horizontal instead of vertical like the 4-perf film of motion picture cameras). The system uses an Canon AL-1 to moun the lenses and hold a rare 645 size Mamyia ground glass at the focal plane. The XL1 then focuses onto the GG and forms and image in macro mode. System ISO is 100. Grain in the GG is subtle and does not detract from the image. The images are exceedingly sharp. DOF is very shallow as we are using primes, wideo open at f1.4 on a 36x24mm image area. All focusing is now done by tape. The results turned out suberb sonsicering that I built this system for $50*. (not counting all of the primes and camera bodies). *(ground glass + mounting screws et al)

And, yes all viewing devices must be mounted upside down (hence the right side viewfinder and the upside down LCD mounted on PVC). Images pare prmptly flipped 18- deg. in FCP HD.

Demo Images from XL135




The XL135

Included below:
Canon XL1s
Canon AL-1 35mm Camera
Sony TRV-103 for FireWire Image Backp
Nebtek/Panasonic 7" 16:9 LCD





Japhy and I been working on some new instruments and music related inventions tis summer. See below.

A2V2A

Japhy and I just designed and built this audio signal processor. It's entitled the A2V2A (Audio to Video to Audio Converter). It takes a line input runs it into a TV. The TV then converts the sounds into images (mainly horizontal lines, whose increasing density on the screen is directly correlated with increasing pitch). This continually changing imagery is shot by a video camera. The camera converts the image back into audio via its video output. But, since the video camera has a zoom lens, we can change the focal length and thus crop the lines on the TV screen. As we zoom in, we see fewer lines on the final output image: this results in a decreasing pitch. And thus, we have an optical pitch shifter. It sounds, well, noisy at best. But it works and it has a rather unique tone.

As for this image: Japh and I decided to make an elaborate ad for this new device. The price is merely the sum of the prices of all the equipment in the frame. As for the "Two-Hundred Invention Co", that is an invention company that we thought up in the sixth grade. It was a long-standing joke about a company that made ridiculously inefficient, dangerous, extravagant, complex and impractical inventions until we started making inventions that really worked. Now it's our company name. Although we make inventions that we use in a practical way to help us make music and films, they still fit nearly all of the aforementioned criteria.

The MP3 file below is a demo of this machine. It is a keyboard (pictured) played through the unit with the camera zoom set so we get a harmony around a 5th. It's unprocessed*.

*We did create a noise reduction system to cancel out some of the noise that the video signal introduces by way of phase cancelation. It works pretty well, but the final signal is still quite noisy.



A2V2A.mp3

Laser Frequency Modulator

Japhy and I were talking on the phone one day and came up with this. It takes a line/mic input from any instrument, amplifies it and sends that signal to a speaker. The speaker resonates, driving a sheet of Mylar in and out of a laser beam. The varying beam intensity is then measured by a Photocell which modulates a 20Hz+100Hz "bias" tone. The modulated tone output is then recorded and mixed back in with the dry instrument, providing a distorted sound rich with sub-harmonics. It sounds a bit like a pitch shifter, but without some of the "ripping" and artifacting.



LFM Demo.mp3

Spring Reverb Unit

This device is a speaker attached to a long spring that vibrates a little resonator. When guitar is played through it, it simulates the ambiance of a strange, long chamber by echoing the input sound through out the spring. I took me a couple days to build this, but it sounds great. I've used it on a couple tracks for guitars and drums. Has a great warmth and sustain. I use a AKG c1000s to pick up the signal on top. * designed and built by Brendan.



Dual Pickup Guitar

This is a modified guitar that Japhy and I designed. It has an extra pickup that catches the resonance on the upper side of the string. This way, whenever you play a hammer-on you get a automatic harmony. Western Scale + Non-Western Scale. Sounds like a string section when played with an electric tooth brush. Samples coming soon. We've used it on a track and it rocks. Picture by Japhy Riddle.



Ralphaphone

This is a rough recording of a new instrument that I deisgned. It is made out of many thin strips of wood laminated together into an arc. Then a bass string is stretched to make a bow form and a Ralph Lauren box top is mounted on top with some thumb tacks. Thats it. Recorded in a large, cement stairwell with an AKG c1000s into ProTools with Waves Renaissance Reverb and Renaissance Bass.


* I had to stealthily run 50 feet of XLR cable through the dorm hall to get this one tracked!

Ralphaphone.mp3





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All Content Copyright 2005 by Brendan Bellomo