OB1 Tone Picture

A limited edition vinyl record with a Ton Picture of OB1 on one side and a rare live recording of Holy Roller on the other. Edition of 12.
 
From the moment I started cutting vinyl records 16 years ago, Iʼve dreamt of drawing with sound. Inspired by Claud Mellanʼs 1649 masterpiece the Sudarium of Saint Veronica, in which he engraved Christʼs face with a single spiral line, I set out generate computer code to translate images into sound that when cut recreates the image on vinyl.
This limited edition of twelve records marks the second release of the Claud Mellan Spiral Encoder. Each disc contains a continuous spiral groove that encodes a photo-graphic image of Sir Alec Guiness as sound. I call this a Tone Picture.
Rather than scanning the image line by line, the encoder follows a single path from the outer edge of the record toward the center. Along this path, variations in bright-ness are translated into modulation within a fixed harmonic structure. The result is both audible and visible: when played, the record produces a sustained tonal field; when viewed under light, the image reappears across the surface of the disc.
 
The recording of Holy Roller was made during an all ages show at Granny Killems in Portland Maine in 1997. It has never been released.