Envelope Soundsystem

just a sketch i did on my lunch break that people seem to like a lot . _ . made a sign (that L. printed) and stickers (that I ordered) for girl milk mate, a drink we sold at a small event. anime version that went over the booth

prompt: queer hedonism in the darkness, light pouring in, different levels (hosted in a 3-story warehouse with a plan to dramatically tune the amount of light coming through the blocked-off skylights to the music) used a monument valley layer as the scaffolding, redrew everything in illustrator, had fun (though spent quite a lot of time) illustrating tiny figures all interacting in the scene. gradient map cost some detail but overall okay with it. ...

I employed fog and small blue/red gel contrast for a bit of a glamour shoot with F. and horns that she built from scratch. I thought the gels were a needed element because of how black and featureless the horns are without angled illumination; this way you can see their form and depth more distinctly and it also lends the shots a bit more of a stylized polychromatic look. This came together very quickly since I work with F. a lot and I feel like they’re some of the most efficient but pro shots I’ve ever done <3 ...

it felt really good to get prints out (their weight and the texture of the riso is so satisfying in person!) and to have people want to buy them at the soundsystem check by the lake on a sunny day. i easily made back the cost of printing (2-color risos from tinysplendor.com) and made a decent profit. i still have more to move and guess i need to get good at marketing? ...

i wanted to go with a lighter theme than i usually do for my first daytime event flyer. we picked the name to reference an electrolyte drink product remembered fondly from one of the collective member’s childhoods. the background is full of electrolytes in lithium ion batteries (since this event tested the function of a custom battery build, which was successful! the entire soundsystem ran for several hours off of a custom setup of hacked tesla batteries, engineered brilliantly by L. (we did have generators ready as a backup, but didn’t need them)). ...

continuation of the story from last year – the bunnygirl’s scar is healed up, she’s surrounded by blue flax flowers (native californian plant recommendation by members of the collective), the lines of past lovers are outlined on the floor, the tree shadows dapple the ground, there’s the insinuation of pregnancy. hand-drew the type inspired by several orthodox russian typefaces (but made it more legible). initially had a cross out of the blue flax which i quite liked but it gave the bunnygirl a decidedly too christ-like cast. ...

most of the hard work here was done by L. who implemented the extremely well-engineered lights and our rigger J. who set up the tree rigging, but i refined some alternatives with a 3d scan of the site and advised on what dimensions i thought would feel good for the dancers. (note to self: the physical-bottleneck “trap” of the front of the dj booth is not to be repeated!) ...

As of this writing, imo this is the best hydra set i’ve ever done. mapped to a rollup door behind the dj booth i don’t have a recording since this was a last-minute idea (about an hour before, f. asked me to do visuals), but i followed my constraints well (monochrome, minimal, all visuals would be derived from the fft spectrum, an emphasis on linearity), showed restraint in letting ideas play out rather than shift too jarringly, clearly demonstrated the idea to the audience, and felt embodied enough with the music that i really enjoyed myself. i was really happy with the result. ...

candlelit-altar-with-portal-in-bg concept-art-1-mo-prior impact-portal-with-figure × Press Escape to close. Use Arrow Left and Arrow Right to navigate between images. i did multiple site visits, including a tech test installing the portal and lights, to flesh out the design for this techno renegade. my goal was to divide the enormous available space to define a dancefloor and incorporate the concept of a portal that visitors could pass through to transport themselves into the mindset for the event. ...

First event done as Envelope Soundsystem. Did a lot of brainstorming about the concept as a shuttle or capsule reentry into the atmosphere (and did set design and visuals at this event that reflected that, including first experiments in mylar sculpture).