Excerpt from:  

Northwest Creative Instrument Builders: A Survey (Part 2), The Tentacle Articulations, Summer 2001

Jon Tulchin

Jon Tulchin is a local sound artist who works with contact mics, found objects, field recordings, and invented instruments. Jon is interested in the projection of sound through alternative mediums (wood, metals, water, etc.). His experiments with amplification allow us to hear the subtleties of vibration.

Instruments
I call my creations "sound objects." Materials used include wood, spring coils, barbecue grills, steel wire, nails, door stops, guitar strings, rubber bands, and anything else that I can find on the street or in a thrift store. Each sound object varies in weight and appearance. All of the sound objects are centered around a piece of wood. Once I find a piece of wood I like, I begin to fasten resonant objects to it. The wood acts as an amplifier for the resonant objects. Most of the sound objects must be amplified by contact microphones to be perceived by the human ear.

The sound objects are used for live improvisations and as source material for multi-track compositions. Currently, I am the only player of my sound objects.

Sounds
The "sound objects" are designed to create massive low-frequency drones and midrange howls. They are also capable of creating a wide variety of percussive sounds and high-pitched shrieks.

Inspirations
I began to build my own instruments because of the sonic limitations of conventional instruments. Conventional instruments couldn't create the sounds that I was interested in. (Well, most conventional instruments, I still use an electric guitar in my work.)

Richard Lerman's work with contact mics has been a huge inspiration to me.

Advice for intrument inventors
Get off your ass and experiment. That's the only way to do it.

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