Take a peek into his studio.

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

Andy Sim and his band Fear Wasabi were the chosen winners of our soundtrack project which saw them working with visual artist Roderick Buchanan and Glasgow’s state-of-the-art Savalas Studios to create the soundtrack to two short films, Tattoo and Lament. I caught up with them to find out about their experiences of the project and their phobia of blogging!

What was the most valuable part of the experience?

Andy: The people. I think we all learned a great deal from all those whom we worked with along the way, particularly Giles and the guys from Savalas, Gaia, and of course Roddy.

Phil: The middle, in between realisation and expectation.

Imogen: Apart from the relationships that we made with people, the technical knowledge.

What was the most memorable moment of the project?

Andy/Phil: So many to chose from…I’ll go for when Roddy really started to connect with us mixing Tattoo. What had started off as a slightly awkward process as we all tried not to step on each others’ toes, burst into life as we debated the best way of ending the piece (fade out? stop dead? when?) eventually leading us to all leaping out of our seats gesticulating wildly at the particular note which we felt it would be best to end on.

Tom: Walking into Savalas for the first time.

What was it like working with Roddy Buchanan?

All: We had some good times hanging out with Roddy. In any project, identifying roles is important. Roddy had very strong ideas of the visual content, but (I think it’s fair to say) not so much the sound…while we obviously wanted to support Roddy’s works, we also felt for ourselves that we had to make a soundtrack that had an identity beyond simply accompanying the visuals. So in a way Roddy became our boss, which we don’t think he wanted any more than us. It was interesting and educational. He taught us a lot about sticking up for your work. A good experience.

What was it like working with Giles Lamb and Savalas studios?

Andy: We had a terrific time at Savalas, and in Giles I think we found someone who was able to really connect with our approach to music. It’s mentioned in one of the blogs, but there was one point when Giles went off and left us for an hour to do some mixing, and instead we bashed a violin and recorded some weird de-tuned noise from it. On his return, Giles just grinned and said ‘cool sound’. And obviously Micheal and Ian’s astonishing speed of operation and thought just blew us away at the mixing stage.

Tom: It was blinding working with state-of-the art equipment.

How did you find the experience of documenting the project through Central Station?

Imogen: In principle it’s a great idea and I’m glad we did it, but in practise it was a tiresome obligation. I want to have the time for it, but I don’t.

Tom: I think that if I was on more of a mission, I’d have time for it, and I do see the validity in it, but it’s just not part of my life.

Andy: Initially we weren’t keen on blogging. As the project developed everyone from Fear Wasabi became more interested and keen to be involved and in a way the process fed back into our own thoughts as we created the soundtracks. The thing about the internet though, is that the process becomes an outcome, and our online diary might one day embarrass us from the past. We just have to wait and see.

They are hosting their big event ‘Sound: Image: Art’, as art of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, as we speak, so Ben and I are live blogging the event. Everybody wave to Ben.

The event showcases the fruits of short film collaboration between visual artist  Roderick Buchanan, and one lucky composer, Fear Wasabi. Sourced entirely through Central Station, it is a celebration of what Central Station can achieve, enable and produce in the arts.

[21:26] Currently, Suzy Glass is telling the audience all about Central Station, how it works and what it can do.

[21:31] The venue, Inspace, is really gorgeous, with a performance space that spans several levels, several projection areas and some pretty epic surround sound. It also has a very cool red stagey bit (it’s hard to describe).

[21:35] A clip demonstrating how the composer, Buchanan and the animator have chosen to collaborate. Apparently, i terms of sound design each piece consists of ten layers and there is a visual element to complement each of these.

[21:39]  This project has been created in collaboration with sound design company, Savalas.

[21:40] Is anyone else really really warm? My decision to wear tights today was a poor one, even in this cool minimalist space.

[21:42] Everyone look at Ben!

Isn’t he industrious?

[21:47] Roderick Buchanan is talking about how visual art in video and film is now easier to make, due to the simplification of technology. He sounds a little wistful.

[21:56] The first post has fallen to the liveblogging gods. I just spent five minutes writing lovely words about how social media can be used to enable creative projects, and it got swallowed by the internet. Damn!

[21: 59] To make up for it, here’s Roderick Buchanan and Savalas Studio’s Giles Lam, sitting in fro of the odd red stage:

[22:01] RB feels ‘naked and expose’ by the streamed version of his film, ‘Traffic’ online.

[22:03] Has the gallery format fallen to the gods of social media; how useful is it to an artist today to exhibit their work in real time? Should they simply update their Flickr regularly instead? All questions popping into my head, thanks to RB and GL’s conversation. What do you think?

[22:05] We are now being showing ‘Out’, one of RB’s early works. Shh, while we watch!

[22:08] Ben has said my pictures of the event are ‘great’. I think he might be drunk blogging.

[22:12]Get some film action going on here; a short film comprised of shots of those awesome pens with floating stuff in. Apparently, this film was ‘mortifying’ for RB.

[22:15] Sadly, this is my time to go. Work in the morning and huge amounts of reviews to write call me homewards, as does the promise of loungewear. Some very interesting topics raised this evening and wish I could stay to hear rest of the discussion. Sasha out!

Today we’re celebrating the start of Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. You might have noticed that Central Station’s Bulletin page has been transformed – today it’s filled with EIFF related blogs, events, opportunities and items we’ve spotted from the web. The festival will launch tonight with a screening of Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist and over the next ten days will pack in hundreds of films and events.

You might already have spotted our two roaming reporters benwerd and TaxidermyMouse who will be capturing the spirit of the festival through words, images and sound. Check out Ben’s first festival blog to get a flavour of what’s to come.

We also will be hosting a very special event – the culmination of our Roderick Buchanan soundtrack project. After a call out to Central Station members we shortlisted a group of composers to work with Roddy to create the soundtrack to two of his short films. Andy Sim and his group Fear Wasabi were the eventual winners and the final collaborative films have just been finished and will be screened this Sunday at 9pm. The event is called Sound:Image:Art – it’s free but you need to reserve a ticket through the EIFF box office. We’ll see you there! And you can read about the last few weeks of the project in producer Gaia’s blog.

If you’re in Scotland and looking to explore the festival my Editor picks are a good place to start – I’ve chosen a selection of events and films which embrace disciplines incorporating film, art, sound and animation. From the best of local short-filmmaking to the first audio horror film the selection is eclectic to say the least. Embrace it and let us know what you think.

And finally for those interested in film more generally why not browse the blogs from Moving Image Month – they’ll give you a multi-faceted picture of everything that comes under that wide-ranging banner.

Right, now I’m off to dig out a posh frock for tonight’s Opening Gala… make sure you check back tomorrow for the verdict on the event.