This One

Bryan Gardiner

View the gallery in full screen to read more about each of the masks.

The trappings of a typical metal show are nowhere to be found at an Author & Punisher performance. There are no guitars, no drums, and nothing even resembling an onstage band. What you'll find instead is lots and lots of actual metal -- a hefty helping of aluminum, steel, and copper, to be precise.

It's all part of an arsenal of Arduino-powered machines that engineer and musician Tristan Shone uses to perform his special brand of doom metal. Each of these industrial instruments was designed, prototyped, and built by Shone. There's Rack & Pinion, a keyboard-like sound controller with six velocity-sensitive sliding keys that can bend and warp sound samples; Rails, a manual rhythm controller and linear actuator that Shone uses like a big, mechanical slide-trombone; as well as other imposing devices with names like "Big Knobs" and "Headgear."

They all output to software music sequencer and digital audio workstation Ableton Live, and they're all meant to be twisted, slid, pushed, stepped up, and screamed into in very specific ways. When combined with his two Ableton computer rigs onstage, Shone can produce a near infinite number of terrifying sounds, loops, and rhythms.

The latest additions to this family of "dub machines" are a trio of voice-modulating masks. Like his other gear, Shone designed and built them himself. Unlike his other machines -- which function as physical MIDI controllers -- it's the masks themselves that shape much of the sound during his performances. Those sounds can range from what might be described as a dinosaur slowly being devoured to something more like a screeching machine gun.

"I wanted to use my voice, but rely more on mechanical devices to morph that sound, not just MIDI effects," said Shone. What began as a few simple voice-altering experiments in the real world eventually turned into three masks: Mute, Dither, and Gate.

For his most recent tour, Shone mounted these masks to a custom-made assembly for easy, hands-free, access. Eventually he says he'll physically wear just one during performances, popping on and off separate voice-altering attachments as needed. But in the mean time, this doom metal auteur likes them so much he's already incorporated the masks into the official Author & Punisher Crest.

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