By Terri Kapsalis and John Corbett
Dawn and Lou’s creation, in 1986, of Experimental Sound Studio was a logical extension of this philosophy. Recording studios normally charge high hourly prices, making speculative, experimental production prohibitively expensive. And most engineers are trained to follow industry conventions, so the notion of, say, arranging microphones in buckets of water or rolling dice to decide how to set up the mixing board would be unthinkable to them.
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Over the years, ESS has produced events at various city venues, including the Chicago Cultural Center, N.A.M.E., and Club Lower Links. Through outreach projects including youth programs with the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Street Level Youth Media, and Chiaravale Montessori School, ESS became an integral part of the city’s artistic connective tissue. Shortly before she was diagnosed, Dawn helped organize an international audio-art festival called Outer Ear, an undertaking that–though completely booked–has now been postponed for a year.
