Imogen Heap, round two. Now I am part of Mi.Mu, formerly known as ‘The Gloves Team’ and over the past 4 years have been developing (for me at least) a revolutionary musical controller, come instrument! Join us for a nerd-off, no question too geeky...

Hello guys! I am running a bit late and will be with you all in 5 mins. The mimu team are here to help with any glove questions too and keep an eye out in case I missed anything! Back soon!

Immy, what's the most unusual ambient sound you've wanted to use in your music but haven't had the chance to play around with?

caves, natural reverbs.

Will we ever hear more Frou Frou?

maybe possibly! You never know. Guy and I are still good pals. I suppose we missed the 10 year anniversary. As some of you know there are some as yet unreleased frou frou beauties! thinking of Guy... I must tell him the Gloves are up!

This is so exciting!! I'm not really technologically-minded enough to fully understand the gloves or even be able to form an articulate question about them, but I can't wait to come to a future show and see the magic in person!

Immi, I've been a massive fan since 2004, when I first heard your music. So I just want to say thank you for creating such beautiful art that has been a consistent backdrop to my life for the past ten (!!) years. I was in the front row at your show in NYC a few years ago when you got a message through your earpiece that you were nominated for a Grammy- such a cool moment to experience. I love you.

Do you have any idea when the new album is going to be released? Thanks! :)

aw thanks :) x i think the gloves are going to totally change the game for me live. i can't wait for you (and me) to see that day.

That was a CRAZY experience! I never thought in a million years I'd be nominated for a grammy! i LOVE that is was for engineering. It's been really nice in interviews to not have to answer the question "so... when did you start singing?" but be asked... "so tell us about the journey of your album, how you made it, recorded it, produced it"... I love to talk about the process and the story.

There's so much story to Sparks. It's overflowing with them! There's a documentary for each song/ project (one of which was Me The Machine/ The 1st Glove song). When the new album comes out (likely May/June... nightmare with record labels/ licensing/ distribution.. I won't bore you with it all but SUPER annoying as it was ready in November!)... and you want to delve deeper into the process/meaning... then you can! Biggest album to date. Crazy amount of work but I learnt so much. phew! Piano improv album next me thinks though ;)

How did you feel about Jason Derulo sampling your song?

like many other versions I've heard... literally 100s of songs/versions of H&S. Fine with it! Unless it's really offensive (and some may say that his version is ;) I want to let the song do it's thing. Be free! Go make friends. Get out there in the big wide world. I've done all I can for you xx Go ... be good!

plus compared to a ton of others I actually thought it was rather good! You have to remember no-one had ever heard of him as he was a total new artist, never released anything before.. I had NO IDEA it would go to the extremes it did and reach no.1 here and there. AMAZING though coz in large part has made it possible for me to spend shed loads of dough on the GLoves! THey have not been cheap to create! xx

This was answered in her last AMA, link: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1n97am/i_am_imogen_heap_ama/ccghk7m

ah cool thanks! Hope i'm consistent!

Hi Imogen! I was reading that as a child you had osteomyelitis. How has that influenced you as an artist? Do you believe young mothers should sign up for health insurance in case their child is diagnosed with a life-threatening condition? Thanks!

not sure it has... I was only 1 when they scooped out marrow from my little tibia and then packed it back in day after day with fresh stuff. Ew! Probably changed my parents life more. If anything.. I am a little dare devil and like to challenge myself physically. I can also hold out quite well on a chinese burn competition or perhaps I'm just stubborn!

Do i believe mothers should sign up for health insurance? We are so lucky in the UK to have the NHS .. we don't need to worry about that. i think it's a total crime that health care isn't FREE! they shouldn't need to. It's awful.

Imogen, what is the song Aha about? Also, what's your opinion on Pentatonix's cover of it?

I think it's really good! actually met one of the guys at teh airport the other day in vancouver as he was also playing at TED conference. I noticed the band sticker on his Cello and introduced myself. He nearly fell over with excitement, I was rather taken aback!

it's about people who say one thing but do another... there's bound to be the story on line somewhere. I often tell it before I sing it live. x

Imogen! I spent a lot of my teens years listening to Details and Speak for Yourself, so thanks for that! I've got a huge respect for you and your team, who seem to constantly be innovative with their approach to creating and performing music.

Few questions for you,

1. I'll start with the gloves! How does it feel performing onstage with them?

2. Who are the top 3 dream artists you'd like to collaborate with?

3. If I were to jet back in time a couple of years to when you were a teenager, what record would I find you spinning most frequently?

4. Would you rather be trapped in a room with 10,000 really friendly spiders or 10,000 angry, but declawed, kittens?

5. If you could give advice to your past self in the form of a haiku, what would it be?

1. AMAZING! can't wait for more people to get that Gloving feeling. It's strangely totally natural feeling but yet other worldy also! I can't explain it. You'll just have to give it a go yourself ;) xx you a musician? Also have explored manipulating visuals with them (like painting!) for the Me The Machine video (up in next month or so) and hope to control DMX lighting with them so I can move the stage lighting too! Control freak Heap or just having fun when and where I can? x

2. mmm... so many...Wong Kar Wai (film maker) immediately springs to mind

3. drum and bass and happy hardcore mix tapes!

4. I er... have no answer to that one!

5. give me a few years to whittle it down from an encyclopedia of advice!

Hi Imogen! What has been your most fulfilling project for you thus far in your career?

this one! Without a doubt... to make something physical to help me be expressive in the digital music world. There was always a frustrating gap for me. It's always just out of reach though in a way as there's always something more to do! That's why we are going to glove company together for long while yet. We're all super passionate about it and it's amazing to work with team so closely after being a loner for so long! xx

Hello, Miss Heap! I'm a big fan and I'm really looking forward to the Sparks deluxe boxset.
Speaking of "A New Kind of Glove"...I know you're very busy, but will you someday officially release your songs or Frou Frou's songs that weren't completed or released on any of your albums? (like "A New Kind of Love," "Deal With It," "Mean Time," the mysterious "Guitar Song," and maybe even your early BRIT School works that are still floating around the web, "Aliens" and "If Only I Were a Butterfly").

argh... not sure on the BRIT school ones.. they're online anyway aren't they? but one day yup.. would love to release the Frou Frou ones. maybe our 1/4 century anniversary! That's only 10 years away... yeesh!

Hey Imogen! I just wanted to let you know that your music has always helped me get through rough spots in my life, no matter what song, it is always beautifully composed with incredibly meaningful lyrics.

thank you... a lotta love goes into each one. I'm glad they've found you x Hope you like some of Sparks when it comes out.

Thanks alot for this I am a huge fan! That's an incredible invention, do you see yourself touring to show its capabilities? Any conventions I can expect to see the glove in the near future?

Also... :) A good friend of mine has a student run radio show at University Radio Falmer, in Brighton, UK. She doesn't know I'm asking this as it would be a surprise that would make her life, would you be able to do a 5-10 minutes interview at some point in the future?

I see myself touring with the gloves because they're what I've been dreaming of playing live with! i can not wait to get stuck in. Time is a small issue right now with album release soon, reverb festival stuff, recent TED conference and 3 other conferences coming up. Plus... been doing a spot of co-writing/producing and a guest spot here and there and not to mention the actual development of the gloves and software itself. I am gonna be one happy heap bunny when I'm on my own in the house and noodling/ mapping/ programming for days! xx

Could possibly do it right now if she was there (and nobody else minds!) x

What is the difference in the song creative process between one that you are making for a movie/TV show and an album?

you get a kind of auto confirmation of what works and what doesn't. The magic 3rd experience of when sound and visual come together as one unit

So with the single glove, I'm wanting to do some interactive choreography on an ice surface, sort of an immersive performance art kinda thing. How far away can I be from the receiver to where the movements get lost and I lose the communication between glove and receiver?

Good question! depends on the range of the WIFi network you are on x

If you could do one record over again (the music, process, time in your life) which one would it be? Why?

Ps: I love your music, it got me through the year I spent in therapy after a spinal cord injury.

sorry to hear about your injury. xx hope all's well now. I've somehow managed to escape injury in my life!

I would not in a million years want to ever do a record again! it had it's time and place. Each i've enjoyed for difference reasons. Some i've liked myself more during than others. Some were less painful some more fun but each one came out stronger than the last! I definitely enjoyed this last one SO SO much but definitely do not want to do it all over again. SO MUCH WORK! x

Thanks for the AMA Imogen! What are the tour plans once your new album is out?

tour! Starting with Reverb Festival at the Roundhouse camden in August (bank holiday weekend). I'm curating the whole 4 days! It's going to be AMAZING... basically invited all my mates and people I adore to listen to and to be with. Worth the trip if you're thinking to come to London! x

Thanks for the answer! Do you have any firm plans to tour in the US?

not really yet... likely either Sept/Oct or April/May x

What does Mi.Mu stand for? Hopefully not obvious and I'm not getting it.!

'Mi' as in 'me' and 'Mu' stands for music.

nothing too witty I'm afraid.. or smart.. just needed a name and liked the look of it... it's basically Me and Music. mi.mu x You like?

I really just wanted to say I love you and your music has always helped me in every matter. So, I love you and your music never fails me to bring me happiness. Also, please never stop making music!

something pretty drastic would have to happen for me to stop! xx

p.s. thanks to those who are pledging on Kickstarter! It's going to be touch and go if we make it as we need to meet £5k a day .. yeesh! It would be a real massive shame if we didn't make it BUT I would still have some amazing Gloves ;)

Hi Miss Heap! I am a huge fan and was just wondering, do you think you will be writing anymore songs for the gloves (like with Me, The Machine)? And, will you be performing any of your other songs with the gloves? Also, what is your favorite song that you have done? Thank you so much for all the beautiful and inspiring music!

i think I'll be using the gloves for most songs live as they're replacing all the various controllers that were dotted around the stage before... thus leaving me freer to play more instruments and not have to keep darting back to Base Station. When we get them to the stage we hope to post kickstarter.. (need the funding to take them to the next level/ easier to program).... then I'm sure I'll be creating all kinds of stuff with them! Mostly excited to improvise with them hopefully to the extent of the sound of a fully produced song... so whole 'worlds of sounds' shift fluidly from one to the next. I think really we haven't even touched the sides of what I'm going to end up doing with them. For instance... can't wait to explore augmenting acoustic instruments on the fly. The piano breaking out into a whole universe of possibilities with live FX at my fingertips! Argh... so exciting and frustrating at the same time. Need time! but that's my focus really for now... piano and vocal augmentations live.

Fav song I've done perhaps could be Neglected Space (one of the most recent ones)... or Run-Time (still to come out). also super love Me The Machine (the album version). x x

Yep Ur songs are most of the time played at keytimes of tv shows!they r so many soundtracks And we identify it ,in the second!we hear tham! It s a pleasure!for our ears, and souls!

Where do u wanna perform someday?(countries)

What do u do in ur free time if u have any?

Favorite kind of movies and tv shows?

Thanks guys Keep doing ur great job We luv u like that ;-)

china, india, indonesia, south america, antarctica! All the unusual suspects. I love touring Europe, US, Oz and all but any excuse to see more of the world :)

free time! ha... do a reddit AMA for what looks set to be 5 hours at least! In snatches of free time I hang with/ oggle at/ attack my man... run (as I'm running for the london marathon - Donate??! for a good cause! http://www.justgiving.com/heapsisters we are a way off... am doing with my sis for Music in Hospitals. A really great charity!).

I don't watch TV and rarely catch a movie... but when I do.. I find I like ones with subtitles more often than not!

xx

Just more thinking out loud. I have a friend who has a child with non-verbal autism. He understands everything really well (receptive language), but he cannot speak his thoughts (expressive language) which is very frustrating for him as you might guess. His fine motor skills make it hard to use a screen keyboard and he needs a more immediate way to translate actions into language. I'm wonder if the Gloves hold some kind of future in that area, as well? Has anyone thought of this kind of application?

i've thought about it... and people have got in touch with us about wanting to develop something for the verbally or physically restricted. We'd support it absolutely but our focus is on music for now. x

Hi Gloves Team! It's been so cool watching this whole project evolve over the last several years, and I am really excited about the possibilities!

For Immi, I know you've said that the scurrying around the stage during performance makes you feel separated from the audience in a way, which I understand. I'm a flutist and messing with tech is definitely distracting from the musical / connection part of performance for me. BUT, it's fascinating to watch you during a live show with all of the triggers and various instruments. How do you see the gloves changing your live performance? Do you see yourself up there with nothing but the gloves, a piano and other live instruments one day? How have you experienced an audience responding to you differently with the gloves versus without? Or is it more about the energy you can put into it?

That's a lot to answer, but thanks for considering any of it. Looking forward to seeing you on tour! xHugs

Yup.. it's about not wanting to spend lost creative energy on pushing buttons but to exchange these moment with expressive control, for me and for the audience. I always felt, though it's fun to watch and also to play, that I'm a bit frantic and have a shed load to remember with all the different controllers... It'd take me months to try to recreate what I do every tour as it's always set up completely differently dependant on what tech I could find to make me 'freer'. The gloves aren't going to be the answer to everthing though.. they aren't much use for things that just need a simple button (like click on/off or go to marker x)... a keyboard mapped or launchpad does that well enough... the gloves will be filling those gaps for more expressive controls like, looping, stretching, panning, effecting etc... I'll still be racing about on stage don't you worry! xx

What musical influences were the biggest in the conception of the controller? Was there a band/artist/person that gave you guys the "light going off" in your heads? If not, then who are your music influences and/or heroes?

Jamie Lidell, Tim Exile both MASSIVE influences, Mich Gerber (back in the day when I worked with him)... The Aha moment came when I met Elly Jessop at MIT media lab who was working on a glove that 'caught the sound of her voice'. The combination of action to computer and gesture was like DUH! of course ... that's IT! what i've been searching for! Then i realised this whole world of gloves and music was out there I'd never been exposed to before. Nothing was on the market, I'd have to make my own... but needed some help! Waltz in.. Tom Mitchell and rest of Glove gang to follow. There are now 8 of us :) x

Hello Imogen!

I had 2 questions one pertaining to the gloves and the other is not.

I'm not too great with programming and stuff pertaining to that. So what I would like to know is if it is hard to set up and program the gloves to do different things?

Also, I, not to long ago, heard about Frou Frou and I have been listening to it ever since. My favorite song is Flicks, what was your favorite song to make/listen to?

hello there.

At this stage... it is somewhat not as easy as we/i'd like. This is why we are looking for 10 main collaborators to help us get to this place for those of us who don't spend our days embedded in code. We would work with these people intensely and they would develop the system with us... These people though don't have to be super geeks like some of those on our Glove team but just into the idea of getting the gloves to that stage in testing and playing with the system as it grows.

having said that.. I'm not super super geeky and I can do it!

In the not so distant future though we do hope to make them as easy as sync up and away you go go!

I don't have a favourite... it's more often than not the last song I wrote or the one I'm writing currently... the other fade into the distant memory.

Hey Imogen! Did you know my high school band created a show based on your song Hide & Seek?

nop..I didn't... it's mental the life of that song. I had no idea it would reach so many people. In hindsight... it's almost like a hymn isn't it? The fact that it's so cryptic oddly leaves people room to find their own meaning into it. The song has taught me a lesson or two! and the space in the music leaves it open to so much interpretation as it's almost naked.

I smell VERY roasted vegetables! Racing down to rescue my dinner/ make a quick bowl of soup... back in 10

Dear Ms. Heap, what have you programmed to happen when you "flip the bird"?

ha! maybe a doooooooo (like flatline)?

actually I stole that flip the bird idea from this AMAZING piece of music called Black Box Music written by Simon Steen Anderson (who's part of my festival this year at the Roundhouse Camden London in August).... it's taking conducting to a whole new level!

ok! I forgot again! Dinner! time to go...

Hello guys, Thanks for the ama session!

Waw What an invention! A big achievement here!

R u proud of ur work?

Is it more exciting than when u were just singing?

What was te best advice u ve been given in ur career and by whom!?

Thanks

We are super proud but there's always more to do so we tend not to get too chuffed with ourselves and sit back! We are so lucky we get on so well and I know we all really enjoy the long idea jam/ problem solving weekends we have together (often here at my house :). It's a real team as between us we make up a whole. The guys scratch their heads and what I'm doing on the front end and I'm totally mind boggled when it comes to deep sensor and software dev! We put the LOVE into Glove team.

I don't remember ever 'just singing'. Perhaps the only time is on a jeff beck collaboration at Ronnie Scotts one year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79pgPn357g I've always liked to geek out and bring/ play tech on stage. It all began with an atari computer when I was 12. in a cupboard and a BIG massive manual with many hours to kill at boarding school.

My dad gave me some really good advice! IF you say you're going to do something for someone... make sure you finish it, then they'll come back for more. Hence film and TV featuring me so many times, coz I could get the job done in my studio, alone at a moments notice :) x

Hi Imogen. Any word on a release date for the Runtime App you were developing with RJDJ? Looking forward to Sparks!

no more progress on that. We need serious funding to realise the app to the lengths we want it to work. Perhaps why no-one has done it before coz It's bloody expensive!

Did you ever play with latex gloves as a kid?

as a kid! more as an adult ;)

Hi immi & co.

Congrats on the gloves, they do look very cool.

Immi - bit of a tough question but recently you've gone down some exciting routes, but as a fan sometimes expensive (boxsets and gloves). How are you planning to keep the shows and sparks special to the fans who just can't afford the boxset or donating a large sum to the gloves? Are you planning those personal touches like you have in the past?

Hope that makes some kind of coherent sense!

So much amazing stuff will be coming your way :) Really going to have fun with the tour and also the merchandise this time if that's what you mean? I've got a few surprises up my sleeve! xx but i hear you. It's hard to get an outside view from in here. x thank you!

Right then! I am AMA all pooped out and my back hurts as I've been sitting in the position for nearly 5 hours! I am going to take the last 6 minutes to very slowly write this final note (unless any questions come in last minute) If this were a competition ... I out AMAd you ALL! I win! oh yeah.. does a little imaginary 'I rule' dance inside my aching body.

A very good night or day to you wherever you are in the world and a heartfelt THANK you for your questions and thoughts. It was fun and made us think! Good to share a bit deeper what we're up to and why too.

So from me imogen heap the musician, the imogen heap in her dressing gown and from Imogen Heap Mi.Mu glove woman...Love! See you here if not before, next time! xx

Do you see the technology in these gloves evolving to extend to other professions? For example, I can see them, in their current state, being used as wonderful therapy for those with limited mobility...and then perhaps as a form of communication for those who cannot speak...and so on. Have you all thought of any future possibilities?

(Full disclosure, I posted this question earlier as a reply, with a video of a cave organ. My paranoid side says post it again, just in case that stays hidden!)

Hello! I answered a question on this topic earlier in this AMA... here's the thread

[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/21fk7f/imogen_heap_round_two_now_i_am_part_of_mimu/cgcljai]

not really a question, just wanted to say how impressed I am by your energy and determination and creativity. I am listening to your music for 10 years now and you never disappointed. So I guess what I am trying to say is: Thank you for everything you do.

thank youuuuu! xxx

Imogen, the 'sidestep' from musician to hardware developer is an unusual, and potentially risky one... Do you plan to continue developing other products if this is successful, and do you worry it may take time away from your own writing?

Hello! I'm full of energy for things I want to exist in the world. Whether it be a song, an app, or a pair of gloves! The gloves are a lifelong journey. Who knows where we'll be at mi.mu in 10 years time! Dip your hands into sensor filled liquid that dries on meeting flesh that you can peel off and re-use? OR that the WHOLE glove lights up certain colours depending on your brain wave activity. Oh it's all so tantalising in the future of endless possibilities!

Focus will always be what I have lived and breathed which is pulling noise into order, to express a thought or two and hopefully connect to a few other minds in the process xx

Hi Imogen, just wanted to say that I am a big fan of yours. Virtually all of your songs brings me fond memories and an all-around feeling of well-being that I can rarely replicate with any other music I hear. I had a question for you: who is an artist you like that would make you very happy to see implementing the new gloves in their performance? Thank you, and I bid you and your team good luck with this very exciting project!

ooooh so many! Reggie Watts, Tim Exile, Chris Cunningham (with his sonic and visual feasts). Film score composers (I think they could really come into their own in those fields), Akram Khan (incredible dancer). I am finding it hard to 'wait and see' what people do with them coz I know that we on the mi.mu team are all gonna get our heads blown off with amazement and awe when other people get their hands in them! xx

Hi Imogen, I loved watching the Virgin Disruptors debate you participated in last fall. It was great seeing so many influential minds in music and technology discuss the future of the music business. Have there been talks of filming another one? Do you think the debate was beneficial overall?

I'd like to keep doing them and was all charged up to keep the conversation going and others were up for it too... as essentially nothing is going to solve these issues like a good brain jam around a table or two... but other projects (like this one) got in the way... and it got away. Hopefully will resurrect the conversation... perhaps it is still going on somewhere in some form but without me! xx

/u/the_imogenheap Would you be interested in seeing the painting I made of the colors I saw (my first and only time that happened, normally I just feel the music in my skin and nerves) while listening to either details or ellipse ( I wrote it down but can't remember now which album it was off the top of my head)

Anyway, here it is if you are. http://www.flickr.com/photos/firegivesmecolor/5004124527/

There is a story about the experience that I wrote down and could send to you later if you like. I painted that for you to see but never had a way to show you.

fascinating, thank you for posting it! Synesthesia is a phenomena I'd love to explore more of in collaborations at different points in my life. I have found a lot of sound to colour synesthetes have been in touch over the years. I could be mistaken but feel proportionally it is quite large in my audience compared to other musicians. Perhaps I'm just massaging my ego! I find it all rather magical and wish I could see what 'you/ they' see! xx