Norm Scott has been recording and archiving sound since he was five years old. After touring the world for a year with Up With People, he received a B.S. in art from James Madison University in 1999, specializing in sculpture and interdisciplinary work. Combining a unique brand of visual language with a fondness for electronic tinkering, Norm founded NRdS, an artmaking and performance space, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Between the years of 1994 and 2003, Norm produced 7 albums, recorded over 200 audio works, performed a scathing satire of America using sock puppets, played in the bluegrass/folk bands “The Mole Hill Ramblers” and “Faded Glory”, co-founded the Thursday Night SnackArt Collaborative at James Madison University, and installed two site-specific artworks in abandoned spaces. During that that same period, he worked a number of odd jobs, including: welder, plastic bottle inspector, telemarketer, shoe stocker, baker, blacksmith’s apprentice, gladiola harvester, vacuum-cleaner-salesman, and too many food-service stints to list, including one at McDonalds, where he was awarded the Employee of the Month Award. Norm believes that the combination of blue-collar work and art production were inextricably connected, in often synchronous and magical ways, and the “art/career” connection has been a subject of fascination ever since.
From 2003 to 2004, Norm attended the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, Arizona, and subsequently moved to New York. As studio manager at Harmonic Ranch, a post-production facility in Tribeca, he worked with a number of artists and filmmakers, including Lee Ranaldo, Gerard Malanga, Henry Hills, Martina Kudlacek, Ivy Nicholson, Lea Rekow, and Rev. Billy. He was also privileged to collaborate and work with choreographers including Karen Bernard, Aspa Yaga, Jeanette Stoner, Martha Williams, Jonathan Hollander, Jane Comfort, Douglas Dunn, and Noemie Lafrance. In 2005, Norm collaborated with composer Brooks Williams to create a a multi-channel musical score for Noemie Lafrance’s “Agora”. Norm collaborated with NYC-based choreographer Martha Williams in 2008 and 2009 to produce sound design for “Currency Break”, and was the recipient of a Meet The Composer grant for William’s “Package Less”. Norm also worked with filmmaker Soman Chainani, providing sound design & mix for his award winning short film “Kali Ma”.
Recently, Norm has worked with a plethora of local dance companies, businesses, choreographers, and musicians; recording, videotaping, editing and advising.
Currently, Norm continues to construct hybrid electro-acoustic instruments, pulls high-art and academia closer with the left hand and pushes it away with the right, finds frequent inspiration in his archive of over 300 tapes of field recordings collected since 1973, and provides audio/video services via Echolalia Media, based in Corvallis, Oregon.
