[spectre] New podcast: INTERRUPTIONS #11. Playing phenomena as a compositional material, curated by Ben Vida

[Radio Web MACBA]

*New podcast: INTERRUPTIONS #11. Playing phenomena as a compositional
material, curated by Ben Vida*

Link: http://rwm.macba.cat/en/curatorial/ben_vida_phenomenology/capsula
Related info and playlist:
http://rwm.macba.cat/uploads/20130328/11Interruptions_eng.pdf

In the late seventies sound artist Max Neuhaus began experimenting with
constructing a set of sound signals to be used in emergency vehicles.
Historically the sound of a siren was determined by the device used to
shape and project it (such as the cranked mechanical klaxon with its rising
and falling pitch), but by the sixties, with the ability to amplify loud
sounds electronically, the quality of a siren no longer needed to be linked
to the physical shape of the device by which it was being produced. This
opened up the possibility for creating a much wider set of sound signals,
but this was not something being considered by siren manufactures. Applying
his understanding of how humans experience sound, Neuhaus would spend the
next decade and a half designing what he felt would be a more effective
siren. He knew sound localization was the key component: 'Our mental
processes for locating sound depend on a rather delicate (though automatic)
comparison of the differences in the onset of the sound between the two
ears. This mechanism works very well for the sound of a twig snapping, but
is quite useless with either continuous sounds or those without clear
beginnings'.

In New York police cruisers are now equipped with a newly designed siren
known as the Rumbler. The Rumbler produces a low ascending tone that sweeps
from 180 to 360 hertz, and is usually used in short bursts, giving it a
very physical presence. These sweeping tone bursts are coupled with a
traditional keening and varied high-pitched siren and the combination of
the two creates an almost dimensional, highly localized sonic event – sort
of more like experiencing an object than a sound; a sonic object that feels
as if it is almost on the verge of being made visible. In the complex
topography of the urban landscape, where a sound is reflected from building
to building, surface to surface, the hyper-physical sound of the Rumbler
creates intense and fantastic psychoacoustic events. It is little wonder
that Neuhaus would be attracted to such a functional and public form of
sound delivery.

Throughout the twentieth century composers introduced new sonic materials
as a way of producing increasingly complex timbres. Whether by adding
auxiliary percussion sections and non-pitched acoustic sound devices to
traditional orchestras or by utilizing the new production techniques made
available through electronic synthesis and musique concrète, this expanded
sonic universe helped to create a creative space where compositional forms
could be reconsidered and the parameters of what constitutes legitimate
musical materials redefined. A contemporary analog to this is the practice
of using sonic phenomena as a compositional element and the use of sound
itself in space as a medium. And so now we have a new 'new expanded sonic
universe', one that pushes past the boundaries of timbre and form, where
the meticulous control of a sound object's trajectory within a performance
space becomes both a compositional element and musical gesture. This
practice complicates both the spatial audio field as well as compositional
form, and acts to obscure the temporal nature of sonic composition – now
space and time are fused, the architectural and the acoustic. Thus by
engaging with the use of psychoacoustic producing sound objects as a
compositional material the composer creates work that can act to
recalibrate the listeners sense of hearing, illuminating not only what we
hear but how we hear. *Ben Vida, November 2012*

If you liked this mix, you may also enjoy Florian Hecker's one:
http://rwm.macba.cat/en/curatorial/interruptions_4_florian_hecker/capsula

You can find more mixes here: http://rwm.macba.cat/en/interruptions-tag/
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