1972: Stockhausen on “sounds”

According to a 2003 report from the BBC, Hospital Raymond Poincare is famous for treating road injury victims. Every year 450 deceased people pass through its morgue, and after 40 years of conducting autopsies and talking to bereaved families, chief pathologist Professor Michel Durigon decided it was time to create a Salle des Departs that did not include the traditional red carpet and lugubrious background sound.

Spalletti’s azure blue Salle des Departs was the catalyst for Scanner’s composition, for he “found himself moved beyond all expectation by the project. His brief was daunting, but Durigon felt that the hospital needed an artist whose sensibility would be a source of sustenance to mourners, help them through their pain and suffering, and fully respect the memory of the deceased.

It was this last thought which triggered a painful series of memories for Scanner. As a teenager, he lost his father in a terrible motorcycle accident. The death was a blow which left his family unable to deal with the magnitude of the loss and of their own suffering. This lack of formal mourning came back to haunt him when he met Michel Durigon. Fate has presented him with a unique opportunity to mourn his own father’s death at last, by using his gift of music to help ease the pain of other bereaved families.”

The RadioLab program is available for audition. Listen to Scanner’s Channel of Flight (18′08”) and David Lang’s Départs (18′14″) [Real Player required].

Natasha Barrett uses a recording technique following the acousmatic composition heritage. Here composing begins at the sound recording stage, improvising with less conventional recording techniques and capturing a spatial and spectral microphone ‘performance’. Often the result is one of placing the source under a sound-microscope. In Microclimates III-VI it is the complete environment of each location that is placed under a sound-microscope.

Most of the sound-sources are purely the environment acting naturally on itself and on the recording equipment. In a few instances some sounds were coaxed for the microphones - sounds that would happen naturally, but seldom, and never when you are ready. Small rock falls. Tearing moss and rotten wood. Popping leaf buds. The movements:

Microclimate III: Glacial Loop

On my first attempt to record sound at the foot of Briksdalsbreen glacier I arrived when the wind was so strong that it forced rain horizontally into my face and body. For brief milliseconds I could open my eyes to glimpse a blue ice monolith through the turmoil. Some days later, on my second attempt, the scene was completely different. Although grey and drizzling, there was not a breath of wind and the forms in the ice were revealed: an enormous wall of blue twists and gashes suspended vertically an unknown distance away across a lake. Instinctively I jumped into the small rowing boat and with ceremony descended two hydrophones (underwater microphones) into the water. Our guide rowed so close to the face of the glacier that as my microphones recorded its electrical sparking, sucking, squeaking, whistling, burning and clicking sounds, I could at the same time run my hands over the smooth curves of its close-up form. To this constant singing and talking was added a single underwater ice fall. Slowly and gracefully the boat glided away from the face. Glacial Loop is an evocation of this boat journey.

Microclimate IV: Wet Face

Wet Face takes sound from marsh birds, dripping water, squelching mud, tearing moss and rotten tree-wood in the Sandane area. Initially the forces appear gentle. Later, when I subject the microphones to what for our normal ears is a gentle pitter-patter, we hear the bombardment and force in a different light. The rhythmic performance of incessant dripping had begun when I arrived. Its millisecond timing was ‘computer’ perfect. I expect it will be the same year after year. Maybe the rhythm will change as the rock is eroded.

Microclimate V: Water Fall

For Water Fall I threw two hydrophones off a bridge into the white rapids of ‘Holvik fossen’ (Gloppen), while keeping four more microphones stationary to capture the air-born soundscape. Turbulence and eddies dragged the hydrophones through local current systems, tossed them suddenly into the air or further down stream, smacked them into opposite eddies or plunged them into imploding air cavities. After a while I learnt a little about the waterfall’s system and attempted to anticipate where the microphones would end up and what type of sound they would capture. This proved interesting play - in one moment I had steered the microphones, at another moment the waterfall had tricked my anticipation.

Microclimate VI: Remote gale

The timing of my trip meant that an excursion to Utvaer would not enable entrance into the main attraction of the lighthouse, nor to overnight on the island. Instead the idea was to overnight at Hardbakke - a westerly point of the mainland - and daytrip by boat to the island. When I arrived at the accommodation a full storm brewed in the distance. Later that evening I received an SMS from an old sailor friend reading “full storm, 40 knots south westerly. This is no weather for sailing in the open ocean. Stay on land”. The next morning a call came from the captain saying he needed more time to get hold of a “bigger boat”… The driving rain and wind had clearly not deterred him, so I used this extra time to waterproof my equipment. Out at sea my stomach continually leapt into my mouth. At Utaer the wind and rain drove horizontally (an experience I would once again have at the glacier). Even with a thick weather shield over my microphones I needed to find windbreaks. The wind sung around every rock, every corner, through every gap. It was so strong you could even hear the airborne wind sound on hydrophones in the sea. The island was scattered with small houses. At one end rose the lighthouse. Open porches offered some rest from the raw weather. The lighthouse’s locked door hid a tower of still air. The wind knocked me over and one stereo microphone became entangled in a thorny bush. I let the wind buffet both bush and microphone as one, recording continuously.

Natasha Barrett’s work spans the extremes of concert electroacoustic and acousmatic composition through to sound-art, large-scale installations and live performances. The focus of this work stems from an acousmatic approach to sound, the aural images it can evoke, and an interest in high quality or unusual recording techniques that reveal detail the ear will normally miss. Although she is freelance, she tries to sustain the research side of her work as she finds this adds important life to her artistic creations. The spatio-musical potential of acousmatic sound has been one of her research and creative interests over the past ten years.

Most of the time she calls herself a composer rather than a sound-artist. As a composer she creates large scale forms of intense musical structure that requires the listener to listen attentively throughout the duration of the work. These works are most suited to concert hall, home listening or radio. As a sound-artist she presents the audience with an open experience that allows their own choice of listening approach. These works are mainly in the form of installations (sometimes interactive), and they may also exist for home listening. Both types of work may contain similar sound and a similar approach to sound. The critical difference is the approach to structure, time and intended affect of the listener. You can find more of her work here.

Microscore Project - If you don’t know about the project, please have a listen to some microscores first. As you are listening imagine a performance of 40 to 60 (or more) compositions, ideas, concepts, all coming together to create a kaleidoscope of sonic-visual tapestry. From our Vancouver concert of March 2007 (see the program here):

Part 1
Part 2

INVITING Listeners, Musicians/Artists, Instrument-Makers, Composers, Improviser/Performers to submit 30-second compositions that can be either performed as a solo or duo.

Instrumentation: violin or cello, or for one or two performers.

For the moment, the show is scheduled for February 20, 2008 at the Wine Cellar (Auckland) - the submission period is January 13 - 19.

Some suggestions for Score Submissions: 1. Since we are a world away from each other, you may want to send your scores by email in PDF format 2. If you are sending hard copies instead, please make sure to have 3 copies of the score (Most times it should not be necessary to send individual parts as the compositions are so short. Please give this some thought.) 3. Attach a very brief micro-bio of yourself (30 words).

Johnny Chang
johnny_echo [at] yahoo.com
johnnychchang.blogspot.com
192 Norman Lesser Drive
St. Johns
Auckland
New Zealand

Radio Killed the Video Star seeks to alter the homogeneous process by which entertainment is constructed and disseminated in our image-saturated media world. The ideal entries for collaboration should come from composers and musicians who may be interested in disseminating their work and in having their works interpreted by Laboratorio 060, an artist collective without any professional musical experience as part of this conceptual project.

Entries should have three instrumental parts (instrument or voice) which can be interpreted by three individuals, and have a duration of no longer than five minutes. The proposals will be evaluated and the final composition will be selected by the guest curator of the exhibition.

Eligibility and Criteria

I. Any sound artist and/or composer of any genre is eligible to apply.

II. Special attention will be paid to those projects that take into consideration the specific context into which this performance will take place (an art space in Chelsea, and the radio)

III. Each participant may submit up to 2 entries.

IV. All compositions should be originated by the author. In case it is a collective work, there should be a designated representative for the group.

V. Participants may send submissions in either Spanish or English. If the composition has lyrics, these can be written in any language.

VI. By submitting their works, participants authorize the Cue Foundation and Laboratorio 060 to perform and present this work (either at the gallery, via radio or both) from March 13 to April 19 of 2008 at any given time, as well as show the documentation of their performance at this space.

VII. The authors of the submitted works will authorize the use of the composition and materials for publicity purposes. Authors will always retain copyright of the work. Laboratorio 060 will retain the rights of interpretation of this work without further authorization from the author. Participants will release the organizers of any copyright issue related to the submitted work.

VIII. The selection of the composition by the guest curator will be final.

IX. CUE Foundation does not search, nor actively promote the sale of any artworks. Nonetheless, if such agreement is reached between the author of the submitted work and Laboratorio 060, the resulting recording may be put for sale. In this case, 25% of the sale of this work will be directed to the CUE foundation and the remaining 75% will be divided between Laboratorio 060 and the author.

X. Participants accept the terms of this call for entries. Any unforeseen detail will be mediated and decided upon by the guest curator.

XI. The name of the author of the selected composition will be announced on the webpage of the CUE foundation and on the webpage of Laboratorio 060 on December 19, 2007.

XII. Selection criteria will include: a) compositions with potential to infiltrate the radio in an effective and innovative way, b) works with an adequate balance between the three components, c) works with an experimental and playful character, even if they have political content; d) non-commercial works

XIII. The selected composition will be performed at the CUE Foundation on March 13, 2008 by the members of Laboratorio 060.

XIV. Whenever presented or advertised, the author of the work will be properly credited.

XV. The selected author of the work will receive 10% of the recordings produced.

Application process

XVI. All proposals should be submitted by regular mail to the following address:

CUE Art Foundation
Attn: Laboratorio 060
511 West 25th Street, Ground Floor
New York, NY 10001

XVII. Submission deadline will be December 14, 2007, at 6pm (this is not a post-mark deadline)

XVIII. All works must be submitted with a musical score and an MP3 (CD) that may show an interpretation of the work.

Submissions will not be returned.

To receive acknowledgment of receipt, please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard. Do not call the CUE Foundation to seek acknowledgment of receipt.

Contact info:

Laboratorio 060
Tel. +(52 55) 52 11 92 88
laboratorio [at] lc060.org

For this project, Morneau is exploring a wide variety of musical styles and techniques, including musique concrète, sine wave synthesis, digital sampling, 8-bit constructions, process music, acousmatic composition, and post-techno beat manipulations. Each daily post brings something new and different, a constant variety. The daily deadline means the works sometimes lose their preciousness as they become explorations in process and method for Morneau—with his form or his audience—as much as they are works of art.

Morneau chose to create a composition specifically for the internet because of an interest in its effect on the creation and dissemination of music and art. One-minute compositions are easy to download. The podcast format encourages listener subscription. 60×365 is presented as a series of shorter pieces over time, in a particular order. However, the listener may wait until many pieces are posted and then listen in any order he desires. You can listen online everyday @ http://60×365.com.