Awakening of the birds in spring in the field, with roosters in the distance and a clock that strikes 5am Birds in the forest Birds in the aviary (parakeets) Gulls in the sea, with the sound of the surf…Continue Reading Oiseaux 1 – Old Record
The earliest known American recording! Last night at the GE Theatre in Schenectady, New York, an audience of about 200 people sat and heard the sounds of a someone playing the cornet, a man laughing, and a recitation of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Old Mother Hubbard.” It is believed that this event was…Continue Reading The earliest known American recording!
William Burroughs, “The Cut Up Method” The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing.[citation needed] The concept can be traced to at least the Dadaists of…Continue Reading William Burroughs, “The Silver Smoke of Dreams”
The noise collage “Études aux chemins de fer” is seen as the first piece of music to organize noises on the basis of an entirely musical aesthetic. Its first public performance in the «Concert de bruits» radio broadcast in Paris on 5.10.1948, along with three other noise collages, marks the birth of the French «musique…Continue Reading Pierre Schaeffer – Etude aux chemins de fer
John Travolta, Sound Recordist. From Blow Out by Brian DePalma Blow Out is a 1981 thriller film, written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget horror film, serendipitously captures audio evidence of an assassination…Continue Reading Blow Out – Brian DePalma. Recording and Listening. (2 vids)
Chris Downey explains it like this, “Beethoven continued to write music, even some of his best music, after he lost his hearing…What’s more preposterous, composing music you can’t hear, or designing architecture you can’t see?” Chris Downey had been an architect for 20 years before he lost his sight. It would be understandable to think…Continue Reading 99% Invisible – Sound and Feel
Decades after the fact, French composer Luc Ferrari recalled that the first time he played “Presque Rien” for his colleagues at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, their faces turned to stone. Such dismay is often the fate of any art that takes its medium to a wholly logical yet previously unacceptable conclusion, let alone art that changes the game. This 21-minute piece, which was first heard in 1970, did both, and the work of contemporary artists as disparate as Chris Watson and Vanessa Rossetto owe it a hefty debt….Continue Reading Luc Ferrari – Presque Rien N°1 ou Le Lever Du Jour Au Bord La Mer
It’s been said that many make sacrifices for their music, but, in the recording of 4 Rooms, Jacob Kirkegaard went above and beyond. Almost 20 years after the Chernobyl disaster, Kirkegaard traveled into the villages surrounding Chernobyl, places largely uninhabited and still teeming with radiation, an unheard and unseen but never forgotten result of Reactor 4’s fateful meltdown in April 1986….Continue Reading Jacob Kirkegaard – 4 rooms: Gymnasium
Anders Dahl: habitat Hear the real sounds of artificial nature; sometimes even more natural than nature itself. Anders Dahl have spent 4 years creating this piece of birds and insects and other animals; using only speakers, toys and other mechanical devices. Very inspiring and a very rewarding excursion. Enjoy the field trip, and don´t forget…Continue Reading Anders Dahl – Habitat