Electroacoustic Movies

Becoming commercially available in the mid 1960s, video quickly became integral to the intense experimentalism of New York City's music and art scenes. The medium was able to record image and sound at the same time, which allowed composers to visualize their music and artists to sound their images. But as well as creating unprecedented forms of audiovisuality, video work also producedinteractive spaces that questioned conventional habits of music and art consumption. This book explores the first decade of creative video work, focusing on the ways in which video technology was used to dissolve the boundaries between art and music.

This practice-as-research study documents the development of a sonic arts approach to film sound design. An interdisciplinary conceptual framework that combines selected theories of electroacoustic music and apposite perspectives from film soundtrack studies informs the approach. Over the course of the research, a broadening practical knowledge of theoretical applications influenced the development of the sound design approach and its conceptual framework.

The term ‘sonic arts’ characterises the compositional tenets of the sound design approach, which takes the form of an inter-modal strategy based on the interdependence of two compositional modes. The intersonic compositional mode corresponds to sound-object design and to the forming of meaningful structural relationships between soundtrack elements. The audiovisual compositional mode corresponds to forming meaningful relationships between soundtrack elements and film images. The overall approach also reflects Walter Murch’s concept of sound design as a multifaceted practice endeavour, which includes taking creative responsibility for the soundtrack in post-production (Murch 1995).

The presentation of research in this thesis comprises two distinct parts. The first part outlines the sonic arts approach, defines the theoretical basis of its conceptual framework, and identifies potential practice applications. The second part presents three case studies of sound design practice for independent film projects. The case studies document applications of the conceptual framework and critically reflect on acquired practical knowledge of the sonic arts approach.

The study concludes that the electroacoustic music theories of spectromorphology and indicative fields (Smalley 1986; 1992; 1997) have useful applications in sound design practice as a perception-based system of analysis. The research also illustrates that sonic landscape theory (Wishart 1986; 1996) constitutes a creatively enabling conceptual framework for sound design when it is applied to the inter-modal compositional strategy.

Refs:

Murch, W. (1995) ‘Sound Design: The Dancing Shadow’, in Boorman, J., Luddy, T., Thomson, D. and Donohoe, W. (eds.) Projections 4: Film-makers on Film-making. London: Faber and Faber, pp. 237–251.

Smalley, D. (1986) ‘Spectro-morphology and structuring processes’, in Emmerson, S. (ed.) The Language of Electroacoustic Music. London: Macmillan, pp. 61–93.

Smalley, D. (1992) ‘The Listening Imagination: Listening in the Electroacoustic Era’, in Paynter, J., Howell, T., Orton, R. and Seymour, P. (eds.) Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought (Vol. 1). London: Routledge, pp. 514–554.

Smalley, D. (1997) ‘Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound Shapes’, Organised Sound, 2(2), pp. 107–126.

Wishart, T. (1986) ‘Sound Symbols and Landscapes’, in Emmerson S (ed.) The Language of Electroacoustic Music. London: Macmillan, pp. 41–60.

Wishart, T. (1996) On Sonic Art. London: Routledge.

A critical commentary that presents and contextualizes a film and video making practice spanning three decades. It locates a contemporary visual music practice within current and emerging critical and theoretical contexts and tracks back the history of this practice to the author’s initial screenings of work as part of the 1980’s British Scratch video art movement.

At the heart of the body of work presented here is an exploration and examination of methods and working practices in the encounter of music, sound and moving image.
Central to this is an examination of the affective levels that sound and image can operate on, in a transsensorial fusion, and political and cultural applications of such encounters, whilst examining  the epistemological regimes such work operates in.

A combination of factors has meant that work such as this, arising in the UK provinces, can fall below the historicizing and critical radar – these include the ephemeral and transitory nature of live performance work; the difficulties of documenting such work; the fragility and degeneration of emerging and quickly obsolescent formats; and a predominance of a London–centric focus on curating, screening and historicizing of experimental film and video art practices.

The author's film and video practice has been screened nationally and internationally over three decades, and has been recognized as exemplary practice both in the early 1980s at the inception of the Scratch movement and in more recent retrospectives. The critical commentary argues that this work contributes new knowledge of the history, contexts and practices of film and video art and audiovisual and visual music practices.

CHROMOSCALE presents a novel framework that integrates numerical systems with color representation through a unique chromatic approach based on cyclic orders. The concept revolves around the relationship between different numerical bases and their visual representations, specifically focusing on Base 7. The paper explores the mathematical properties of cyclic numbers, monotonic functions, and their implications for establishing a harmonic system that maps numbers to colors in a structured way, thereby creating a cohesive language for sounds, colors, and numbers.

For more information see the following link:
https://pdpseven.wixsite.com/sound-color

The analysis of electroacoustic music has long been difficult. Most works lack external documentation (a "score"), and thus the analyst is left with only the tools of listening and perception. This paper uses theories of film sound structure, organization and semiotics to posit new frameworks for understanding electroacoustic music. One of these involves the notion of "blind cinema", a term I use to describe soundscapes whose structure is governed by shifts in sonic "perspective". Just as film sound can move among points of audition and between diegetic and non-diegetic realms, so too can the realm of electroacoustic sound alone. I explore this topic using films that employ electroacoustic sound in a myriad of ways: "Spellbound" (Hitchcock), "Pi" (Aronofsky), "Solaris" (Tarkovsky), "Clean, Shaven" (Kerrigan), and "Noise" (Saville).

"This investigation provides an answer to the following ontological question: what is an acousmatic musical performance? Chapter 1 discusses acousmatic sound – a fundamental constituent of the acousmatic musical performance – and considers ways in which acousmatic sounds are determined in advance of, and during, a performance. Chapter 2 presents the acousmatic performance as an agent-centred, skilful enterprise that serves both composers and listeners through intentional communicative acts. Chapter 3 examines the nature of, and relations that hold between, acousmatic performances and acousmatic works. Chapter 4 considers interpretations of works and highlights some of the various ways in which interpretations are formulated, regulated and executed. Chapter 5 focuses upon the notion of performance authenticity and questions whether it is possible for an acousmatic performance to be considered inauthentic. Taken as a whole, these five chapters highlight the central constituents of the acousmatic
musical performance, unravel the collective input of composers, performers, listeners and technologies, and explicate the complex network of relations that coalesce within the performance environment.

The methods employed within this thesis relate to the practice of musical ontology, and have been significantly influenced by Richard Wollheim’s realist account of type and tokens (Wollheim 1980) and Stephen Davies’ notion of thick and thin musical works (Davies 2004). These ontological theories provided a method for identifying and discussing the relations that hold between acousmatic performances and acousmatic works, and were ultimately fundamental to the formulation of a bespoke type-theory that serves music of the acousmatic tradition. Accordingly, the research serves two distinct communities. On the one hand, it serves the ontological community; acousmatic music has received very little ontological attention and, as a result, this research broadens the investigative scope of the discipline whilst considering how existing theories may be applied to music of the acousmatic tradition. On the other hand, it serves the acousmatic community; by abstracting and explaining the central constituents of the acousmatic musical performance, this investigation clarifies the roles of composers, performers and listeners, and demonstrates how understanding of these roles may inform creative practice.

A portfolio consisting of six original acousmatic compositions has been produced. This compositional research allowed theoretical ideas to be tested, and works in the portfolio are cited to contextualise key points. These works can be found here: www.sargasso.com/?product=adam-stansbie-isthmus "

Video art is often considered a visual genre. But the electromagnetic basis of the video format enabled sound and image to be recorded and projected simultaneously in an easy, portable way. As a result, the medium could produce a live form of audiovisual synergy rarely possible before. As earlier chapters in this volume point out, attempts to capture temporal elements in the static arts proliferated as the twentieth century progressed, with movement and transient fluidity becoming prominent themes for many Impressionists, Cubists, and those involved with Orphism, Vorticism, and Synchronism. And yet Karin v. Maur has argued that in many cases, the governing force was not simply time but, rather, musicalized time: "Never before in the numerous programs and manifestos of the avant-garde did there appear so many temporal concepts, such as rhythm, dynamics, speed, and simultaneity, or musical terms such as cadence, dissonance, polyphony, etc., proving the existence of a close link between the temporalization tendencies in art and the reception of musical phenomena." 1 Film technology provided a significant boost to the possibility of "musicalized time" as it enabled the static image to burst into life, a leap into temporalization that manifested itself most clearly in the early visual-music films of Oskar Fischinger and Hans Richter and the mid-century experimentation of Californian visual-music artists

"The Harmonic Math, Chromatic numbers and sounds" presents a novel framework that integrates numerical systems with color representation through a unique chromatic approach based on cyclic orders. The concept revolves around the relationship between different numerical bases and their visual representations, specifically focusing on Base 7. The paper explores the mathematical properties of cyclic numbers, monotonic functions, and their implications for establishing a harmonic system that maps numbers to colors in a structured way, thereby creating a cohesive language for sounds, colors, and numbers.
For more information see the following link: https://pdpseven.wixsite.com/sound-color

Trevor Wishart is an electroacoustic composer who obtained his PhD at the University of York in 1973 . books On Sonic Art (1984 and 1996) and Audible Design (1994), which present his ideas about sound treatment, perception and composition. All of the theories and ideas I talk about here are related to my research as a graduate student in music and musicology, entitled Sound identification, listening strategy and narrativity in Trevor Wishart’s Journey into Space – Agentization, objectization and narrativizations (translated from the French: Identification sonore, stratégie d’écoute et narrativité dans Journey into Space de Trevor Wishart – Agentisation, objétisation et narrativisations). The present essay is mainly the transcription of an interview with Wishart himself, in which we talked about Journey into Space, sound identification (“landscape”), voice (both recorded and improvised), symbolism and narrativity. I will add some comments and ideas throughout the essay; these will deal with music and meaning, the main subject of JMM, as well as with my own research on electroacoustic narrativity.

Electroacoustic audio-visual music works explore the possibilities that the combination of their two time-based media (sound and moving image) allow. Discussion of sound and image interaction is not new. The Ancient Greeks discussed it, Newton had a theory on the subject and numerous people devoted their lives to the development of colour organs in the 18th and 19th century in an attempt to realise an art form that brought together sound and light. The most liberating technical development for the genre was the invention of tools to capture sound and image, and most importantly, to play them back again alongside one another.

Discusses shift in the politics of the avant-garde after World War II.  I argue that the utopian aspirations of the avant-garde are refocused on providing singular, non-binding examples of alternative ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing everyday life.  Chapters on John Cage, Jackson Mac Low, David Tudor, Stan Brakhage, Gilbert Sorrentino, Samuel Beckett.

This article places computer music directly into Stan Godlovitch's Model of Musical Performance; an idealized conception of musical performance based on four fundamental constituents: sounds, agents, works and listeners. Godlovitch's model was originally intended to promote the unique value (Godlovitch 1998: 4) of scored instrumental music; as a result, one is not surprised to find computer music excluded on the grounds that it is not performed; it is played back (Godlovitch 1998: 100). Following a brief introduction to the Godlovitch model, this claim is rejected; performance is central to the computer music tradition and aesthetic, a fact that is frequently overlooked by those unfamiliar with the genre. In order to prove this point, a model of computer music performance is presented and defended; this may be seen as a direct challenge to Godlovitch's central thesis. However, it also represents a genuine attempt to align computer music with the performing arts and, in doing so, provide a framework through which the performance of such music can be accurately located and discussed.

"http://vimeo.com/69186535
The finale (part 3) of an improvised duet performed with FluxNoisations and circuit-bent radio
(for front on view of the complete performance visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBra9gd5QQ )

Joshua B. Mailman: FluxNoisations (sounds of wood, metal, water, sandpaper, sticks, etc. and live computer graphics controlled through infrared camera motion-capture and sensor gloves)

Luke T. Taylor: circuit-bend radio (dismantled analog radio played with wet hands)

No recordings, audio samples, or videos are used.
All sounds and graphics are generated in the moment of performance.

Joshua Banks Mailman and Luke Thomas Taylor present an extended improvised performance of high-tech and low-fi pulsating noise. The event includes improvised live computer graphics, a colorful spectacle projected on a large screen, controlled by spontaneous body- and hand-movements of Mailman, through his FluxNoisations interactive-dance system. Through this system, Mailman simultaneously generates and steers a stream of percussive-noise sound. Interacting with this, Taylor performs on his own devised noise instrument: a circuit board he plays with wet hands. Through micro-fluctuations of the movement, pressure, and moisture of Taylor's hands, the circuit board displays its hidden potential—a sound world with chaotic connectivity of rich noises, clicks, and glissandos.
"

This article examines Walter Ruttmann's Weekend, a twelve-minute programme made for German radio in 1930. Recorded and edited using Tri-Ergon optical film sound technology, it was described by Ruttmann in the following terms: ‘Weekend is a study in sound montage. I used the film strip to record the sound exclusively, yielding what amounts to a blind film’. The programme is often referenced in histories of sonic art, since Ruttmann's ‘cinematic’ use of montage seems to have prefigured the developments that took place in musique concrète over a decade later. However, despite being a well-known piece of work, Weekend remains critically neglected: a footnote to Ruttmann's better-known work in cinema. The article aims to revisit and reappraise Weekend as a radical modernist work by considering not only its status as a pioneering piece of sonic art, but also its intermediality. Ruttmann's deployment of filmic techniques within a radiophonic context can be seen to radically...

The ontology of music is a lively and much debated branch of metaphysical philosophy. However, most of the available literature focuses upon works of the Western classical tradition; as a result, the various challenges posed by tape compositions are either marginalised or ignored. Coupled with this is the familiar claim by some musicologists and philosophers that such works cannot be described as musical; one such philosopher, Linda Ferguson, claimed that tape compositions are ontologically distinct from scored musical works and, as a result, are “in search of their metaphysics” (Ferguson, 1983). This paper will address such claims through an investigation of the ontology of tape music. It will be argued that such works share their metaphysical status with scored compositions and that the various differences can be ascribed to the “extent, depth, and saturation of their work-determinative properties” (Davies, pp. 26-27, 2004). Ultimately, it will be noted that there are some significant differences between these two art forms. However, tape music is not “in search of its metaphysics”; it is merely lacking an accurate philosophical assessment.

Florence Price was an African-American composer of classical music in the early to mid twentieth century.  Her 'Symphony in E minor' was performed in Chicago, IL., at Orchestra Hall in June 1933, the first time a Black woman's composition was performed by a prominent American symphony orchestra.

This biographical sketch is based on my original research of primary and secondary sources.  The URL link is to the University of Illinois Chicago Special Collections site which houses the information that I used for this article under Price's name, and there are links to the story behind the creation and publication of this massive biographical dictionary-project, which consists of hundreds of biographical portraits.  Reviews of this collection of biographies can be found at Amazon books.

The Price biography appears in WOMEN BUILDING CHICAGO: 1790-1990: A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, ed. by Rima Schultz and Adele Hast.

This article examines Walter Ruttmann's Weekend, a twelve-minute programme made for German radio in 1930. Recorded and edited using Tri-Ergon optical film sound technology, it was described by Ruttmann in the following terms: ‘Weekend is a study in sound montage. I used the film strip to record the sound exclusively, yielding what amounts to a blind film’. The programme is often referenced in histories of sonic art, since Ruttmann's ‘cinematic’ use of montage seems to have prefigured the developments that took place in musique concrète over a decade later. However, despite being a well-known piece of work, Weekend remains critically neglected: a footnote to Ruttmann's better-known work in cinema. The article aims to revisit and reappraise Weekend as a radical modernist work by considering not only its status as a pioneering piece of sonic art, but also its intermediality. Ruttmann's deployment of filmic techniques within a radiophonic context can be seen to radically challenge the differentiation of art forms and media that has been seen to define modernism, and by situating Weekend within the context of Ruttmann's broader project as an artist, the article examines how the relationship the programme forges between cinema and radio might be understood within in a history of radical modernism.

Exposition of previous empirical research projects exposed the need to clarify the terms and variable factors investigated within the empirical study. The current chapter presents an overview and introduction to various relevant theories of interpretation, leading to discussion of specialist experience within audiences, the role of compositional intention in the creation of a work and the role of intention within interpretation.
The question of how signification, meaning and interpretation operate has been posed by a diversity of disciplines and in relation to a wide range of practices, forms and media. Humans often find meaning in artefacts, to derive significance from them. Early romantic conceptions of interpretation attributed communication to an underlying and primitive intuition, a mystical truth understood by all humans. Structralist conceptions of communication sought to uncover rational and scientific rules by which communication might operate, while later post-structuralist conceptions have challenged such ideas, suggesting that general trends are a result of cultural bias and that interpretation operates on an unique basis for each individual.
The majority of literature on the subjects of interpretation, signification and meaning is focused upon language. Even where scholars have considered music they often consider only the note- based music of the western classical tradition. In some cases custom concepts and frameworks are translated directly from rationalising one media type to another, but in such situations there are often unforeseen complications and contradictions which emerge. In understanding the processes of interpretation for electroacoustic audio-visual music it is essential to rigorously critique and understand the existing theories so as to develop an understanding of interpretation that is appropriate for electroacoustic music.
The following chapter raises questions about the object of study and the nature of audience interpretation for works of electroacoustic music. Approaches to the transmission and interpretation of signals are discussed, and the use of linguistic theories and linguistic conceptions of communication questioned. Phenomenological theories from Merleau-Ponty (among others) are argued to present a model suited to the explanation of the process of interpretation, where lived experience and schematic association are demonstrated to play a pivotal role in interpretation. Common interpretations are explored within this same framework and the cultural contexts of interpretation examined. Objects and their interpretation by individuals are then discussed, before various perspectives upon hearing intentions and the listening experience are compared and evaluated.
Such a chapter cannot hope to present a discussion of all theoretical approaches to the process of interpretation, experience and intention. Further, the synthesis of materials from a diverse range of disciplines opens the potential for criticism with regard to complete exposition of the materials. However, such a synthesis of materials and concepts is essential to provide fresh insight and perspective upon the processes of interpretation, especially when the object of interpretation is an intermedia art form, that of electroacoustic audio-visual music.

Read online: http://journal.sonicstudies.org/vol02/nr01/a03 or https://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-exposition?exposition=261722
This essay probes the nature of listening by refusing to pin it down to a single essence. The epistemological value of metaphor is explained in terms of the cognitive metaphor and embodied mind theories of Lakoff and Johnson as well as the philosophies of Rorty and Fiumara. Then the various natures of listening are explained via seven metaphors: (1) Digestion, (2) Recording, (3) Adaptation, (4) Meditation, (5) Transport, (6) Improvisation, and (7) Computation. As a positive example, this set of metaphors promotes recognition of the inherent plurality of listening by staking out distinct facets which cannot be reduced to one another. This irreducibility is made more vivid and conceptually manageable by associating each of these facets with more concrete activities that are literally irreducible, or indeed seemingly unrelated. Moreover, some of these metaphors suggest the complementary and sometimes interdependent nature of diverse aspects of listening.

Electroacoustic music composer Tim Howle, Professor of Contemporary Music at the University of Kent and academic and filmmaker Dr. Nick Cope, have been engaged in an ongoing creative practice collaboration since 2002.
The collaboration has seen the production of a series of short films exploring notions of what it means to compose with sound and moving image in works where the sonic and visual are treated as commensurate partners. This work has been selected for festivals, conferences, concerts, installations and screenings internationally; published on DVD and through online audio-visual journals; and resulted in a number of papers, journal articles and a PhD addressing the working practices and research contexts of the collaborative output.
The collaboration is both cross-disciplinary and inter-departmental in nature and gives rise to much that can be reflected on with regards to creative media practice based research in the academy. This paper addresses the challenges, opportunities and contexts the collaboration has engaged in with a particular emphasis on the research components of the work, and how these have developed and continue, as a case study of creative practice research. It will look at the different disciplinary contexts the work has arisen from and how that has both helped the work in finding audiences and outlets, research outcomes, and to navigate and address departmental and institutional research frameworks, requirements and limitations.

This chapter presents the processes of development for Phase Two of the empirical testing (P2), followed by analysis and discussion of the results. Phase Two (P2) was the first stage in the empirical action research model within this project.1 Results from Phase One informed the composition of a new work, which was subsequently presented to new participant groups so that they might record their interpretations. Responses to the Phase Two composition, informed the development of Phase Three (P3 aims and methodology) and re-composition of the P2 test work, thus resulting in the creation of the P3 test work (outlined in Chapter Eight).

P2 test work available to stream via link below.

The use of sound for representation and narrative may go beyond what we might conventionally term musical. Film has gradually brought into focus the practice of sound art as something distinct from music yet existing at the end of a unified continuum between abstraction and representation. Music has gradually been subsumed into the soundtrack as another element of the film sound world, and sound design is often on an equal footing with it. Sound designers are now increasingly exploring the more psychological (as opposed to merely representational) dimensions of sound.

This chapter introduces and discusses the findings of previous empirical research projects that have investigated the interpretation, or perception, of audio and visual materials.

The exploration of previous research projects provided insight into the diversity of empirical approaches taken in audience studies and the range of methods available for the interpretation of research data. Each of the projects outlined below impacted significantly upon the development of the current research project.

The basis of this research project stems from reflections upon the process of composition for electroacoustic audio-visual music. These are fixed media works in which sound and image materials are accessed, generated, explored and configured in creation of a musically informed audio-visual expression. Within the process of composition, the composer must decide how to effectively draw relationships between these time based media and their various abstract and mimetic materials. This process usually has no codified laws or structures and results in relationships that are singular to the individual artworks. The composer uses their own experience and intuition in assessing how best to associate sounds and images and they will use their own interpretation of the materials to evaluate the how successful they are in realising their intentions. But what is there to say that the interpretation made by the composer bares any resemblance to interpretations made by audiences?
The current research sought to assess any trends or commonalities in how people interpret such works. Utilising a combination of empirical research, composition and scholarly study, the project investigated various theoretical approaches to interpretation and the occurrence of correlation between compositional intention and audience interpretation. Models from different theoretical disciplines were combined in order to build up a picture of the processes involved in making interpretations, and to aid in the rationalisation of empirical data. The application of three methodological approaches allowed for the topic to be considered from a diversity of perspectives, and for triangulation to take place in confirmation of the research outcomes. The way in which individuals build up interpretations from non-codified abstract and mimetic materials also provided a suitable case study for the critique and assessment of various theoretical approaches to interpretation.
The project challenges structuralist approaches to interpretation, drawing together theoretical materials and empirical research findings in support of a post-structrualist model of interpretation that demonstrates the absolutely vital role played by context – the framing of the artwork in the consciousness of the individual audience member.

This paper documents elements of a research project undertaken between 2008 and 2012. Building upon the Intention/Reception project of Leigh Landy (2006) and Rob Weale (2005), the project sought to investigate audience interpretations for works of electroacoustic audiovisual music and to utilise an expanded understanding of the audience – as active participants in interpretation – to subsequently inform the composition of new works. This project combined three distinct research methodologies: empirical data collection, scholarly research and composition. The composed works were both informed by the results of empirical data collection and scholarly research, and adapted (re-composed) throughout the latter stages of the research in order to explore emergent research findings and research hypotheses.
Interpretations were demonstrated to be contingent upon the individual lived experience of an audience member, with aspects of the work's discourse acting to narrow the interpretative potential of the work. The use of mimetic materials (sonic or visual) within works of electroacoustic audiovisual music were demonstrated to be potentially obstructing to an aesthetic interpretation of the work. And the importance of recognising the distinction between physical signal and perceived object was highlighted within the process of composition and the subsequent testing.