RE: [microsound] process mystique: sound vs music?

[Dave Cronin <Dave@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From: david turgeon [mailto:david.t@xxxxxxxx]

> ...there's more to a piece than its
> process: a certain amount of skill, imagination & whatnot has to go in
> the mix.  even if the process goes into the open, what kind of tragedy
> is that?  it only means that the sounds will become more familiar to
> more people.  if you think you can become vladislav delay just because
> you have his reaktor setups, then you're a tad delusive...

This is a really good point, and I'd like to even go a step further. I
absolutely adore the way that artists like Mr. Delay, Monolake and Kit
Clayton have extended their creative expression to include not just "pieces"
or "tracks" (or tones and rhythms), but process and code and configuration
and the like. It broadens the whole sense of the communicative aspects of
the medium by being able to play around inside the structures, rather than
just listening to one possible output from the structure. 

I recall an interview with Brian Eno where he lamented the state of music at
the end of the 20th century, where for the first time, people listened to
the same song, the same way, over and over again. (This might actually have
been early marketing literature from Sseyo.) Not to be garishly futuristic,
but it sure is nice to have turned the corner into the 21st century, where
instruments like Reaktor and Pluggo allow us to redefine the idea of a
musical "piece" or "release."

I'm not sure how this relates back to the original issue surrounding hidden
technique, and I certainly don't mean any of this as an indictment of Oval.
But I do certainly feel more engaged with the music I consume when I get to
understand the structures of origin. The week before the Atom Heart show
described by Joshua, CCAC featured live performances by Blechdom, Lesser and
Kit Clayton. The venue was a big room with a squishy foam floor, on which
the artists were set up interspersed with the listeners. While I personally
preferred closing my eyes or watching the screen, it was also nice to look
over and watch what inserts were selected in Logic, etc.