Re: [microsound]

[Ian Guthrie Yeager <iyeager@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A little tidbit of random information, maybe redundant to some:

At the WDR studios, when Eimert, Stockhausen, and other technicians were
involved in electronic synthesis as a form distinct from musique concrete,
one of the methods used to generate complex timbres was to record short
segments of sine waves at pitches corresponding to the overtone series,
assemble these segments into a tape loop, feed the tape loop at high speed
into a reverb chamber, and record the output of the reverb chamber onto
another tape. This of course blended all of the sine waves into a single
fused timbre....Ah, the days before the RCA Mark II.

Anyway, I hope this is interesting to some of you out there in music-land.
My source is Prof Jeff Hass of IUs composition department, and head of the
electronic music department here, so thanks to him.

In all seriousness, I'd like to know who some of those technicians were at
the WDR studios....I think they'd make great subjects for interviews. I
have a feeling that a lot of important accomplishments which belong to
them got swallowed alive by the messianic/titanic ego of Stockhausen.
I know I've already bitched about the lack of info re: early e music, but
it's definitely something that needs to be addressed, eh? 


igy2k