Re: [microsound] musique cement

[ross birdwise <rbirdwise@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

many of the laptop performances i have seen recently
have had people operating sliders and dials (real and
virtual) to modulate sounds, fade in or fade out
loops, modify timbre or trigger different sound
events.  it seems to me that this sort of control is
very different from the control of traditional
instruments although you can still create similiar
sounding effects, or at least effects that have some
sort similiarity to one another.  i think in that in
some ways comparing a traditional instrument to a
laptop is like comparing apples to oranges
nonetheless. i think that whatever way you choose to
proceed, traditional or non-traditional, brings about
a different set of concerns and that these concerns
take on many different implications depending on your
context.  i don't think there are any easy answers to
questions raised by these different approaches and i
consider both ways of going about producing music or
simply sound as being valid (hypothetically at least),
but different.

ross birdwise 
--- Kim Cascone <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > and you're right kim, the decoupling of physical
> gestures and noise is
> > not a bad thing.  I enjoy that kind of
> relationship when I put a record
> > on the turntable, or when I tune my radio.
> Ben, I know you think aesthetics are pointless but
> this is *not* the same
> thing...vastly different for a long laundry list of
> aesthetic reasons...
> 
> >  for me, playing music
> > with a laptop today is like dancing with my feet
> in cement shoes.
> hmmm...hope Cycling doesn't take that as a crit of
> their technology... ;)
> 
> >  it's like trying to have a conversation with
> someone but only being allowed
> > to recite prepared sentences.  I want to talk
> freely.  is that a good
> > enough reason?
> that's unfortunate that you have that sort of
> experience with the
> laptop...having studied music formally I can say
> that _for me_ the laptop
> has been a liberation that removes the physicality
> of traditional
> performance and lets your brain connect directly
> with the sound being
> created...I could go on about this and happens to be
> the subject of some new
> writing I'm doing but in a nutshell the physicality
> of traditional
> performance is a political/cultural trap...on the
> downside: the laptop (+ CD
> burners + the internet) has unleashed a huge
> spectrum of quality material to
> wade thru in order to find what pleases you...
> 
> 'nuff said...too busy getting ready for a trip to
> Brussels and NY next week
> 
> Cya
> KIM
> 
> PS mucho gracias to Eloy for extending the deadline
> and all the hard work he
> is putting in on the Watermann memorial project...
> 
> ***please keep in mind that I will be out of town
> from Nov 16 - 25 and will
> not be able to assign hotline pswds from the
> road...so ask me NOW or sit out
> this project... :) 
> 
>
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