Re: [microsound] matthew herbert big band/ manifesto of mistakes

[derek holzer <derek@xxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

for the list's sake, I thought I would reproduce Herbert's manifesto 
here, below. When everything is said and done, it is just a digital 
music version of the DOGMA manifesto which turned the film industry all 
around, and also a bit of Erik Salvaggio's net.art manifesto which 
caused a bit of discussion on the Rhizome list last year [my favorite 
rule: "No Flash"], and inspired quite a few interesting projects as a 
result.

A recent documentary on DOGMA figurehead Lars von Trier shows him 
offerring more and more "debilitating" challenges to the film director 
who shaped his sensibilities most as a youth. As the documentary 
progresses, and von Trier's restrictions become more and more extreme, 
the works which his idol returns to him become more and more beautiful, 
more and more refined. Lars becomes irate, as he had hoped to humiliate 
his childhood hero, and in the end becomes humiliated himself when his 
own regime of handicaps only heightens the skills of his victim.

In light of this, after reading this "contract", I appreciate the spirit 
of it quite a bit. It could have something to do with the abominable 
performance of Dutchboy group Di-fuse last night after Sachiko M at 
STEIM. I am sure you all have heard the "male choir" and "female choir" 
voices of most keyboard synthesizers. Well, they used them, along with 
every cliche ambient sample that ever cropped up on any Acid Planet 
loops CDROM, all shoved through the most cripple-headed program I have 
seen on the market yet: Abelton Live. So pushing one's self to personal 
innovation can't always be a bad thing.

It also brings me back to the reason I started working with Pure Data in 
the first place: I didn't want to use anybody else's sounds, nor their 
idea of how sounds should be used, nor their ready-made synthesizers or 
patches, nor even their idea of how I should graphically interface with 
said synth or patch. If I spend all week making a granular synthesis 
patch from scratch which I honestly beleive to be my own [no matter if I 
borrow tricks from others],  I am much more satisfied than by messing 
with the default settings of some commerically available one. It is the 
thing that seperates the user/consumer from the artist, for me.

So, no matter how lame his style, I still gotta give credit to our old 
friend RadioBoy for at least trying to map out, in some sort of way, 
what really does make for innovation in technological music.

As for whether it is really debilitating or not, it is clear Herbert 
doesn't see this as anything more than a set of guidelines. Like Brian 
Eno's "Oblique Strategies" cards, or playing your new track for someone 
who you know will hate it.

Or, more esoterically: "if you meet the Buddha on the road to 
enlightenment--kill him."

best,
d.

Matthew Herbert wrote:

PERSONAL CONTRACT FOR THE COMPOSITION OF MUSIC
[INCORPORATING THE MANIFESTO OF MISTAKES]

THIS IS A GUIDE FOR MY OWN WORK AND NOT INTENDED AS THE CORRECT OR ONLY 
WAY TO WRITE MUSIC EITHER FOR MYSELF OR OTHERS.

1. The use of sounds that exist already is not allowed. Subject to 
article 2. In particular:

    1. No drum machines.
    2. All keyboard sounds must be edited in some way: no factory 
presets or pre-programmed patches are allowed.

2. Only sounds that are generated at the start of the compositional 
process or taken from the artist's own previously unused archive are 
available for sampling.

3. The sampling of other people's music is strictly forbidden.

4. No replication of traditional acoustic instruments is allowed where 
the financial and physical possibility of using the real ones exists.

5. The inclusion, development, propagation, existence, replication, 
acknowledgement, rights, patterns and beauty of what are commonly known 
as accidents, is encouraged. Furthermore, they have equal rights within 
the composition as deliberate, conscious, or premeditated compositional 
actions or decisions.

6. The mixing desk is not to be reset before the start of a new track in 
order to apply a random eq and fx setting across the new sounds. Once 
the ordering and recording of the music has begun, the desk may be used 
as normal.

7. All fx settings must be edited: no factory preset or pre-programmed 
patches are allowed.

8. Samples themselves are not to be truncated from the rear. Revealing 
parts of the recording are invariably stored there.

9. A notation of sounds used to be taken and made public.

10. A list of technical equipment used to be made public.

11. optional: Remixes should be completed using only the sounds provided 
by the original artist including any packaging the media was provided in.

MATTHEW HERBERT 27-11-00
updated 05-06-03

graham miller wrote:
> haven't heard the big band one but...  have you read his ridiculous manifesto at
> http://www.magicandaccident.com/mh/Manifesto/Manifestoinfo.htm ?
> 
> and i thought i was bad... maybe you could bring some of this nonsense up and see
> how this fits into his current creative approach.
> 
> electronic music is and should be about about possibilities - not self-imposed
> limits. this sort  of overarching 'self-contract' (as he calls it) is more
> debilitating than freeing, me thinks.

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