Archive for the 'Miscellaneous' Category

 

Live-Interview mit Frauke Schmidt zum Sound Design der UdK Modenschau | RBB Kulturradio | 30. Juni - 9.10 Uhr

Jun 29, 2009 in Allgemein, Audio Branding, Event, Exhibition, Miscellaneous, Popular Culture, Sound & Vision, Sound Studies, Web

Live-Interview mit Frauke Schmidt zum Sound Design der UdK Modenschau | RBB Kulturradio | 30. Juni - 9.10 Uhr

Wie klingen Wolpertinger? Und wie vertont man eine Mode-Kollektion, die sich an diesem ein bayerisches Fabelwesen orientiert? Die Sound Designerin Frauke Schmidt und der Sound Studies-Studierenden Tamer Özgönenc gehören zum Team, dass für die UdK-Modenschau 2009 das Sound Design entwicklet hat.

Sie stehen im RBB Kulturradio am Dienstag, den 30. Juni um 9.10 Uhr Rede und Antwort – Klangbeispiele inklusive.

Zu sehen und zu hören gibt es die „schau 09“ auf der Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin am 1. Juli 2009 ab 22:00 Uhr.

Zum Kulturradio-Livestream: http://www.kulturradio.de/livestream/index.html

My last week in sound

May 11, 2009 in Miscellaneous, Personal, Sound Studies

Sunday:

Listened almost all day long to the new and long awaited (finally leaked) single by Burial: Moth.

*

Monday:

Finally found my copies of the second volume of the Sound Studies-book series (in german) in my letterbox:

Georg Spehr (Hg.), Funktionale Klänge. Hörbare Daten, klingende Geräte und gestaltete Hörerfahrungen, transcript Verlag Bielefeld 2009 (Sound Studies Serie Volume 2; 316 pages).

*

Tuesday:

Realized how silent the world seems to have turned – since it got a bit colder the last days…

*

Wednesday:

Marveld, enjoyed, hummed and jumped at the concert of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in Berlin, Columbiahalle.

*

Friday:

Together with some of the members of our scientific advisory council we imagined: What issues could be interesting in future volumes of the book series Sound Studies?

We talked with Florian Dombois, Sabine Fabo, Peter Kiefer and Diedrich Diederichsen about a history of sonification, about a phenomenology of muzak and ambient and about a revision of noise and sound – 100 years after Luigi Russolo.

*

Saturday:

The second series of Hearings in our Aural City-project took place!

All the lectures will be online as audio podcasts, soon… ;)

My last week in sound

Jul 21, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Sound Studies


Monday:

After my lecture on Resonanzkünste (»Arts of Resonance«) we discussed with Gertrud Koch, Christiane Voss and Joseph Imorde the implications of an auditive epistemology and science and a sensory and sonic anthropology for art history, for hermeneutics, for film and media studies and – lest we forget – society.


Tuesday:

Listening to the mix I Am Always Reminded Of You by great german blogger and dj Sebastian Maetje from Dortmund; including loads of contemporary fine tracks and mixes by Norm Talley, Tom Demac, Agnès, Phonique, Kiloo, Moodymann, Move D, Matthias Meyer, Robert Dietz and many others.

*

Reading in some inspiring essays in the prestigious (and largely australian-based) online-journal fibreculture, e.g. among many others:

Jonathan Sterne et.al.: The Politics of Podcasting

and

Helen Thornham: Making Games? Towards a theory of domestic videogaming


Wednesday:

As I received two new crowns from my dentist I experienced again how she checked the solidity of the implants by knocking on the steel parts sticking out of my upper-jaws now. Nice feeling, when being a thoroughly resonating proof of quality…


Thursday:

I listened again to the tracks no.5 and 6 called ›i‹ and ›Green Calx‹ on Aphex Twins’ now quite legendary Selected Ambient Works 85-92 from 1993 on R&S-Records de Bélgique.


Friday:

Can this be possibly true? The new Mercedes Benz Soundlogo is not composed? It simply seems to be a completely non-processed sample from Symphony of Voices, a 300,- Euros Sample-CD; go check for yourself:



Saturday:

Read a great description (in german!) of artistic practices and reflections by the german sculptor Katja Kelm.

*

A tough rant by Philip Sherburne on Techno and some signs of these times:

Everything feels fucked up. The environment, the economy, war, terrorism, an unraveling Constitution, obesity, reality shows, the coming 2012 apocalypse meme – it’s hard to be optimistic about much these days.


Sunday:

Came across at this really interesting project by media artist Karlheinz Jeron:

AudioGuide is influenced by the legacy of psychogeography. It is a fictional layer above the real world to create absurd or surreal situations.

The self guided audio tours use the Yahoo map and Google map software to create walks through cities and a text to speech conversion of texts retrieved from Project Gutenberg. The search at Gutenberg has been directed by street names.


My last week in sound

Jul 13, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Sound Studies


Monday:

Coming home from the gym, after a long day at the office and another workshop, I got into some rhythm that lead me to remembering the legendary track and musicvideo Extra by Ken Ishii from 1995:



Wednesday:

Writing on my lecture Resonanzkünste (»Arts of Resonance«) I listened again to the great piece Innsbruck 6020 Der Weg by Sam Auinger and Hannes Strobl as tamtam.


Thursday:

Nicely alienated report about using a mobile music reproduction device in the german blog wires.net:


Ich hab das heute mal ausprobiert, wie das ist, wenn man durch die Gegend läuft und dabei Musik hört. Ehrlichgesagt irritiert — oder besser — stört mich das ein wenig. Mit Musik im Ohr krieg ich noch weniger mit ob jemand hinter mir steht. Die Gröner zum Beispiel.

Was mich auch wundert: Wo tut man die Kopfhörer hin, wenn man das Gefühl hat jemand steht hinter einem oder wenn man gerade keine Musik hören will? Zusamenknüllen und in die Tasche stecken ist doof, weil man danach die Kabel wieder auseinanderfrickeln muss. Alles noch nicht so zuende gedacht mit diesem Kabelgedöns.

*

In the evening at a meeting of the Interdisciplinary Center for Historical Anthropology in Berlin we continued our discussion of the concept of a sensus communis — widened to the concept of a sensorium commune, a common sensory setting in human beings.

How do and can we perceive that the articulation of an affect or even a pain is truely felt be a person? Do human beings have such a common sensory setting? Are we then constantly in a »mimetic flow« (Christoph Wulf)

To read: Hermann Schmitz, Der unerschöpfliche Gegenstand. Grundzüge der Philosophie, Bouvier Bonn 1990.


Friday:

Support this highly commendable open source documentation on net neutrality (via Radiohead’s website DEAD AIR SPACE):

And please visit: http://foureyedmonsters.com/neutrality/


Saturday:

Are musicians owed royalties for performance of their music in torture chambers?

Or even: Why should terrorists enjoy free music?

*

Still writing on Resonanzkünste I listened again to some tracks of Wörter Sex Schnitte, six hours of recordings by the german pop-author Rolf Dieter Brinkmann from the year 1973.


Sunday:

In Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg today all citizens could vote, if the so-called Mediaspree-area will be built: The renewal of this eastern harbour area is modelled after the renewal of London’s Docklands or Hamburg’s Hafencity. This investor-driven project of Berlin’s urban planning thoroughly connected to Berlin’s city marketing would change the face and population of this area forever.

Here is a tiny and pretty convincing videoclip of the initiative against all this called Mediaspree versenken (»Sink Mediaspree!«):

*

In the evening I enjoyed the concert of Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog here at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.


My last week in sound

Jul 07, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Sound Studies


Monday:

Recommended readings, Barry Blesser mentioned in his exclusive lecture for Sound Studies Berlin:

Guy Deutscher, The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention (2005)

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan (2007)

and of course this common standard for an Anthropology of Sound and Sensory Anthropology:

David Howes (Ed.), Empire of the Senses. The Sensual Culture Reader, Berg Publishers London 2005


Tuesday:

Rereading Das Hörspiel. Mittel und Möglichkeiten eines totalen Schallspiels (1961; »The Radio Play. Means and Potential of a total Soundplay«) from Friedrich Knilli:


»Der Raum entpuppt sich als ein Resonanzkörper mit unbegrenzten Klangmöglichkeiten.

Man könnte sich kämpfende Raumklänge als Hörspiele denken.«

(my translation: »Space appears to be a sound box with an infinite potential to sound. One could imagine fighting spatial sounds as radio plays.«)


Wednesday:

Sadly missed the discussion at Tuned City here in Berlin between great sound-minds and artists/designers on Space, Sound and Architecture.

A headache, ingeniously made from incredibly hot and sticky weather and a heavy work schedule got me down.


Thursday:

The sun stayed hot. Heard the noise of people outside.

The railways, the trams.


Friday:

Did an interview (in german) for Bavarian Radio’s channel 2 on Sound Studies.

You can find the podcast of this 40-minute talk pretty soon right here.


Saturday:

The next day, strollin’ round Munic, I saw and heard two really great works in the exhibition Into the music (which I strongly recommend!):

Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Je Changerais D’Avis (2000)

(Original by Françoise Hardy, Je Changerais D’Avis (1967))

Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, Make Me Yours Again (2007)


Sunday:

Enjoyed the sound piece at the opening of Erdbeerfeld’s Auguststrasse 65 (open at different times from July 6th to August 30th 2008)


My last week in sound

Jul 03, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Sound Studies


Tuesday:

In the seminar on Klang=Theorien (»Sound Theories«) (and later again with Sabine Sanio after her lecture here at Sound Studies Berlin) we discussed the cultural and historical differences of terms like Klangkunst, Sound art, Audio art and others.


Wednesday:

I enjoyed the nationwide anti-climax as image and partially also sound were missing in the transmission of the first semifinal with the german Nationalmannschaft.


Thursday:

I opened the window in my office space. Me and my students, we enjoyed during office hours some sore belling of a trombone from across the backyard.

Or was it a badly played didgeridoo? I suppose it was just a construction machine.


EM 2008 - Good Sounds / Bad Sounds

Jun 30, 2008 in Allgemein, Miscellaneous, Popular Culture

Good Sounds

1. time-delayed jubilations of the crowd in the pub round the corner

2. bicycle-parade in my street after the match germany:portugal

3. the collective screaming (very high pitched) of my female co-viewers right after all critical situations in the german games (followed by a loud laugh of the clique)

Bad Sounds

1. UEFA-jingle

2. firecrackers

3. the silence of some german tv-commentators during the game

My last week in sound

Jun 23, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Sound Studies


Monday:

Working again on part III, Klang/Sound, of my book on Klang Erzählungen: eine Anthropologie des Klangs (»Sonic Fictions: an Anthropology of Sound«).

And thus listening again to Pour en Finir avec le Jugement de dieu (1947) by Antonin Artaud; especially to its passages on the corps sans organes, the »body without organs«. (cf. the english translation of this great classic)

Finally I found also time to work on my lecture in July on Resonanzkünste (»Arts of Resonance«).


Tuesday:

Jeff Warren, author of The Head Trip: Adventures on Wheel of Consciousness (2007) says something pretty elucidating about the new mythology of neurobiology:


The scientist James Austin has a quote I like: »We will all be neurobiologists to some degree in the new millennium.« We’re all learning a new language, and I guess you could say these books are part of a new mythology.

They’re teaching stories that dramatize our expanded understanding of the brain and self. That said, a lot of the neuro-imaging stuff is overrated, and the media’s obsession – and I am also guilty of this – our obsession with pairing aspects of human life with bits of the brain (»the God module« etc) can get ridiculous.

That’s why I still like Freud. At least he could write, and he had a lot more to say abouthe richness and complexity of inner experience than, say, mirror neurons.


Wednesday:

Listening again to old Palais Schaumburg-records. Still: great stuff!



And then: NNNAAAMMM.



Thursday:

Screamin’ at the top of my voice and singin’ wholeheartedly with hundreds of others during the great match between Portugal and Germany at the EURO2008. Fun.


Friday:

In the mornin’, thoroughly inspired by a new blog-post by Rainald Goetz, currently still the most important and influential contemporary german author:


Idealort für den Text: am Rand, wo er die Literatur, egal in welche Richtung hin, zu verlassen anfängt, ohne damit schon ganz fertig zu sein. Er ist wohl noch Literatur, aber eine fragliche: das wäre der richtige Wortort für mich, namens: schön.

(my translation: »Ideal place for the text: on the edge, where it begins to leave literature behind — no matter in which direction — without being thoroughly finished with it. It still seems to be literature, but of a questionable kind: this would be the right wordplace for me, called: beautiful«)


Saturday:

Wow! Four specimens of old, redundant machines play Radiohead’s Nude. Made by James Houston, graduating from the Glasgow School of Art’s visual communication course. Enjoy this ensemble consisting of a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, an Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer, an HP Scanjet 3c and an unspecified Hard Drive array:



Sunday:

The cooling stillness in this very hot day; and the surprising relative silence in town after the victory of the spanish football team over the one under the italian flag. Here come the semifinals!


My last week in sound

Jun 16, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Sound Studies


Monday:

Listening & dancing to Kaputt in Hollywood, the new single of our former Sound Studies-student Sacha Robotti together with Cord Henning Labuhn as ROBOSONIC.

(Disclaimer: Their album Sturm und Drang (Diskomafia 2007) was produced in the Sound Studies Berlin Studios)


Tuesday:

Simply Nôze.

Smile: The world is yours.


Wednesday:

Listening to Susanne Feld’s new and first (really?) album Musterstücke (2008): recorded in a temporary shop of Berlin fashion designer Ansoho and sewn out of the sounds of tailoring.

Madame Feld is also the authorette of the great and unforgettable saying:

Kunst ist kein Wettbewerb. (»Art is no competition.«)

Let this thought dive into you.


Thursday:

Maybe only slightly off-topic: Thinkin’ about the concept of Neurodiversity.


Friday:

Found time to work on my overview and analysis of Education in Sound: Hearing perspectives in Acoustic Communication for an international publication on Audio Branding, edited by Kai Bronner.


Saturday:

Inspired by the first screening for years of La Societé du spectacle (1973) on celluloid (in Germany) by Guy Debord, with a great introduction by Thomas Levin.



Sunday:

Post-Wittgensteinian Philosopher Ulrich Pothast, an expert in non-rational sensibility, wrote: Das Wichtigste tendiert zur Flüchtigkeit. (read: »The most important self-perceptions show a tendency to be transient.«)


My last week in sound

Jun 10, 2008 in Allgemein, Miscellaneous, Sound Studies


Monday:

Bo Diddley died!

And I wrote and re-wrote all day long the final parts of my lecture on tuesday.


Tuesday:

Hm: I got inspired by the first issue of Field Notes: Writings on Sound by the german label Gruenrekorder, specializing in Phonography (respectively Field Recordings) and Sound Art. (thanks again to my colleague Hanna Buhl for that).

In the evening, my lecture Politik des Klangs (»Policy of Sound«) raised questions about the historicity and corporeity of sensing and acting in a given instance, space and time. Some of the audience members did experience the change in self-perception through the relatively silent parts in the lecture; whereas others seemingly weren’t inclined to react on that. Astonishing!


Wednesday:

Enjoyed hearing again some bits of I Am Sitting In A Room (1969; original recording) by Alvin Lucier, in the first lecture held by John Heymans in our Composed City series.

A dramatic classic that grows and grows by the years. (And not to forget: Benhard Gal’s glorious re-interpretation under the name of : I am sHitting in a room (2002).)


Thursday:

Enjoyed an hour of sounding out my voice after the Lichtenberger Institute of Applied Vocal Physiology with our ex-student and future colleague Ulrike Sowodniok.


Friday:

Found time to think and draft a bit more precise my next big lecture on Resonanzkünste (»Arts of Resonance«).


Saturday:

Once again, I enjoyed the perfect soundsystem and the great aural architecture of Berlin’s very own Berghain-club — just around the corner where I live.


Sunday:

Chilled with Ricardo Villalobos playing on Weekend-club’s Rooftop. Great location! And funny silent screens these days that show the current EURO2008-match — without any sound.