Oct-6
Clips from Compositions Featuring Recording and Sound Editing
Iannis Xenakis, Diamorphoses (1957)
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kontakte (1959)
Steve Reich, ComeOut (1966)
Francois Bayle, Le Sommeil d'Euclide (1983)
Bill Schottstaedt, Wait for Me! (1988)
Gonzalo Biffarella, Triple La Rue de la Cage Verte (1995)
Alicyn Warren, Path of Iron (1999)
Early Samplers in the hands of composers
Alejandro Vinao, Triple Concerto
(from AV's web site: Triple Concerto program notes)
The Fairlight CMI used by Vinao in 1988, is a predecessor of software-based samplers like Timidity++. Rather than calculating synthesis from signal or physical model representations, samplers are voiced to play back snippets of real sound (usually triggered a note at a time).
listening assignment: [to get a playlist, launch Snd with a preloaded directory, go to View: Files]
snd -p /usr/ccrma/snd/cc/220a/av/
Some projects have compiled extensive banks of recorded tones, such as the University of Iowa Musical Instrument Samples (Sept. 12, 2002)
These
are freely available on the University of Iowa Electronic Music
Studios website at:
http://theremin.music.uiowa.edu/
and
live on our CCRMA system at /usr/ccrma/cdroms/IowaSamples/
All
of the samples, except for the piano,
were recorded in an anechoic chamber. The piano was recorded in a
teaching studio. More
information about the samples can be
found on the website.
Burn CD's at CCRMA using xcdroast. It's user interface is complicated, but when you know where the three buttons are, it's easy to use. Demonstrated in class, so see an instructor or another student for an intro. Basic drill is: setup [if needed], master tracks [via file browser], calculate size, write on-the-fly.
data or audio CD burning:
xcdroast &
Perhaps the temptation exists sometimes to lift samples from recordings...
audio CD capture to hard drive: [obsessively limited to running in a /zap directory only]
cdda2wav -B -D/dev/cdrom
Microphones
The next assignment requires a microphone. Pretty decent mics can be built from $3 condensor mics. These are small transducers which are powered by an external voltage source (9V battery). Most loudspeakers are voicecoil “actuators” and as is usually the case, there is a sensor based on the same technology. These are dynamic mics, such as the Shure SM-57 (a common PA mic used by bands). The class mics use a different technology in which the distance between two plates changes a capacitive charge. Condensor mics are the sensor “dual” of electrostatic loudspeakers.
Two other types are worth noting: crystal or piezo-electric types and non-voicecoil magnetic types. The former are great for underwater transducers because of their stiffness matching the stiffness of water. They are also common as contact mics and cheapo greeting card loudspeakers. The latter are the basis for most guitar pickups, where a coil tracks string velocity.