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Between Air and Electricity

Microphones and Loudspeakers as Musical Instruments

  • Overview
  • Chapter 1
  • Chapter 2
  • Chapter 3
  • Chapter 4
  • Chapter 5
  • Other Examples

Category: 1990s

Posted on November 24, 2017April 7, 2019

Loudspeakeroperas by Huba de Graaff

In her opera Lautsprecher Arnolt (2004) Huba de Graaff decided to have most roles played by loudspeakers. Only the main character—the writer, Arnolt Bronnen (1895-1959)—is played by a human actor, Marien Jongewaard. Arnolt himself is literally a  “loud speaker”, screaming … read more

Posted on August 28, 2017April 7, 2019

The Springboard by Eric Leonardson

Eric Leonardson invented his Springboard in 1994. This instrument is an excellent example of how the simple addition of a contact microphone can create a beautiful sonic phantasmagoria out of ordinary objects. When you look at the instrument, you can … read more

Posted on May 2, 2017March 3, 2019

Fifty years of loudspeakers and ping pong balls

Some objects seem particularly suitable for use in preparing loudspeakers. Perhaps ping pong balls were favored objects for this due to their lightness and characteristic sound. Comparing several of these set-ups reveals that—fortunately!—using a similar technology can still result in … read more

Posted on February 6, 2017February 7, 2017

p. 149 Noting Is Real (Strawberry Fields Forever) by Alvin Lucier

Noting Is Real (Strawberry Fields Forever) (1990) by Alvin Lucier:

… read more

Posted on February 6, 2017November 17, 2021

p. 134 Eliane Radigue

A documentation on Eliane Radigue. She mentions how she places loudspeakers in the concert hall at 10’00”:

… read more
Posted on February 6, 2017February 20, 2017

p. 122 Music for Piano with Amplified Sonorous Vessels by Alvin Lucier

Hildegard Kleeb performs Music for Piano with Amplified Sonorous Vessels (1990)  by Alvin Lucier, also available on the CD Panorama, with other beautiful works by Alvin Lucier:

… read more

Posted on January 31, 2017November 23, 2017

p. 69 A Letter from Schoenberg by Peter Ablinger

A Letter from Schoenberg (1996) by Peter Ablinger.

Listen first to the version without text:

And listen now to the version with text added:

… read more

Posted on January 31, 2017November 23, 2017

p. 21 Intona by Dick Raaijmakers

Intona (1991) by Dick Raaijmakers

… read more

Posted on January 6, 2017February 7, 2017

p. 3 Audio Ballerina’s by Benoît Maubrey

Audio Ballerina’s by Benoît Maubrey:

… read more

Between Air and Electricity

  • Table of Contents
  • Cathy van Eck
  • introduction

key words

  • (acoustic) feedback
  • (hemi)spherical loudspeakers
  • contact microphones
  • everyday objects
  • flute
  • flying loudspeakers
  • movement
  • percussion
  • phonograph
  • piano
  • pick-ups
  • prepared loudspeakers
  • prepared microphones
  • sound reinforcement systems
  • space
  • tactile transducers
  • ten or more loudspeakers
  • trumpet
  • tuning fork
  • violin family
  • voice
  • walking
  • water
  • wearable

time line

  • 1950s and earlier
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
  • 1980s
  • 1990s
  • 2000s
  • 2010s
  • 2020s

Recent Posts

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  • in steps by Ricardo Eizirik

  • Touch Amplifiers by Özgür Erkök Moroder and Steffi Weismann

  • Kkwaenggwari and Bambusoides by Ji Youn Kang

  • acoustic resonators by Jeff Snyder

  • Ohr-Weide — Salix aurita by île flottante | Andrea Gsell & Nica Giuliani and Lilian Beidler

  • Drohnenmusik by Genoël von Lilienstern

  • Echo Moiré by Matteo Marangoni

  • Kropka na Ogonie and Soroka Fruwa by Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman

  • 112 loud-speaking telephone receivers and other early sound reinforcement systems by Ralf Ehlert

  • Transduction and Acoustic Radiator by Kristen Roos

  • Loudspeakeroperas by Huba de Graaff

  • Points of Contact by Erfan Abdi

  • Vestiges of Discomposition and other works by Simon Whetham

  • The Springboard by Eric Leonardson

  • Touche Nature by I-lly Cheng

  • Small Movements by Adam Basanta

  • Speaker Dress by Pauchi Sasaki

  • Apart by Oscar Bettison

  • Sound in a Jar by Ronald Boersen

  • Transducer by Robin Fox and Eugene Ughetti

  • Speaker Feedback Instruments by Lesley Flanigan

  • Fifty years of loudspeakers and ping pong balls

  • Hemispherical loudspeakers for laptop orchestras

  • Doppelbelichtung by Carola Bauckholt

  • Tonewood by Hugo Morales Murguía

  • Klangflug by Lara Stanic

  • A sympathetic piano by Gökhan Deneç

  • An active loudspeaker by Hermann Scherchen

Accompanying website for the book Between Air and Electricity by Cathy van Eck
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