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Between Air and Electricity

Between Air and Electricity

Microphones and Loudspeakers as Musical Instruments

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

Tag: movement

Posted on September 26, 2018April 7, 2019

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

Salix aurita — Ohr-Weide (2018) is a work for 150 floating loudspeakers by île flottante | Andrea Gsell & Nica Giuliani and Lilian Beidler.  These small loudspeakers travel 500 meters down a small river in the Merian garden in … read more

Posted on June 22, 2018April 7, 2019

Drohnenmusik by Genoël von Lilienstern

Not much music approaches us from above. But with the increase use of drones for all kinds of applications, the birds seem to have lost their unique position for aerial music.  In his performance, Drohnenmusik (2013-2014), Genoël von Lilienstern developed … read more

Posted on May 29, 2018April 7, 2019

Echo Moiré by Matteo Marangoni

Echo Moiré (since 2011) by Matteo Marangoni is an exploration of space, sound, and movement in the form of a robotic opera ballet. Two sonic vehicles drive around the space. These two robots perform a sophisticated choreography, gradually investigating the … read more

Posted on May 19, 2018April 7, 2019

Kropka na Ogonie and Soroka Fruwa by Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman

Microphone type and microphone placement is crucial for the amplification of musical instruments. In her works Kropka Na Ogonie (2016) and Soroka Fruwa (2016), Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman gives a fascinating example of how this microphone choice and placement can … read more

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 September 14, 2017April 7, 2019

Vestiges of Discomposition and other works by Simon Whetham

Before Simon Whetham begins his performance, he asks you to close your eyes. However, I could not help but open my eyes briefly a few times. I saw Simon walking around slowly, holding a cymbal in his hands. A tactile … read more

Posted on June 24, 2017March 3, 2019

Speaker Dress by Pauchi Sasaki

Our clothes can be seen as a form of communication between ourselves and the outside world. They give a visual impression of who we are and how we would like to be seen by others. Pauchi Sasaki designs dresses which … read more

Posted on June 9, 2017July 5, 2017

Sound in a Jar by Ronald Boersen

In Sound in a Jar (2016) by Ronald Boersen three performers— Ronald Boersen himself, Dganit Elyakim and Hadas Pe’ery—move three different microphones back and forwards to a very small loudspeaker placed in a jar. As Ronald explained me, this piece … read more

Posted on June 1, 2017March 3, 2019

Transducer by Robin Fox and Eugene Ughetti

In Transducer (2013), you may easily recognise all kinds of “classical” playing techniques for microphones and loudspeakers, twisted in surprising and clever ways. This results in a performance which reinvents and expands known pieces such as Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music… read more

Posted on March 24, 2017March 3, 2019

Klangflug by Lara Stanic

In her performance Klangflug (2006 – 2013, several versions) Lara Stanic looks for ways to transmit the airiness and volatility of sound itself to the heavy loudspeakers, needed to produce sounds. By simulating sounds of an airplane taking off on … read more

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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

Recent Posts

  • A hydrophone synthesiser by Tomoko Sauvage

  • 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

  • Bandoneonbook by Hans W. Koch

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