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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: voice

Posted on May 16, 2019May 16, 2019

in steps by Ricardo Eizirik

in steps (2018-2019) for five performers and one controller (left) by Ricardo Eizirik. Video still © Ricardo Eizirik

in steps (2018-2019) is a piece for for 5 amplified voices and 1 performer by Ricardo Eizirik. Although six people are … 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 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 May 16, 2017March 3, 2019

Speaker Feedback Instruments by Lesley Flanigan

The speaker feedback instruments by Lesley Flanigan are a beautiful example of combining acoustic feedback and musical instruments.  What makes the technology of these instruments exceptional is their use of so-called contact microphones (simple piezo-ceramic elements) instead of a … read more

Posted on February 22, 2017March 3, 2019

InPutOut by Ute Wassermann

Working with a principle similar to that in Windy Gong Ute Wassermann developed a kind of loudspeaker dress through which her voice sounded (see both pictures above from 1989).

In 2015 she composed a new piece called InPutOut using these loudspeaker … read more

Posted on February 6, 2017March 29, 2017

p. 169 Silence is my voice by Matthias Kaul

Frauke Aulbert performs Silence is my voice (2005) by Matthias Kaul. She has a small loudspeaker in her mouth.

… read more

Posted on February 6, 2017February 7, 2017

p. 147 Edison Tone Test

This is a reenactment of an Edison Tone Test:

… 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, 2017May 16, 2019

p. 65 Apparat by Hermann von Helmholtz

David Pantalony plays on the 19th century Apparat zur künstlichen Zusammensetzung der Vocalklänge invented by Hermann von Helmholtz and built by Rudolph Koenig. This device was used to do research on the synthesis of vocal sounds.

… 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

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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