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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

Tag: walking

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 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 February 6, 2017August 25, 2018

p. 107 Streetwalker by Ellen Fullman

Streetwalker (1980) by Ellen Fullman, amplifying the skirt with contact microphones:

… read more

Posted on January 31, 2017November 23, 2017

p. 93 Green Piece by Anne Wellmer

Fragment of a recording of Green Piece (2005) by Anne Wellmer.

Violin:  Julia Eckhardt, Electronics: Anne Wellmer.… read more

Posted on January 31, 2017November 23, 2017

p. 91 Bird and Person Dyning by Alvin Lucier

Bird and Person Dyning (1975) by Alvin Lucier

… 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

Posted on January 6, 2017February 20, 2017

p. 3 LapStrap by Steffi Weismann

Different Version of LapStrap (since 2010) by Steffi Weismann, all using portable loudspeakers:

… 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

  • Megaphone Music I

  • 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

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