live chronicles

jun 20, 2003.

Meanwhile we're in the very mid of the 95-day Placard international headphone festival. I'll be participating in the 24 hour Sound Injury Placard, which is in an appartment in Belleville, Paris, starting tomorrow afternoon at 17h00 (GMT + 2). My slot is between 02h00 and 03h00 sunday morning.

I've been thinking for a while about doing 'live' chronicles, and this placard seems a perfect opportunity to 'premiere'. The basic material will be the same: the sounds on my cassettes. A 'live' chronicle will basically consist in a choice of some parts of the cassettes that will be mixed, by using a couple of portable cassette machines plugged into a small mixing console (I bought one yesterday afternoon at Music Star's in Pigalle, for ninety nine euros). The cassettes may be complemented by other sound sources. Any suitable instrument. Or a more random source, like an AM-receiver. Which is what I'll use in the placard-event. I was thinking about also using my tape-echo, but when I tried to connect the thing this afternoon I did not get much more output than a deep groaning rumble. Not a bad sound, actually, but which I hardly deem worth the trouble of carrying the pretty heavy echo machine all the way to Belleville.

'Live' chronicles are performable sound chronicles. Well-structured and and with fixed elements to make them 'recognizable'('Ah, he'z playing "Vous êtes arrivé à Paris Nord" !), but on the other hand with enough liberty for intervention and 'chance' choices involved to make every 'performance' different - in an interesting way. I'll try.

[ next related SB-entry: gaité lyrique ]