9 x 9

may 18, 2005.

If nothing else, writing and thinking about '9 Beet Stretch' made bubble up in my mind some other things that one might do to Beethoven recordings ... ah! ... da m a n ! ... Just thought I'd jot down some of these here, as a sort of addendum to the other day's entry ... As a reminder ...

Funny, btw, to notice how varied reception of this work actually is: there are those whose experience of '9 Beet Stretch' comes close to something mystic, to a cosmic, a near religious experience; on the other side there are those that think the whole bloody thing's just a d r a g ... These are the extremes. And then there are those that will find themselves neither on the cosmic nor on the drag side. Like myself. Who finds '9 Beet Stretch' first of all a very inspiring idea. And a work, which for me immediately evokes several others.

Here's one such dérivé: also stretch the other eight Beethoven symphonies to 24 hours; then, in a reasonaby large hall, play all nine of them, simultaneously. And play them loud. Very loud ... Now that should raise (one) hell (of a - {: kosmik :} - noize) ... !

And here is a very different one ([ 9x9 ]): take nine distinct (stereo) recordings of Beethoven's ninth; then apply digital expansion and/or compression to eight of these recordings, to make them, movement by movement, last precisely as long as the ninth one. Now, in a reasonably sized (but not too big) rectangular space, install pairs of speakers in each of the 8 corners of the space. Each pair will be used to play back one of the eight time-adapted recordings; a ninth pair of speakers will be installed in the middle of the space, and used for play back of the unmodified recording. All nine recordings will be played back simultaneoulsy; synchronize the beginnings of each of the 4 movements. The playback should be looped. The volume: low (not exceeding the level of normal conversation).
This [ 9x9 ] is something that I might just do. It would be great galery piece, in which case I would combine it with a show of my collection of found soothers, which I have decided to use for the creation of a series of soother objects: tettinotheques (on the photo you see the first one of these (in a still un-, but almost, finished state). [Interested galeries and/or other parties of course may contact me for more information (use the 'mail me' link somewhere on the left on this page ... )]

[ 9_Beet_Smash (may 12, 2005; 17h00) - Years ago, long before digital sound processing became the norm, I remember that at some point Ronald Heiloo and I considered using recordings of classical symphonies ... but we did not, as Leif Inge in his '9 Beet Stretch', want to 'time-stretch' them. On the contrary. We were fantasizing about compressing them - 'wthout changing the original pitches' ... cramming all the 'musical information' they contained into a time span of a couple of seconds, in order to create 'colored explosions' ... big bangs, say ... for that's what we thought - or hoped - that we would get ... if it were possible to do what we had in mind.

Writing the SB entry on '9 Beet Stretch' reminded me of this old idea, which - needless to say - at the time remained but a fantasy. And no, I could not resist the temptation ... I imported the one recording of Beethoven's ninth that I have on CD (directed by Fürthwangler, the Bayreuth 1951 recording, in mono) into a ProTools session, and just hit that default compression button several times, until I got the lot down to precisely one minute ... so here you go ... 9_Beet_Smash (mp3) ... I'm not particularly proud of it, mind you. Nor is the result particularly interesting. But well, ya know ... a man's gotta do ... ]

[ mixing it! (may 12, 2005; 20h17) - Later that same day, after having made the Smashed version, I listened to the last half hour of a cycle of the '9 Beet Stretch' stream, and mixed it (real-time) with an unstretched version of the 4th movement (of the Fürthwangler, the Bayreuth 1951 recording) ... Pretty interesting, musically ... really! ]

[ Earlier related SB entry: 9 Beet Stretch :: next related SB entry: Stationed Soother ]

Trash Aesthetics

may 17, 2005.

Now here is another little something that is simply delicious: Trash Aesthetic Records ... a label, based in Malverne, NY, that will release absolutely any material that you send to them. Anything. But ... only 2 or 3 copies of each 'release' will be made available. The artist will get one of these. The other(s) are sold, at $4,= a piece. Once sold, the item in question is deleted, and no longer available ...

I decided this to be the perfect label to release my 'Live Chronicles' recordings ... So a couple of weeks ago I sent 'Trash Aesthetics' two CD's: one ('Live Chronicles vol. I + II') with 'Vous êtes arrivé à Paris Nord' (which was part of my performance during the Sound Injury Placard, june 2003) and 'XMas in Kentucky' (based on part of my set at the ninth labellesoirée, december 2003); the second one ('Live Chronicles vol. III') contains my 'Canon NP1215', as performed live at the Upgrade, on february 17th this year...

It did take a while, but some days ago I found my copies in the mail (see pics). 'Live Chronicles v. I & II' became TAR-018, and 'Live Chronicles v. III' is TAR-019 ...

Both releases meanwhile have been deleted from the TAR catalogue ... But I'll be sending out 'Live Chronicles v. IV' soon, with recordings made of the 'unplugged' set I did in march, in the Espace Jemmapes. A particularly nice event that was, I think. And an intriguing recording.

Like to have a copy? Keep an eye on TAR ... ;-)