I Am Sitting in a Room
This kind of modern art music often pretty annoys me for
itÕs pretentious appearance, but at this one a nice clipping sound consisting
of natural harmonics appears, which grabs my attention. Using this technique
instead of hanging with your guitar in front of your amp could be a good
alternative at recording sessions if you like to add drones to your sound. In
the Ubuweb link below you can download the mp3
version of the first recording (track 2 in the list).
Ripped from Wikipedia
I Am Sitting in a Room (1970) is one of composer Alvin
Lucier's best known works, featuring Lucier recording himself narrating a text,
and then playing the recording back into the room, re-recording it. The new
recording is then played back and re-recorded, and this process is repeated.
Since all rooms have characteristic resonance or formant frequencies (e.g.
different between a large hall and a small room), the effect is that certain
frequencies are emphasized as they resonate in the room, until eventually the
words become unintelligible, replaced by the pure resonant harmonies and tones
of the room itself. The recited text describes this process in action-it begins
"I am sitting in a room, different from the one you are in now. I am
recording the sound of my speaking voice," and the rationale, concluding,
"I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact,
but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have,"
referring to his own stuttering.
Lucier had also specified that a performance need not use
his text and the performance may be recorded in any room. The composer himself
has recorded the piece in at least one room he did not find aesthetically
acceptable.
Spoken text
"I am sitting in a room different from the one you
are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to
play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of
the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps
the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the
natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this
activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way
to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have."
External link
I Am Sitting in a Room on
www.ubu.com
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