http://www.ubu.com/sound/neuhaus.html
Radio Net:
The results of asking half a million people to do anything, even something as simple as whistling, of course will be diverse. Some will do it; others won't. Those who do will choose how or what to whistle. Even though it may seem a very specific request, for me it was a broad indicator to provide a body of pitched material in the work.
During the broadcast, the sounds phoned into each city passed through its self-mixer and started looping. With each cross-country pass, each sound made another layer, overlapping itself at different pitches until it gradually died away. It was quite a beautiful Sunday afternoon - two hours over which ten thousand people found their way into the work and made sounds.
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 18:13 (sixteen years ago)
more on Radio Net
http://emvergeoning.com/?p=144
Max Neuhaus has been a visionary in the artistic use of sound for decades. In the 60s he worked with some of the most innovative musicians in America (Cage, Stockhausen, Feldman), and was a pioneer of “live electronic music.” But soon he sloughed off the constraints of traditional musical performance altogether. The limitations Neuhaus tore down include time-based sound composition and the separation of audience from performer. To free sound from the tyranny of time, Neuhaus developed the concept of sound installations, which work as audio sculptures to be experienced as spacial components of the environment (one of these pieces is located in Times Square, and maintained by the Dia Art Foundation).
To break down the isolation of audience, performer, and composer, Neuhaus began to work on community-based sound compositions in the 60s. To do this, he connected two widespread audio networks: the telephone and the radio (apparently this was before the days of call-in radio shows). By putting ten telephone lines into a radio studio in New York, and developing a device to answer them and mix the audio, he created a sound piece in which the audience was the primary composer and performer of the work. He later convinced NPR to let him repeat the project across the nation in the late 70s. For Radio Net, Neuhaus connected 200 NPR stations, five of which were accepting calls. Over the course of two hours, ten thousand people participated in a nationwide audio loop.
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 18:23 (sixteen years ago)
"The Cage-Neuhaus Feed - Fontana Mix was the evening's tour de force. Two timpani were set up, with contact microphones on top of each and huge loudspeakers in front of them. Mr. Neuhaus sat to one side and manipulated an electronic mixer.
"There are no sounds designed to begin with so Mr. Neuhaus, with the use of feedback, started sympathetic vibrations in the timpani, which in turn caused more feedback into the speaker, causing more vibrations, and so on. He manipulated the intensity and quality of these on the mixer dials.
"What came out was a wildly tearing, threatening series of shrieks and hisses of bloodcurdling intensity that rose again and again to the point of terror and then receded.
"This piece was not the kind of electronic music that emanates distantly from the speakers. It felt as though one's own head were part of the feedback circuit."
Theodore Strongin, New York Times,
December 2, 1966
"For a finale, Neuhaus realized the classic ambition of the Dada composer by creating a sound that was a scandal. The noise was literally painful and, for many in the audience, unbearable in volume, pitch and duration. Entitled Feed, and based on Cage's Fontana Mix this gem of musical ideation involved putting small mikes on top of tympanis and letting the loudspeakers excite them into noise by means of feedback. It was like the soundtrack from World War II, with original cast. The whole night was great, High-Camp fun, but Mr. Cage's Silence can be more sincerely recommended."
Donald J. Henahan, Chicago Tribune,
April 14, 1965
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 18:25 (sixteen years ago)
RIP.
was so psyched the day i was wandering about the armpit of the universe (Times Square) and finally heard his sound installation there. at least, i am to believe it was his.
― beta blog, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 22:33 (sixteen years ago)