Peter Ablinger:
Nanophony
from: "Augmented Studies"
for any soft sound and loud amplification
-
2021, 16'/18'
the piece is possible for 1 or several instruments or singers, or object sounds, or a mixture of this. using electronic sounds as source would probably make not much sense because the piece is (also) about magnifying involuntary little details of super soft performed sounds.
'Nanophony', ink-sketch, note-books 2021
score:
choose a sustainable sound that can be performed extremly soft and very even. while performing that at the edge of audibility, amplify it to the edge of ear-damage.
do so for a few minutes. make an abrupt pause of some seconds. take another sound. perform and amplify it in the same way and for the same duration.
then again the pause and the next instrument/sound. (etc.)
optional suggestions for the number of sounds and the exact durations:
3 sounds 6 minutes each
4 sounds 4 minutes each
6 sounds 3 minutes each
the intention is "not exactly" feedback. feedback is just somehow unavoidible if you take the "edge of ear-damage" seriously. the intention is the high degree of amplification: to make something almost inaudible very big. while the practical strategy is rather to avoid feedback as far as possible - knowing that you CAN'T avoid it. it is neccessarily a constituent part of such set-up.
the rest is experimenting!
in another version of "Nanophony" (from "Book of Returns") there might be found some useful additional ideas to experiment with. here is its score. and here are 2 sound examples for the input-signal and the output-signal. the main figures to take in account are: a) the use of contact mics, which allow to raise the dyn-level before feedback appears. and b) the use of limiter and compression. c) filter settings.
"ein Klang / Klänge, die
nahe am Verstummen sind
zu höchster Lautstärke verstärken"
note-book entry 1996
for printed score contact the publisher:
ZEITVERTRIEB WIEN BERLIN
Bryan Eubanks, Gotzkowskystr. 15, D-10555 Berlin,
T: +49 / 176 / 47 39 29 97, zeitvertrieb@proton.me