Skip to main content

Alvin Lucier’s “I am sitting in a room” (1969)

 

The recording “I am sitting in a room” by Alvin Lucier plays with an again and again resumed sound/voice on tape. In the following I will try to showcase my thoughts during each replay. This will look now a bit experimental, as it is, but maybe it helps to understand what I thought while listening. My comments are the ones in blue.

Replay#1: 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. (- 01:36 min)

Replay#2: 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. (- 03:15 min) Here, the stutterers in the area of the “R” notes become more prominent.

Replay#3: 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. (- 04:44 min) “S” tones appear sharper, almost like a weak whistle.

Replay#4: 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. (- 06:16 min) Some words start to disappear and sound kind of mumble to me. Also, the overall sound changed more drastically from replay three to four than it did before. Some tones suddenly have an echo, which sounds similar to noise out of some of the first movies about aliens.

Replay#5: I am sitting in a room *waves of sound appear* 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 *the word speech is clearly identifiable*, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, “is destroyed” *“is destroyed” clearly recognizable*. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity *“this activity” also recognizable* not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have. (- 07:46 min) Individual tones appear flatter. It seems like the tones start to align with each other. Also, it sounds as if there are some additional tones added which reverberate similar like a glass bottle in which someone blows would do.

Replay#6: I am sitting in a room *waves of sound appear* 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. (- 09:18 min) Now, I am not even sure if I would understand have the words if I wouldn’t be able to read them along. And, to be very honest Lucier’s voice almost sound like Harry Potter speaking parseltongue.

Replay#7: I am sitting in a room *waves of sound appear* different from the one *even higher tones* you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice *seems like the “I” tones appear as a higher whistle now* 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. (- 10:44 min) For me, this starts to sound like only squeaking waves of tones and noise. The high-pitched ones make it now very unpleasant to listen to.

Replay#8: (- 12:20 min) Honestly, now I am really not able to understand anything anymore. I even missed the start of replay and retape eight. Just a lot of squeaks and whistle like sound – some people would call them noises and I am one of those people.

Replay#9 and going on: I am definitely not able to track the start of each replay anymore. Listening to this is not anymore just “unpleasant.” Really. I am thinking about turning it off and it isn’t over for another two minutes. It seems as everything else but the feedback of the microphone is now completely subtracted.

In the end only the unique acoustics of this particular room are left. And also, my ears don’t stop ringing.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pierre Schaeffer - Étude pathétique

  Pierre Schaefer begins the piece with sounds produced by drums and similar percussion instruments. One hears the sound of an object spinning and then coming to a stop. I assume it is a circular object, like a cymbal or hi-hat of a drum kit, that spins until it comes to a stop. Sounds of a locomotive follow, continuing with a mixture of drums and spinning objects as well as voices. There are slight parallels here with another piece by Schaeffer, "etude aux chemins de fer," in which he has the musical piece consist of sounds of trains and locomotives. I also recognize an accordion and a violin playing rapidly, accompanied by human sounds that are not really decipherable. By combining all these background sounds and using human voices, Schaeffer creates an exciting atmosphere while listening to the piece, and the listener's auditory senses are constantly challenged to decipher all the details of the sounds. At times one could be reminded of a scene from a scary movie, at l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
Post a Comment
Read more