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.
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