"Values / Works"

Lecture at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague, October 27th 2009

Folkmar Hein, formerly head of the Elektronisches Studio of the Technical University Berlin

1. The Value of Archives

During the preparation of my first EM-Hören (Electroacoustic music meeting) for last term, I asked myself about a title and thought back:

I remember the exhibition series "Grauzonen-Farbwelten" (Grey areas-Coloured worlds) with Klaus Ebbeke at the NGBK Exhibition in the Academy of Arts in 1983. At that time he claimed that, after a certain time, it is possible to listen to the WDR-EM (West German Radio electroacoustic music) of the 50´s and 60´s as if it were "new" and that the reason is that most do not recognise that music any more and because after such a long time, ears and listening awareness are quite fresh and open.  -  Somehow he was right!!!

Therewith I wanted to point to the time dependence of our perception and particularly to our general assessment of value, which I will discuss in detail later. However, first let´s have a look at another statement of about four years ago and at the idea of "Importance-Dispute"; at that time I wrote (particularly concerning an opinion about the IDEAMA-Project):

A  frequently asked question is which EM-works are "important".  And soon after this I further ask: for WHOM is WHAT important; at what time period and on what occasion? Why is something important to me and not to you? What is important (and what on the contrary is unimportant?) Is the assessment "this is important" really important?

 What is important, exclusively depends on the questioner himself and on his own current importance criteria – for example historical criteria, degree of recognition reflected in the amount of publications, context at the moment of a concert situation, relevant academic courses or lectures, criteria based on a technical and/or aesthetic viewpoint, on the kind of material used and so on. The objective of IDEAMA / ZKM Karlsruhe (International Electroacoustic Music Digital Archive) was to signal to the public which, of about 700 works, are the most "important" ones!
Now, wherever we read something like "the best film of all times" (and in a way IDEAMA really is the best archive of all times, right?), we trigger the discussion of what is that, that those call "important" or "the best". The "claim of importance"  suggests a split into  "important/unimportant", which is also a bit like a split into good and bad, which then implies a dualism between keeping and throwing away, --- so to speak, 1-bit- version in the digitized Archive of Valuable Music.

And exactly at this point I start having doubts!

What sense does it have to hold something to be "the best" and to be "important / more important", and even more "of all times"?  Do we already know, what will happen in the future and how future generations will judge? Does not experience teach us that something that in the past was disliked today may be loved?, and vice versa? Isn't it this unclear and enormous state of uncertainty in the musical culture typical of our European background? And how should we deal with all this? 

We believe that with the technological revolution in studio technique everything became "better" – however the word "better" faces the following problem: an improvement could be understood as a change from an old state to a new one. The new one soon becomes "old" and so on and so forth.

Example: formerly the mono vinyl record was the big sensation; then came the stereo vinyl record, later on the CD, then the DVD; and yes, what once was praised as "new" turned like a miracle into something old and "worse" (in which only the nostalgics indulge). Regarding technology and due to a deep belief in technological progress, it is possible to exchange "old" and "new" for "worst" and "better"! Supposedly, everything technical always evolves into something better, more beautiful and faster in comparison to something not so fast or not so beautiful… but what could that be?? And what about the music linked with all this? Does it also become better with “better” technology?? or worse?? This certainly is a very special and controversial topic that arouses deep feelings and emotions, what in any case positively favours the trade; the "old" can get a collector`s bonus and the new" a progress bonus: traders are happy in both cases.
The truth is that time goes on and the coming generations cannot understand what once the elderly found so attractive about the "old".

Sound examples from the 1932 Radio and Television Exhibition in Berlin / Electric Instruments:
Sound1; Sound2; Sound3

Text to sound1 (enthusiastically spoken by professor Gustav Leithäuser {Heinrich-Hertz-Institut TH Berlin}):
The sounding board is a very complicated part. Several difficulties such as wood preparation and similar things must be overcome for its construction.  On the other hand we control the technology of electric amplifiers much better, and therefore it is much easier to produce beautiful sounds and very loud sounds or any desired loud sounds with an electric amplifier. Before going into more details and talking about the second group of purely electric instruments, I would like to introduce an instrument to you: the electric Neo-Bechstein grand piano, which was developed collaboratively between Bechstein, Siemens and Nernst. Mr. Narand will be so kind and play for you a piece on the Bechstein grand piano that stands there in the corner. ….

Text to sound2 (same event):

Well, now we can leave this kind of music and come back to the instruments with which we started out, a grand piano, violin and cello. Now we will listen to a very good trio. The cello, which you can see there, does not have a sounding board. If we turn it around, you see: it is a simple board on which the strings are stretched. Miss Wolski? will now play the violin, Miss…? the piano and Mister Dr. Reinhold will play the cello. Before they start, however, we want to show you that we can really manage a great deal with a pickup transducer. If we place a magnetic object, for example a bit of iron, between a string and the pickup  - now we do this, do you hear a peculiar (?) creaking noise in the loudspeakers caused by change of magnetic flow. If we play the cello while the amplifier is switched on, you will be able to hear the sound well. Please do that! --- Now we switch off the amplifier{crack noise}and you immediately hear that the sound appears thin and insignificant.-…

Text to sound3 (ditto):
After this beautiful performance we want to make another test. Using the violin and the piano, we now want to show you how the sound interplay works. First we will switch off the piano, then the violin and later on both, so that the amplifier does not receive sound anymore. Then you will definitely be able to notice how extraordinarily varying these sounds are, that means, how much is allowed by the amplifier. Please start now: {Duo plays}; switch off the piano; switch on; violin off; please switch on again; switch off both; switch them on again ...

With this example I wanted to make clear that all aspects concerning value and importance are time-related and time-dependent, changing over time (during decades, months, years, from day to day and probably from one moment to another); we now think quite differently about the supposedly "miraculous technology" of amplifiers and the high expectations put on them!! Thus we have today new "wonders" that marvel us and soon after will not marvel anybody!
Alongside the time dependence of value assessment, these aspects are also dependent on place!

I gladly found a short interview with 100 year old Eliott Carter, published in the newspaper Tagesspiegel on 20th. April 2009:

Excerpt:

Eliott Carter describes time-dependent spaces of memory and thus spaces in which values change – "everything is always in motion"…

Let’s come back to IDEAMA;
the discussion about values is also about the assessment of values, consequently about marking / evaluation, and also estimation. The Werkauslese (work selection), also known as the Title List of the IDEAMA basic collection, is somehow the product of an assessment performed by a jury! Nevertheless it seems to be certain that for this EM-assessment no catalogue of criteria was formulated, although the assessment is still announced until now. How were then markings for thousands of EM works that existed at that time (1992) given? (according to my databank more than 18000!!) It would be exciting to find out what the average mark was!!

Well, there was no catalogue of criteria and no marks either. According to the protocol, it was sufficient to rely upon "the European selection committee’s reputation and to trust their objective expertise "!! (please notice the words "objective expertise" in relation to art)! Who were those, to whom in 1992 such expertise was awarded?? (You can find the names at the bottom of the IDEAMA-Homepage).

It is clear, how self-confident the jury was acting!!! Alone from a total of 708 works in the basic collection 143 works come from the jury members themselves!!! That is between 20% and 25% (depending on how it is calculated: from a total of 708 works, 7 are named (counted) twice – these are different versions of a work!!! It is also stated, that out of these 708 works, 138 cannot be found – 563 works are left)!! Hard to believe: some jury members have proposed own works to be accepted in the IDEAMA-Archive, who cannot be found anymore. And other members of the jury have eternalized almost their entire oeuvre.

On the top position of the league are the French (176 works), then the Americans (145 works) and after the Germans on the third place (89 works); Patkowski and Sabbe have defended their countries successfully  (Poland with 45 works; Belgium with 40 works) – nearly all works are from the Experimental studio of Warsaw and the IPEM Gent respectively. How Bodin managed to get through with only 17 works for Sweden (of these, 7 by himself and Hanson) appears surprising! The Japanese (represented by two men) scored 37 proud goals (nearly all, actually 20 of them, by the troika or trio Mayuzumi - Moroi – Takemitsu), but strangely enough before 1971 there were already more than 154 works mostly produced at the NHK in Tokio. How can this be understood?

The German contribution comes to about 15 % from the Siemens-Studio Munich and 74% from the WDR sphere of activity; Siemens and WDR together make up 89% of the German team!!! According to the works included before 1971 in the IDEAMA-List, there was in Germany not only the WDR-Studio and the Siemens-Studio but also the RFZ-Studio in East Berlin (only two works are named: one by Matthus, the other by Rzewski) as well as the private studios of Heiß, Sala and Riedl and besides occasional activity at the TU-Berlin and HfM-Cologne. If one looks in my international EM data bank (known as EMDoku), one finds at least 721 works from Germany which were produced before 1971!!! Why only 88 works have been included in the IDEAMA, I can really not understand!!
By the way, it is funny that the multimedia work "Personnage" by Shinohara (TU-Berlin version of 1968) is on the IDEAMA list, although it was withdrawn by the composer himself!! I myself, have therefore drawn the conclusion not to trust the IDEAMA research; (there are still, by the way, many other inconsistencies!!).

Especially concerning our TU-studio on this subject:  the listed work "Impulsketten"by Blacher with a stunning length of 3 minutes was, by the way, a "study"; at that time it was the only TU-work released on vinyl record and presumably that was the reason why it struck the jury; however our studio had already produced 42 other works before 1971; among them some really big productions such as Blacher´s quadraphonic opera music "Zwischenfälle bei einer Notlandung" for the Hamburg State Opera. The opera included a whole act where for the first time in an evening of music theatre loudspeaker-music was performed (and I must add: with the laughter of the public!). To continue telling anecdotes (I want to show that it makes sense to be mistrustful of potential discarders):

during the preparation of the Musikrat (Music Council) CD Series (Nr. 74321 73541 2 / Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000 "Zerbrochene Idyllen (1966-1973)", Musiktheater / Oper), it was revealed that the NDR had discarded the original recording of the opera "Zwischenfälle bei einer Notlandung", that means that only one semi-professional copy of the NDR recording is left; I still keep it in the TU archive!

The selection process could certainly be criticized since at that time nobody from our TU-studio was invited to take part in the IDEAMA jury. Well, I am sure that with a TU representative (who had probably been me) added to the already represented lobbies, would have come a person who surely had tried to score points for the TU; probably like all of the other lobbyists!

Ergo: like this, it simply does not work!!! The whole procedure must be a different one!

Let’s summarize other peculiarities:

The same also applies to what happens in other countries and studios; we can just think of France’s centralism and the battle "Paris against the rest of france"!!

But does it have to go that far? 

In connection to our main topic "Works-Values" I am claiming:

EM starts to exist in society only when it has appeared in some form in the media; in a figuratively sense: that, what is not talked or written about, does not exist.

Result:
If EM does not break through the media and publication barrier, it will not only be ignored and forgotten but also in danger of being discarded (what by all means must be prevented).

And that is why we create archives!

And thus we spend time taking care of the catalogues, being responsible for the archive’s systematic organization and preserving the archivists´ building structure; (of course it should not be situated in a building pit! - I am saying all this because the City of Cologne Archive keeps {kept?} the legacy of Ernest Berk along with sound documents, with which I was engaged years ago; in the meantime even a publication was released by the city archive - perhaps you heard, that the archiv was shrinken in a deep pit last year?; I wonder what happened to this legacy?).
We will come back to the archive topic sooner or later and leave to every age its art, we do not hurry!

 

The selection process for the inclusion of works in the archive is not carried out by a jury and not even by someone to whom only "reputation" is attributed, but on the contrary by a professional archivist! The archivist does, in fact, everything! He or she is glad when a generous budged allows purchasing.

The archive ensures that works reported as missing are recovered.

The general misunderstanding of the IDEAMA (the last A letter stands for archive!) stems from the jury’s archiving criteria. And the reason why I greatly engage with this subject is because such misconception about archiving and mediatheque should not happen again!

I am very glad to notice that nowadays there is a worldwide tendency to archive more carefully old treasures along with their playback machines/computers as well as the tendency to employ the appropriate professional staff for that!! It has to be acknowledged that the survival of EM is under the threat of decay: chemical, mechanical, technical, contents, artistic, human, …. The process of archiving is huge; it involves the digitization of analogue tapes. When after decades the basic digitization is finally achieved, there must immediately follow an expensive control process of the new storage media. Then probably, the data should be constantly copied onto new storage media using modern protocols.

In the TU-Studio, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are not used in the future, only hard disks (several terabytes).

 

A gratifying short comment about ARD radiostations like WDR, SWR, BR, SFB etc.:

In 2008 the small Berlin publishing house "Edition Robert Zank", mainly in collaboration with the WDR and the SWR, edited a 3-Longplay-Box (Schuber) containing  6 radiophonic works by the audio artist Ferdinand Kriwet.

 

Ferdinand Kriwet (*1942) started his radiophonic work in 1961 with the spoken text Offen. Then followed the Sehtexte, a series of works that moved away from the traditional book medium and were shown in exhibitions and displayed on billboards. In parallel, Kriwet elaborated theoretical manifestos on acoustic literature. These manifestos would become the basis for his radio works. He also created image and sound for Textfilmen which were presented in mixed-media shows held in art spaces, churches and cinemas. His Hörtexte, mostly constructed on media citations, were composed using music-rhythmic structures. More than ten of his audio collages were created in collaboration with the Studio Akustische Kunst of the WDR, a studio founded and directed during a long time by Klaus Schöning. Kriwet dedicated the Robert Zank edition to Schöning.

I wished that all of the 18 Kriwet early works had been included in the IDEAMA (instead of only two!); how to understand then when anybody who owns these records already has in their hands many more Kriwet works than what is offered by the IDEAMA as a professional archive! And quite a different question should be allowed: why were only a few radiophonic works from the "other" WDR studio, namely the Studio Akustische Kunst, considered?

The edition is described as "a beautifully designed 3-LP-Picture-Discs Luxury-Box"; here the record is nicely called "Rundscheibe" (round disc). There is still another reason why I am calling attention to this 3-LP-Box: its graphic design by "Ott & Stein" is really worth seeing!! It can be said that this music edition is not only beautiful to look at because of the graphic design that covers the extensive surface of the long play, but also because it convincingly transfers the “contents and sense” of the works included. Ott & Stein also designed the posters for the first Inventionen concerts. I feel delighted and also quite proud about this additional artistic contribution to the festival!

 

Let’s come down to everyday life!!

At this point I cannot refrain from making another remark about the lobby topic: I will never forget that years ago, during my visits to the exmachina-festivals at Folwanghochschule Essen-Werden, there was not a WDR broadcasting van parking outside the venue but instead a Dutch one!

How glad I am that times have changed! I want to add that despite my criticisms on the IDEAMA topic I am again and again thrilled with the WDR3! That’s because it is an important bastion of contemporary music and thus of EM, as well as a ray of hope in the broadcasting scene!!

 

In the case of the WDR-Studio, history took a cruel decision (more precisely said: people took a cruel decision):

some years ago the famous WDR-studio was closed down!
For decades it was a national and international model and I would not want a single missing WDR work, quite the contrary (see Sendungsarchiv/ WDR broadcasting archive for both studios). I only hope, that the eloquent musicologists sufficiently advocate that ALL items of the liquidated WDR studio are safely kept in an archive (I am worried about that, but I have no further details about it! And what about the issue concerning the works of Stockhausen or rather between the WDR and the Stockhausen publishing house?).

 

One more word about the nomination of a jury (which has nothing to do with archiving!):
I think we have gone far enough to understand that the real problem with competitions, rankings lies not only in the idea to appoint a jury, but mainly in the structure, leading to the jury selection itself!
The problem is less related to the members of the jury but rather to who chooses them! Members of a jury are pleased when get invited; they are usually well catered for and hardly anybody can resist that.

But what about the usually unnamed powerful authorities that stand in the background and control the composition of a jury??

Primarily they want, for themselves, their institution and their establishments, the complete process to be successful! (yes, but what does actually "successful" mean?). And it is exactly there where matters of politics, lobby, accident, friendship, dependency, wheeling and dealing, etc. do play a role!

In this frequent situation, the easiest and thus more likely way, is to take the word reputation very, very seriously!

But by doing this, does not the aim get lost and out of sight???

I still have to call another linked-up example.
It concerns the same issues and has to do with an orientation towards competitions (again a warning: not only IDEAMA does make a selection but also seems to want to set-up a contest.)!

The Bourges International EM contest is well-known and has been organized annually since 1973 by the IMEB (formerly GMEB); this contest is "important". One has always spoken of the "holy family" that opened to an international clientele a studio situated nearby the famous Bourges cathedral, right at the center of France: Cher! Alongside the contest, the "holy family" organizes an international festival and founded in 1982, under this umbrella organization, the CIME . The CIME defines itself, so to speak, as ISCM of EM. It is believed to have taken over the leadership in the international world of EM and even managed to be incorporated in the UNESCO international council (and thus having influence on the  IREM {Int. Rostrum für EM}). Because the structures of the contest and festival, coupled with the authoritarian management of the CIME, were so turbid, so obviously biased towards own IMEB interest and especially so stinking undemocratic, nearly all national societies including the German society (Degem), did quit in the 90ties; one can actually say: all national representatives did quit.

However the CIME stubbornly continues to exist and ever since mostly recruits remnants of socialist history (Russia, Cuba, Eastern European states, China) as well as newly founded societies like Miso in Portugal; important/unimportant?

I think you have heard about financial difficulties of IMEB this summer, whereat the studio, the guestprogram and the festival is threatened. I personally ask the question, how to react! On the one side a studio could be threatened (and this must be hindered!!); on the other side I have just described what I am thinking about the responsable people beside the studio IMEB. I believe, we should difference between property and owners! The properties (including EM-works) must remain and we need new ideas of follow up; the peoples fate behind this must be treated in a social way, they must loose their responsability!

A titbit of information: quite a few founding and honorary members of CIME also take part in the IDEAMA jury (at least 10 of them are equal identically).
One more titbit of information: concerning the worldwide EM history, to which the CIME must contribute according to statutes, it is lapidary stated: "ICEM has already received texts of Argentina, Chile, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Espania"!
Thanks a lot for this "international" overview!

Here we are confronted over and over again with the sustainability of such terms like reputation, ranking, contest, jury, assessment. These terms provoke uncanny seduction and, if we do not pay enough attention, may distort our system of values!!

Let’s move shortly on to the university marking scale, which I have indirectly mentioned; a Tagesspiegel article dated 22nd of April 2009, under the appropriate heading “Bewerten und gleichmachen" (Assessing and levelling) reported: (here is the complete articel):

Among the diverse opinions on the subject we can find some things already mentioned above:

The marking methods for the assessment of science & research, let alone art, are disputed. I personally doubt whether marking scales in art bring anything else than encouraging a massive lobby.
Addendum: in an interview with Frau Gesine Schwan (Professor and female part of the election of the German Bundespräsident this year!), (Tagesspiegel, 17th May 2009, page 7) the following statement concerning the current global economic crisis can be read:
"The moral failure of some people does not explain this crisis. I would like to show how, caused by the dominance of an uncontrollable competition oriented thinking, a structural irresponsibility has spread out– possible also in the sciences".

The Tagesspiegel article dated 22nd April 2009 also refers to the interdisciplinary attribute, a widespread concept necessary for any understanding of art: what would such a catalogue of criteria in an music college look like if instrumentalists and singers engage in discussions with composers and sound designers; and moreover, what it would look like if also fine arts and theatre get involved??

Just trusting the setting up of such a catalogue of criteria for the evaluation of art already seems to me pretentious, dangerous, tasteless, religious.
About this I would like to make some short and pertinent comments:

The search for evaluation criteria, and consequently for a doctrine, has lead to a massive  transformation process in the universities (so-called Bologna process)  – to be observed are the new master courses where evaluations are traded almost like an elixir or magic potion and even praised as the ultimate "truth". A trained competition oriented thinking melts with a grade oriented thinking already learned at school; (so to speak: it’s not about knowledge and capability but about everybody striving only for grades). Connected to that is also the typical "push" to finish studies as quickly as possible, what to my view is foolish since every student is an individual with his own natural talent and learning pace. Due to this changes in study conditions we are starting to renounce liberties and ideals of the individuals in research and teaching.

 

Above the entrance of the Wiener Sezessions-Gebäude the motto stands out:

"To every age its art, to art its freedom"
 ("Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit")

Apart from the fact that the Vienna Secession building (built 1897-98 by Joseph Maria Olbrich) holds one of my favorite artist, the above statement contains much of what is emphasized along this talk, particularly the words "art", "freedom", "time" and their associations:

And when all this is recognized, concepts such as assessment and evaluation can then be put aside, since the next generations will just smile at them!

Now I am coming to the last point that calls into question ranking and capability alike: I mean, trust in reputation, which also involves the trust only in the value and importance of references, diplomas and any additional comparative/measurement system associated with academic life!

Our society believes that, somehow, school and academic diplomas have to be and are justified. I am of the same opinion.
However, diplomas are not to be trusted blindly! Everybody knows this; long since it is customary that universities and companies do not automatically recognize diplomas of other universities and companies but instead carry out their own tests!! And this applies particularly to artistic professions and occupations.
My experience is that the assessment of a person purely by degrees and diplomas, either with high or low grades, comes along with a complete waste of the person’s artistic potential. I have got to know very interesting artists who had to cope with the stigma of low grades in their degrees. However these artists have shown that such a degree is rather insignificant among their many other qualities and that even with a "bad" degree they became not only respectable persons but also interesting artists. I can hardly see a significant connection between a "good" degree and the career of an artist; it can neither be said that people with "good" degrees automatically master their life and art, nor the contrary! I myself have not paid attention to degrees and diplomas and have admitted people in our studio that could not show any official diploma!
This reveals that life is more complicated than what one can tell by simply looking at the grade or class of a diploma. Looking at it, one misses abilities and potential that cannot be grasped by a diploma; (not only artistic but also human qualities).

By the way: when I was visiting the Exhibition "Max Ernst" in Münster (Westfälisches Landesmuseum), I mentioned a special film by Schamoni named "Maximiliana", where Max Ernst was starting to comment the astronomer E. A. Tempel: "Er hatte Genie, aber kein Diplom" / "he was a genius, but without a diploma". Result: Tempel was roaming from one institut to the other, but nobody was mention him because of his missing diploma!!

And in this context there exists another case of potential waste:
when students absolve their final examination, the "offenders" are often so to speak "pushed away". In practice this means: generations of students who have successfully completed sound design or electronic composition courses, in whom several years have been invested and who certainly have relatively little experience but bring enormous knowledge, capacity and enthusiasm, are kicked out of their hometown studios (understandable in that the next generation should come on board); they cannot and are not allowed to work there any more! Regardless of the fact that long since anyone can set up a home-studio for electronic music production by oneself (a fact that sometimes brings about the claim that university studios are not needed anymore), those former students relinquish the most precious value of art communication: the wealth of diverse and challenging discussions that release synergies from different viewpoints. 
I myself have taken care that in our studio the "old" ones can stay and that guests are always welcomed to work, as long as this is possible and as long as they want.

I am sure that the presence of "others / foreigners / experienced minds" is an excellent synergetic complement to the local staff (or to put it pejoratively "provincial") and is also absolutely necessary artistic-wise. For this reason I'm very glad that in the TU-studio, the "Edgard-Varèse Guest Professorship for Computer Music", which is supported by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) performs since the summer term 2000 precisely such function. Different guest professors are selected for every term. And this "automatically” brings about valuable aspects on music and technology, aesthetics, new technologies in connection to composition and sound art as well as diverse profitable experiences, various opinions and different doctrines, challenge and stimulation!

 

scan fast: skip

2. Space - Values

Stereo & Surround & Industry Standards vs. EM

First, we will have a look at an eight-channel work (Polychromie by Koenig) whose original concept already shows a discrete structuring of the individual tracks. Each track represents a sound entity independent of the other tracks; in this sense there is neither a stereophony, where the usual left and right channel produce a "stereo panorama" with a typical correlation, nor any additional correlations between other channels.

However, let’s look at "typical" EM-productions that always show correlated signals because their sound sources were recorded in stereo. It strikes at first glance that paired structures are present (see pictures of multichannel typical sessions below!)

True surround or multichannel sound recordings are rare. Consequently, one usually deals with "stereo pairs".

 

Let's look now at pictures of multichannel sessions whose stereo structure also become apparent in their 8-channel version (please make the browser window wide enough so that the images are seen side by side!):

1. "Strindberg" (Robert Normandeau; 8ch):

2. "studi & speaker" (Franz Martin Olbrisch, 8ch)

all 8 channels are shown on the left;

            on the right we see the "even" (2, 4, 6, 8) channels which are each above the "odd"

                                                                                                         (1, 3, 5, 7) channels

                                               differences are shown in color for better identification:

 

It can be observed that:
due to the very high resolution, the stereo pairs show similar structures, however, in detail, they are not the same (they certainly sound "stereo"!).

It can also be clearly seen that in the second session less pure stereo pairs are used (hence the picture looks entirely more "colourful"!).

 

This implies an inevitable “left-right” thinking: the left channel remains on the left, the right on the right. Therefore, we can easily identify the channel assignment in a multi-channel work in which the loudspeaker arrangement are "paired left-right".

If we aim at a convincing octophonic assignment that takes into account the center channel of an industry-surround standard production, we have, as result, an assignment problem. Let’s look at such assignment:

 

·       5.0 sketch (Steinke): we see a standard case of surround, that includes a center channel at 0 degrees as well as the left and right channels, in front and behind, at ± 30 and ± 120 degrees respectively

o  left image (octophonic with center channel) – all "rear" channels cannot be assigned

o  right image (octophonic without center channel): the center channel and the two rear surround channels cannot be assigned!!

When we consider the surround standards (5.1, 6.1, 7.1), two problems arise:

 

when possible one would never have a single sub, but rather a setup of at least two subs (the assertion that only one sub is required for the diffusion of bass sounds and that this sub can be placed "somewhere" is empirically wrong!!).

due to the "left-right" orientation, center channels have normally little significance in multichannel EM works.

get in

 

Of course, everyone knows that these surround standards are intended for film and frontal image projection; they are predominantly oriented to the front and the surround channels are categorized as rather secondary; the equal uniform orientation usual in the EM is not at all contemplated or planned.

 

Now, the question is: why EM uses this rather unfavorable industry standards anyway?
(In the meantime several EM works have been released on DVD and SACD, including the TU-Anniversary DVD)

May it possibly be that these standards in fact are not so important? May it, in comparison, be  that other aspects such as ambience and performance conditions are instead much more important?

 

First of all we should point out: art production does not consider technical possibilities from the point of view of technicians, scientists and theoreticians, but instead conveniently from its own perspective. This perspective, as is well known, sets the main focus somewhere else, perhaps surprisingly quite away from techniques.

In many cases we notice that:

 

 

 

 

Some EM-composers have found the following alternatives:

 

 

 

It is really absurd when complex spatial works that require musicians standing in circle, like for example Nono's Prometeo, appear in stereo version on an audio-CD (in the meantime surround versions were released which are a bit nicer than the stereo alternative, but of course do not at all meet the intended concept of the work nor the ideas of the composer)!! In the best case such releases can only be considered documentation. The consumer society should not accept these publications as authentic! In more or less drastic way this applies to all original multichannel works that are reduced to stereo!

The job of a professional archive is, naturally, to file and document works in their original multichannel version and keep them playable (records, playback machines, loudspeakers, computers, software, music scores, etc.), this is a difficult task, because one would have to freeze the museum stages, (for example the whole INA-GRM-Acousmonium in Paris or the ZKM Klangdom! A huge undertaking!! By the way: here at this place at Sonology I want to thank Kees Tazelaar and other responsable persons in the Netherlands to make such a good job in archiving!! Congratulation to reconstruct works like Poème electronic and works by Ligeti, Koenig and Boerman!! Also named here are activities at INA-GRM (Archives).

The sense of multichannel productions; spatial references, spatial perception

I have already referred to the fact that stereo publications considerably reduce multichannel productions to a left – right orientation. Let us now see the following loudspeaker functional principles and examine multichannel options:

 

  1. the loudspeaker is part of an instrumental concept and regarded as a musical instrument. It has a fixed position in a room like a musician, and neither moves nor leaves its place; there can also be several "loudspeaker musicians"
    (    Example: Mark Applebaum´s Pre-Composition (2003) 13'27 [8-channel])

 

  1. the loudspeaker presents a discrete sound source (mono); it represents an acoustic place
    (the function of loudspeakers in very many sound installations)

 

  1. the loudspeaker presents a discrete sound character and works as part of a pair in a left-right system and produces, together with other LS-pairs, different degrees of depth between near and far (acousmatic music)

 

  1. a loudspeaker produces, together with other similar loudspeakers, a physically calculated spatial perception in the horizontal and vertical axes (3D-"Klangdom"; a 2D-dimension is the "normal" multichannel EM presentation); works nice in relation to a "sweet spot".

 


  1. the mix of 3. and 4. is, for example, the usual case in our Inventionen Festival

           




6.    a loudspeaker as a part of a linear- or a  2D-array (WFS – Wave Field Synthesis), it usually has no discrete function anymore, but instead works as a part of a set of hundreds, usually small, loudspeakers.



2D-array of the sound installation "Soundbits" by Robin Minard, Inventionen 2002, Stadtbad Oderberger Straße, Berlin.

 

Now the question is whether this list of different functions could contribute to new and different experiences with a lasting effect and thus allowing us to look at the future with hope of attracting future generations.

 

Space and Movement

Arguments have already been provided about the fact that the perception of space is experienced from the perspective of the listener and not from the perspective of the designer (in other words "what we should hear"). Space itself seems to us to be the field in which small and/or drastic changes (movements) take place in time:

 

 small changes in the sense of

 

 

 

 drastic changes in the sense of

 

It has to be pointed out here that the multichannel option is hardly NOT necessary for the representation of "small" changes. As stated earlier it only provides a certain "embellishing" effect.

Performances making a meaningful use of sound movement are exactly those that the multichannel option needs! This applies especially to film or theatre or radio play! It also applies to what above was termed as "cinema for the ear" and to EM in its special facet of Hörspiele (radio plays), film music and acousmatic music with its requirement of spatial sound diffusion and sound-staging. Incidentally, spatial sound projection has always had enormous popularity. We should just think of the polychoral performances at the Basilica San Marco in Venice, or even of the extended staged performances at the court of Louis14th or of the scenography dreams of Berlioz and Mahler, let alone the spectacular sound staging in opera and theater.

 

The following parameters play a shaping role in "drastic" movements:

degrees of depth / distance, and the very dominat Dopplershift:

Objects change their position, so that auditory and optical localization play a role in every case. The motto for a good localization is: the more loudspeakers the better, and certainly for all three dimensions.

A characteristic application can be found in sound installations where visitors are free to move through a setup of loudspeakers and by doing this, having a direct influence on localization themselves: below we can see a photo (Roman März) of the work "undefined landscape 2" by Hans Peter Kuhn at Villa Elisabeth Berlin (Inventionen 2008).

Objects move in different distance ranges, each presenting a specific communicative feature; through the space-perspective, movements of close sources happen, as a rule, quickly and movements of distant sources very slowly (this is one characteristic of distance). The distance-ranges are:

 

 

 

 

 

Another incidental remark on the acoustical horizon in our EM:

sounds of our everyday-horizon occur with very similar features a thousand times and from all directions. It is a sound experience that we may possibly perceive when we, for example, enter a huge stadion with thousands of spectators (without localization of individual voices); we also know this from a walk in the forest, where the wind blows through the branches and leaves (we do not hear one leaf, but thousands); and we love to listen to it (the sound of the horizon) on the beach, in front of a waterfall, or a fire; it has a wide spatial effect, and above all we sense an immense sound beauty which we can calmly listen to for a long time. Characteristic of these sounds is the fact that we do not perceive the individual sound sources (leaves, water drops, fire), but rather the totality of countless fractal micro-sources that constantly change but never produce the same sound.
This overwhelming hearing impression was experienced by the visitors to the sound installation "SoundBits" by Robin Minard, (see photo above). EM makes extensive use of this effect since it suggests to the listener a familiar "beautiful" acoustic experience. The currently somewhat fashionable tool is called "granular synthesis", and its specifications are, by the way, suited to a WFS loudspeaker system; it can be said that the acoustic horizon is depicted by hundreds of single loudspeakers set in a WFS array!

 

It is interesting to note that with loudspeakers not only the acoustic horizon can be stimulated and designed, but also all existing distance ranges

(as example see please Commentary / Text Inventionen 2008); the available configurations are explained there "Overview of the entire loudspeaker setting in the WaveField-Hall" at the TU Berlin, Hörsaal H0104: we can see several loudspeakers-"circles" and the paired loudspeaker set of the acousmonium.

Please note: the two circles of the TU-Klangdome are not made up of eight but of nine identical loudspeakers (this allows the mapping of surround productions with center channel!):

the photo by T. Schneider shows the WFS-Hall during a rehearsal (Hans Tutschku). We can see:

·      on the walls the WFS set (a total of 104 modules, each with 8 discrete loudspeaker channels, that makes 832 channels);

·      large parts of the new GRM acousmonium (clearly the four "trees" in the seat rows and the "red balls");

·      in outline, parts of the different loudspeaker circles and the Meyer-MM4 loudspeakers (mounted on high microphone stands).

 

The distance ranges described above can be simulated simultaneously, mixed and in parallel through the use of 3 loudspeaker systems:

 

·       acousmatic set-up: a diverse palette; calibrated loudspeakers are at a distance ranging from a few meters up to preferably far away (basically on the walls); the “Trees” stand in the middle of the audience!

 

·       "ZKM-Klangkuppel" (also called "Klangdom"): 3 circles per 8+1 identical wide-range loudspeakers with an additional square in the middle. The best listening place is in the middle, the so-called sweet spot.

 

·       about the WFS system.

 

The reverberation of the performance space does limit the diffusion possibilities; the WFS-Hall illustrated here (with 700 seats), has a surprisingly small reverberation time of about 0.9 sec. and is therefore well suited for simulating localisations in space.

 

Another example of an acousmonium is shown in the following picture of the Inventionen festival 1998 (50 years Musique concrète):

the reverberation time of the Parochial Church in Berlin-Mitte is more then 2.8 sec.; we see parts of the old-GRM acousmonium, again the "trees" and the old GRM mixing desk. The long reverberation prevents the simulation of small spaces and makes the overall sound impression unclear!

 

I show this picture of the Parochial Church to call to mind the "importance" of ambience, something that was already suggested above: the interior of the church does not look exactly like a neat and refined concert hall, the plaster is already coming off the walls, electrical power supply and lighting are not particularly appropriate and handy, there is a draft, street noise and close proximity to the railroad disturb -- and yet here we felt more comfortable than in the Philharmoc hall because the overall conditions for the loudspeakers-audience arrangement were more sensible and allowed a free and unconstrained set-up for sound diffusion (see block diagram above): the audience sits concentric and is surrounded by the sound events; there is no stage, are no stalls or a seating area, no "reverse architecture".
By this I mean, the usual case in a concert hall: the audience sits either in fixed rows in front of the stage or the stage is concentric with the audience; sound events always take place in front of the public, and not around the public; this last performance form was perhaps promoted by Luigi Nono with the staging of his work Prometeo.

 

 

Another parameter, necessary for the understanding of movement, is the one that permanently works in our acoustic everyday world and for which hearing provides a good experience: it is the Dopplershift. Without this phenomenon a movement seems unnatural, even when many loudspeakers are used.

 

If we briefly listen to the historical quadraphonic piece "Turenas" (1972), where John Chowning employs for the first time besides FM also artificial reverberation algorithms as well as algorithms for the description of moving sound objects, we learn: the Dopplershift completely dominates the perception of movement.

 

Chowning cleverly used reverberation for the perception of distance. He let specifically selected sound objects move constantly in and out of a fictitious space with uniform reverberation, thus conveying a space dimension feeling. This also provides a good example for the artificial representation of degrees of depth.

 

What we experience here in the dimension of time running at a present moment, that is to say movement of sound in space, can also be transferred to the dimension of long time experience, a bit like Elliot Carter suggested: he describes time-dependent spaces of memories and therefore spaces in which values change through continuous movement.

3. The Power of Imagination

The example of "Turenas" shows how eagerly the ear gets involved subjectively in experiences that were incorporated during the course of life or learning process, even also in a short period of time, when a person hears something that is in constant repetition. The constant repetition of an acoustic event with a duration of between 20 ms and 20 seconds happens frequently in EM productions (earlier tape-loops were used; today it is like turning the switch "loop"):

 

One checks the sounds over and over again; one repeats passages to correct them or to understand them. In our context it should carefully be noticed that the repetition of sounds and sound passages does trigger a habit process. Exaggerating, we can say that a structure we listen to, not only once or twice but instead a hundred times does produce a complete different effect (We may think of the EM by Xenakis, in which, so to speak, similar and very loud sound structures are relentlessly projected onto the eardrum; after about 10 minutes at the latest, our ears and hearing have radically changed.)

Our attention concentrates on recognizing or re-recognizing certain characteristics / patterns in the loop. In this learning process we discover structures that remained unnoticed during a first and only listening; gradually, certain expectations are strengthened and we start to perceive subtle nuances more clearly. It could happen that after repeated listening and with the willingness and convincement of the listener that "a very good plug-in was used", a sound that was made to move in circular motion with a specific tool will then be perceived as truly describing a circular movement! But possibly one does not perceive this at all with just one listening, and with an impartial listening nothing is noticed and understood; and it could happen that later nobody will understand this supposed circular movement!
(A bit like the fairy tale "The emperors new clothes" - Wikipedia says about it: “the fairy tale is timeless because of the mentioned conflict; also in the current day-to-day politics, statements that hide uncomfortable truths concerning reputation and position can be found over and over again”)

I am saying this in retrospect of the development from mono to stereo to quadra, since we must honestly admit that we have conceited a lot; at least, I claim this for my person, who can be seen in a photo of 1979, standing in the middle of the old TU-studio surrounded by four monster loudspeakers. While listening to older works made by myself, I am often surprised with the fact that my memory differs from what I am listening now - (the expectation as a result of my recollection at that time). In the meantime, time has passed, I myself and all of us change, and neutralizing is quite mistaking. And meanwhile the studio tools have fundamentally changed; overall they have improved dramatically (as far as sound movement simulation is concerned). The problems existing at that time still are in our memories, as well as those fightings with those tools. All this does not exist any more and, hence, the irritation arises.
I'm actually here talking about the acoustic perception and not about the music itself!

Conclusion:
the truth of perception may be the result of believing that the technical realization is perfect
(that again clearly changes over time)

 

Let us remember the radio show in 1932, where a distinguished physicist claimed in a convincing tone that "the sounding board of a violin is a complicated object; we have much better control of amplifier technology and we therefore can produce nice and loud violin sounds (any desired loudness) much easier."

4. My own individual Values

I would like to conclude with a few more personal remarks which will both draw attention to my personal assessment of values and will, I have to admit, add an element of controversy concerning the first chapter.

The Value of Time:

I appreciate it very much when I know and observe that there is enough time available for a project; my experience tells me that any work needs sufficient time to be successful. And with that I also say: pressure and rush usually, although not always, cause damage. It is nice that in our studio sufficient time can be allocated to projects and also that our studios are open "around-the-clock", during holidays and also at weekends (this is not always the case elsewhere).

I would like to introduce, in a metaphorical sense, another aspect of time: the value of a second has fundamentally changed!
Old technologies allowed a rather slow working speed and it took ages before a second of music were ready. An outcome did not respond to the "Undo" correction that is commonly at one’s disposal today; an "Undo" was not at all possible and did force a new start. I think that with working steps was handled much more carefully! I see that a tape of 38.1 cm length containing one second is not the same as the 48000 samples of a 1-second-soundfile!

The Value of Teams with artistic Sensibility, Values through Communication

As allowed to be spread, I retired on 1.3.09. On that occasion, I had the immense honor to witness several concerts and radio broadcasts produced for me and about me. It all culminated in an undisclosed event called "Für Folkmar" on 8.2.09; a total of 77 short pieces, each lasting 65 seconds, were premiered and given to me as present. I deeply thanked all those involved and in particular the artists. I also wrote a text, of which I will quote some excerpts:

I do not forget that after a very difficult initial period (1974 to 1979) the situation of the Audio Communication Department had stabilized and allowed us, since 1979, to embark upon a long-term planning for the department. Soon after (since about 1982) several factors synergistically came together and brought about the actual breakthrough of the studio:

  1. A cooperation network was born that included above all the Berlin Artist in residence Program of the DAAD, the Hochschule der Künste and visiting professors Herbert Brün and Jozef Patkowski and the Academy of Arts.
  2. Financially, these were relatively "fat" years until the turnaround (1990, German reunification)
  3. There was an atmosphere of artistic sensibility (Kunstverstand) in the management of the TU particularly in the construction department; without this environment the studio could not have developed further; included the construction of the "Klangraum"by Leitner!
  4. A new profile involving research, teaching and production was created thanks to the professional computer facilities (a VAX 11/780 donated by the company DEC in 1984)
  5. About the personnel: the professionalization of the digital signal processing was ensured and the seminar "History of EM” began contributing to the musicology branch of the EM-complex. Since 1982 all currents merged with the program of the Inventionen Festival!
  6. There was a certain optimistic spirit after the Metamusikfestivals of Walter Bachauer and the legendary exhibition "Für Augen und Ohren" ("For Eyes and Ears") at the AdK in 1980. This allowed in the former West Berlin, the blossoming of “our” EM genre including computer music and sound art. The TU-Studio played an important role in the growth process.
  7. All the above points, 1. to 6., created attractive conditions for many artists who wanted, and above all were interested to work in the TU-Studio and collaborate with it.
  8. The university allowed us to work freely;they gave me the possibility of working with confidence and trust…

All points above depict (in a partially concealed manner) my favorite values. I could still talk in detail much more about them, but I rather leave it for another occasion, time is running away from us....

Perhaps just a postscript:
for different reasons certain models crystallized over time; one could extract a certain amount of information from the quoted text. However the information I will now provide is not mentioned in the above text: it has to do with the EMS in Stockholm and the Strobelstiftung in Freiburg. I dealt with both studios intensely for years (although rather decreasingly in the last years). Both had at their disposal values which were initially withheld from our studio:

Even with the support of networks, co-operations and a synergetic politics of give-and-take in the big town, we are certainly not "rich" (there was never a budget for artists in the TU!). But somehow, with foreign help, we managed to achieve a model that functions similar to the model mentioned before!!! Only the "coffee-corner" never happened!!

The Value of Commissions

The most important preconditions for the implementation of a general EM complex are: a professional staff with artistic sensibility, suitable performance facilities and venues, one also needs an audience that has already learnt not only to bear contemporary music but also to support it and encourage it. If this sounds reasonable, we also need program designers, organizers, press people and public relations, nice caretakers, and: the music, that is what it is all about.

Exactly here starts the search for the biggest value of music performance: premieres, first performances!

The true value of festivals is the commissioning of new works! This is also a sign of the seriousness with which a contemporary music festival should be handled; it is, so to speak, its flagship! I am extremely glad that, among other things, in our Inventionen festivals new works have been regularly commissioned and premiered. I am deeply grateful that the artists’ fees have been paid by the partners (in first place the Berlin artists in residence program of the DAAD) as well as by state funding institutions and foundations!!

I have also been consistent and therefore, since my 50´s birthday, have privately commissioned new works (up to now, seven).

I would like to appeal to all those who somehow have an inner willingness for investing money in art, and who feel that they must or are able to do it, not to spend money only on paintings, sculptures and graphic art (shortly: the visual arts), but also on music!! We once had a significant potential of patrons for music, but unfortunately this is somewhat forgotten. However, one can always do something, whether by taking care of musicians' fees and additional expenses, whether through a careful allocation of commissions.

It is certainly not possible to hang a piece of commissioned music on the wall, as it is also not possible to make it quieter, however one can feel really glad to share it with others!!

Folkmar Hein, 12.5.2009; amended in July, 2009 and October 2009