Month: May 2022

SOURCE – DALE CHAPMAN “HERMENEUTICS OF SUSPICION: PARANOIA AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL SUBLIME IN DRUM N’ BASS MUSIC” (2003)

SOURCE – BRUCE STERLING “HIGH TECHNOLOGIES” (BRITTANICA – 2022)

I wanted to reflect a little bit on a recent lecture we had with one of our new tutors, Adam. The lecture led into a discussion which I enjoyed because it felt less like a lesson and in turn I felt more compelled to write about it here, as I got more out of it. The basis of the lecture was the transformation of sound, and how everything to do with sound is transformation. I liked how the lecture moved from the phenomenology of sound and experiences framed through the listeners’ perspective into discussing examples of transformation of sound, both good and bad.

This discussion really enlightened me to think more about what sounds I am using and what to do with them, as especially sounds that you are unfamiliar with can hold a huge importance or meaning in other cultures that are different from your own. I began to understand that I need to be fully aware of how I am representing a culture or a scene or a community with how I am transforming a sound, and have a sensitivity to the power I have in terms of representing these groups or places.

In regards to relevancy toward my project, I was particularly interested by a piece that Adam played us called ‘Imago’, by York based artist Trevor Wishart. The piece is purely derived from one singular recording of what sounds like a mug being hit with a knife or metallic object. With a run time of 25 minutes, Wishart runs the recording through a huge variety of technological processing, from delay to reverb, frequency modulation to ring modulation, resonance modulation to filtering. The progression over the entirety of the piece is astounding, and how he manages to manipulate the initial recording in so many different ways is extremely inventive in my opinion. I think this is a perfect example of the possibilities of what technology can do to transform a sound, and seeing as this was made from 1992-94 there are infinitely more ways of doing it now.

I really admired the focus and simplicity of the piece, because it hooked me in to identifying the original sound before taking me on a journey where I ended up feeling a connection to the sound, as if I had travelled along this treacherous journey alongside it. With my essay topic pointing towards an entanglement of human and technology, I think this piece by Wishart is an amazing reference point. I could record a drum break and pick two or 3 sounds, just enough to make a pattern i.e. a kick, snare and hi hat, and then manipulate them extensively over time and just let the technology lead me down whatever path it chooses. It seems like a fun way of creating an outcome for the sound piece element.

SOURCE – “GOLDIE: ALL THINGS REMEMBERED” (GOLDIE, 2017)

An autobiography by Goldie, founder of legendary drum n’ bass label ‘Metalheadz’ and one of the godfathers of the genre. This is a book about his life but there are a lot of passages where he talks about the creation of the genre, the mindset behind it and tensions with people outside of the scene. This is a great source because it is authentic, with Goldie speaking in first person about himself instead of someone else talking about him, and reflecting on a genre that he was pivotal in innovating and pushing to the ‘outside world’.

MORE NOTEBOOK PAGES –

My initial ideas to focus the essay on Drum n’ Bass evolved slightly at first, with my broad research in terms of finding sources focusing on UK rave culture in general, as well as A.I within music and how that might influence rave culture in the future. I felt that the topic of ‘A.I in rave music’ or something along those lines was way too broad, so I refined the subject area to focus on drum n’ bass and its link to the cyberpunk ideology. In more precise terms, I have found a few sources that highlight the entanglement between producer and technology in drum n’ bass/jungle music, which really piqued my interest because a lot of my personal artistic work outside of University has been centred around the idea of man and machine colliding, and depicting myself as some sort of cyborg.

With the intensely rapid tempo of drum n’ bass comes an artificiality in that it isn’t humanly possible to construct such quickfire, fractured breakbeats and patterns without the need for a computer. I feel as though drum n’ bass is a great example of a cross-section between human ingenuity and technological advancement, and it excites me to dive into different viewpoints and reasonings as to why drum n’ bass has evolved how it has, and what it represents. As I mentioned I have found a few strong sources that I can start with, and my hope is that I continue to direct my research and perhaps find something even more specific to base a discussion around.

In terms of my sound piece element for this unit, focusing on the relationship between human and machine could be really interesting to explore through sound in the context of drum n’ bass, because I am very familiar with how the genre is produced and what the process is like. I feel that this will allow me to blur the lines a bit and explore in detail what is possible when reconstructing a breakbeat with the current technology at my disposal. Contemporary drum n’ bass producers are experimenting more and more with pushing the computer to the edge of it’s capabilities, and I think I can produce a fresh take on what the genre could be in the next few years. My aim is still to keep it sound art focused and make sure to avoid just making a drum n’ bass track, but going a little deeper and exploring how the relationship between my control as a producer and the tools at my disposal can redirect a breakbeat.