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John Cage: In Love With Sound
February 9th, 2010
Language is Power?
Random rant (mostly note to self), January 30th, 2010
"As soon as we start putting our thoughts into words and sentences everything gets distorted, language is just no damn good---I use it because I have to, but I don't put any trust in it. We never understand eachother." - Marcel Duchamp.
Question: Can the expression of emotions through music be directly related to knowledge or experience? Or, put another way, Does academic intelligence or learned information make it any easier to convey complex emotions musically?
It's generally accepted the more ywe understand a language the better we can express ourselves through it. Having all the knowledge at our fingertips normally means we're able to take any direction we choose. But, the original point can easily become convoluted. Certainly, trying to illustrate a complex feeling is not easy. Can there really be a map or predefined language to convey emotions?
John Cage said, "I want something I don't yet know." He talked about how he wants to forget previous ideas about music or sound and be on unfamiliar territory each time. He almost expressed a desire - not in
building upon previous experiences to produce a better versions of old attempts - but instead, attempting to wipe his memory and see every new thing as something entirely different, which he believed should be be dealt with as such.
Stumbling across a simple lift in emotion just through accidentally shifting up a semitone during a chord change is half the excitement of creating music. Of course, someone has undoubtedly given those combined elements a name and formula; 'X' combined with 'Y', times by 'Z' and divided by 'Q' equals emotion 'B'. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you compare that to making a completely new and outstanding personal discovery, there's no comparison.
The difference is enormous. I believe those two methods of composition leave an inherent imprint on the finished product. The 'outstanding discovery' (or the feeling of being immersed in personal discovery) is going to be truly celebrated, whereas the formulaic method most likely will not. It's not something anyone would be able to put their finger on. It would just be that raw, unrefined emotion of someone who is focusing on the emotions rather than the formula, which fundamentally means the listener is likely to have a closer relationship with that.
Obviously, it would be absurd to actively fight against traditional or established methods but it's equally absurd to depend on them entirely when dealing with something so malleable and ever changing as emotions.
Everything can be broken down into a formula. I guess there's no getting away from that. You can dissect a frog, take out all it's innards, stretch out its nervous system, veins, eyeballs, skin, skeleton, bone, cartilage and so on... That might tell you how it's constructed or what it's comprised of. Putting it back together and bringing it back to life, however, is not the same thing.
John Cage tackles this subject with far greater dexterity than I. As well as the video above, watch more of him here
The Loudness Wars
November 19th 2009
If you're unfamiliar with the 'Loudness Wars' then you may be surprised to hear that there is a decline in the quality of music being produced despite the evolution of technology.
it's an issue all studio engineers and music producers battle with to some degree or another. You'll notice this when you make a playlist or compilation of various artists. Certain tracks seem louder than others making the quieter tracks seem weaker. This is down to the final mastering stages in music production. You can push the 'perceived' loudness of a track using compressors and limiters, but there is a compromise - you lose the dynamics of the music and sometimes even the clarity of individual sounds.
But, because everyone wants to be the loudest on a playlist, producers are jumping over themselves to push the volume higher, no matter what the cost of the music's clarity. Have a look at the differences of these two waveforms below, one is the original (produced back in 1990) and the one underneath is a remastered version:

The black represents the volume of the music. In the top picture, there are peaks and troughs indicating loud parts and quiet parts. The one below contains no dynamics at all! This undoubtedly has been pushed to the point of crushing any fine details out of the original piece.
Basically, it's an illusion to make you think loudest is strongest. Don't be duped. Use your volume knob if a track's quieter and enjoy some quality produced music. There is beauty in the details. Don't let them be barged out the way by heavy handed shite!
Check out a more in depth article here
Hauschka / Jeff Desom
September 25th 2009
This video is beautiful. Even more so when you know that the whole thing has been animated and pieced together using found postcards and photos from the U.S. Library of Congress. Really stunning.