Link 20644698414:

What Makes Beatmaking Unique, and Why Its Given Rise to a New Kind of Musician ›

…

And while most traditional musicians will likely never study (or survey) the art of beatmaking or use any of its principles and nuances, most beatmakers routinely incorporate elements, principles, and processes of other music forms and traditions outside of hip hop/rap. In fact, for beatmakers, no music form is forbidden territory; wherever we find inspiration, we use the styles, techniques, methods, and practices of our tradition to convert such inspiration into hip hop/rap form. And thus, because beatmakers must move between the fundamental principles of hip hop/rap music and the fundamental principles of Western music in general, we’re not only unique, we also represent a new kind of musician[…]

Link 19525065975:

Is Silence Going Extinct? ›

digitalsensorium:

…What’s more, other experiments showed, much as the M.I.T. study did, that noise affected the way visitors saw landscapes: when volunteers viewed photos of natural vistas while listening to helicopters on tape, they rated the scenes less picturesque than they did under quieter conditions…

…scientists were about to realize the damage society’s widening sonic footprint could do to natural ecosystems. In 2003, a Dutch team studying a common songbird, the great tit, reported in Nature that males of the species shifted their calls to a higher frequency in cities, where low-frequency human noise masked their normal song range. Further proof that urban sounds cause wild creatures to adjust their vocal styles quickly followed. Nightingales sing louder in louder environments. Robins — usually diurnal singers — switch to nighttime in areas that are chaotic by day..

Photo 7164815865:

analogtara: Jomox XBase09 drum machine (ca. 1999) with standard alder wood panels, on red Formica table. Photo accompanies my recent blog post on the history of wood paneling in synthesizer design. From the awesome aforementioned article on synth wood paneling history at Sounding Out: The paradox of dressing up an electronic machine made partly of toxic materials and processes with a sustainable-wood exterior is a fitting metaphor—like a contemporary fig leaf—for how we outwardly express environmentalist concern, despite plenty of contradictions in practice. Wood-adorned electronic devices, in all their glorious contradictions, are especially resonant in this cultural moment; see Asus’s EcoBook, Karvt’s lineup of custom wood skins for MacBooks, and, my favorite, Flashsticks: handmade wood USB “sticks” that combine “the high tech world of computing with the simplicity of the world of nature.” The story of Flashsticks’ handmade creation is a case study in eco-contradiction: the website implies that no trees were harmed in the making of their USB sticks—the company uses locally-sourced, “fallen wood from the previous winter’s storms”—yet we do not hear of the toxic materials that may comprise the drive itself. zoom

analogtara:

Jomox XBase09 drum machine (ca. 1999) with standard alder wood panels, on red Formica table. Photo accompanies my recent blog post on the history of wood paneling in synthesizer design.

From the awesome aforementioned article on synth wood paneling history at Sounding Out:

The paradox of dressing up an electronic machine made partly of toxic materials and processes with a sustainable-wood exterior is a fitting metaphor—like a contemporary fig leaf—for how we outwardly express environmentalist concern, despite plenty of contradictions in practice. Wood-adorned electronic devices, in all their glorious contradictions, are especially resonant in this cultural moment; see Asus’s EcoBook, Karvt’s lineup of custom wood skins for MacBooks, and, my favorite, Flashsticks: handmade wood USB “sticks” that combine “the high tech world of computing with the simplicity of the world of nature.” The story of Flashsticks’ handmade creation is a case study in eco-contradiction: the website implies that no trees were harmed in the making of their USB sticks—the company uses locally-sourced, “fallen wood from the previous winter’s storms”—yet we do not hear of the toxic materials that may comprise the drive itself.

Photo 4206997490:

asylumseaker: The Generative Song & Sound Pattern Matrixes of the Shipibo Indians The intricate linear geometric and symmetrical artworks of the Shepibo Indians, a large tribe of the Peruvian Amazon, act as visual music maps – scores notating the chants and songs (Icaros) associated with Ayahasca healing ceremonies. … According to Howard G. Charing, in his article on the visual music of the tribe, ‘the Shipibo can listen to a song or chant by looking at the designs – and inversely, paint a pattern by listening to a song or music’.

asylumseaker:

The Generative Song & Sound Pattern Matrixes of the Shipibo Indians

The intricate linear geometric and symmetrical artworks of the Shepibo Indians, a large tribe of the Peruvian Amazon, act as visual music maps – scores notating the chants and songs (Icaros) associated with Ayahasca healing ceremonies.

…

According to Howard G. Charing, in his article on the visual music of the tribe, ‘the Shipibo can listen to a song or chant by looking at the designs – and inversely, paint a pattern by listening to a song or music’.

Link 3743642281:

Tim Prebble on the Nagra SN ›

audiokayness:

Reblogged from soundsfromthefield.

From above music of sound link:

Following on from the first edition of Beautiful Tech: Bolex H16 comes part 2: the Nagra SN.

Nagra SN

The Nagra SN was first released in 1960, and was apparently commissioned by the CIA, accordingly they were unavailable and unknown to civilians for the first 10 years.

Such an awesome article by Tim Prebble. Also includes a link to a great in-depth tour of the Nagra factory.

Oh, and you have no idea how happy I am to discover that there’s a fuckyeahreeltoreel on Tumblr!

Link 2854992039:

Study: The Neuroscience of Music ›

musiquevisuelle:

Why does music make us feel? On the one hand, music is a purely abstract art form, devoid of language or explicit ideas. The stories it tells are all subtlety and subtext. And yet, even though music says little, it still manages to touch us deep, to tickle some universal nerves.

When listening to our favorite songs, our body betrays all the symptoms of emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood pressure rise, the electrical conductance of our skin is lowered, and the cerebellum, a brain region associated with bodily movement, becomes strangely active. Blood is even re-directed to the muscles in our legs. (Some speculate that this is why we begin tapping our feet.) In other words, sound stirs us at our biological roots. As Schopenhauer wrote, “It is we ourselves who are tortured by the strings.”

[…]

The anticipatory phase, set off by temporal cues signaling that a potentially pleasurable auditory sequence is coming, can trigger expectations of euphoric emotional states and create a sense of wanting and reward prediction. This reward is entirely abstract and may involve such factors as suspended expectations and a sense of resolution. Indeed, composers and performers frequently take advantage of such phenomena, and manipulate emotional arousal by violating expectations in certain ways or by delaying the predicted outcome (for example, by inserting unexpected notes or slowing tempo) before the resolution to heighten the motivation for completion. 

Cut the mid-range, drop the bass, manipulate your emotional arousal.

Link 2854640340:

Science Proves You're Stupid ›

alexhardy:

You can’t understand your brain unless you break it.  Without brain damage, you are incapable of acquiring any insight into how your mind works, because your brain is sublimely designed to trick you into thinking you have a clue.

Mandatory brain damage all round?

This is interesting to me: “Next time somebody makes an impression on you, ask yourself if your reaction is based on your judgment or your digestion.”

It alludes to why meaningful liaisons - affairs of state, romantic dates, serious business meetings, catch-ups between friends - occur either during or after lunch or dinner. In my experience satiated people are certainly more relaxed, open, and pleasant.

Oh, and a superb zen-like quote from the end of the article: “Why can’t you choose to be more like your cat?  Turn off your mind, go sit in the sunbeam, give not a shit, and be content.”