Taken from Steve Goodman "Sonic Warfare - Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear" MIT Press, 2010
"An ontology of vibrational force delves below a philosophy of sound and the physics of acoustics toward the basic processes of entities affecting other entities. Sound is merely a thin slice, the vibrations audible to humans or animals. Such an orientation therefore should be differentiated from a phenomenology of sonic effects centered on the perceptions of a human subject, as a ready-made, interiorized human center of being and feeling."(p81)..."An ontology of vibrational force objects to a number of theoretical orientations. First, the linguistic imperialism that subordinates the sonic to semiotic registers is rejected for forcing sonic media to merely communicate meaning, losing sight of the more fundamental expressions of their material potential as vibrational surfaces, or oscillators." (p82)... "Rather, it is a concern for potential vibration and the abstract rhythmic relation of oscillation, which is key. What is prioritized here is the in-between of oscillation, the vibration of vibration, the virtuality of the tremble. Vibrations always exceed the actual entities that emit them. Vibrating entities are always entities out of phase with themselves."
...
"If we subtract human perception, everything moves. Anything static is so only at the level of perceptibility. At the molecular or quantum level, everything is in motion, is vibrating. Equally, objecthood, that which gives an entitity duration in time, makes it endure, is an event irrelevant of human perception." (p83)
This is one of my favourite chapters in Steve Goodman's Sonic Warfare, where he also quotes one of my favourite ideas of Eshun's Sonic Fiction ("Far from needing theory's help, music today is already more conceptual than at any point this century..."). By bringing the discussion sharply away from the normative anthropocentric discussions on sound, such as the subjectivity of (auditive and other) human perception, such as "Sound Anthropology" is based upon or indeed how academic studies of music and also acoustics function, Goodman reduces sound to a mere "slice", a crossover between vibrational force and human perception. By entering this "quantum" or "molecular" level of analysis where everything is constantly in motion, it gives his concept of "unsound" an extra level of sorts. Unsound as "sound that cannot be heard" has already been defined as one of his three definitions of "unsound", but similarly to Eshun's statement about music vs theory above, where music exists and develops independent of theory (contrary to the beliefs of many theorists and critics), vibrational force is given its own autonomy independent of human perception, more or less contrary to our everyday human perception of sound. The result of this, as Goodman asserts, is importantly to reassess the semiotical attached to perceptions or at least be aware of this "linguistic imperialism".
In a way he creates in chapter 15 of his book a break, a jolt and a kind of philosophical drop and an anti-cultural studies stance which at least momentarily subjugates the dominance of human (auditive and other) perception as our basis of knowledge, a vital phenomenological paradox.
Not that I think Goodman is suggesting that removing human perception from his discussion on sonic warfare and sonic cultures is a feasible methodology, but this part of the discussion is critical in at least momentarily subtracting human perception from the analysis to examine the subject in its pure physicality. "Sound" as we perceive it, is vibrational force which existed in the same way it did in 13.7 Billion BC as it does today. To reach this endpoint in the middle of the book is important in sketching out the domain of the discourse of "unsound", critical for both the politics of perception (Virilio) and for the politics of frequency (Goodman).
The presentation of this phenomenological paradigm is attractive as it highlights critical problematics of the methodologies of cultural anthropology and some approaches within cultural studies regarding sound, where the conceptual framework of media studies is perhaps better equipped to deal with (for example Shintaro Miyazaki's "Algorhythm"). This is one of the merits of the concept of "unsound", exposing experiences of perceiving sound as just merely those vibrations which occur between 20Hz and 20KHz and considering vibrational force within its own autonomy.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Documentation "speculum rotarius (electronic ghosts)" at Im Namen des Raumes
Photo: Henrike Meyer
Photo: Tom Tomczyk
Photo: Tom Tomczyk
Video doc:
"speculum rotarius (electronic ghosts)" Annie Goh from annie goh on Vimeo.
Friday, 28 May 2010
The Ghost Box
Demonstration example from Youtube using Frank Sumption's Ghost Box:
Taken from
http://www.angelsghosts.com/ghost_box.html:
"The argument has been made that Thomas Edison was working on a ghost communication device – a ghost box of sorts, to contact the dead. However, there are many Edison experts that would argue that it was only legend, a myth that is untrue. They will point out that he neither believed in the afterlife, nor did he believe spirits and ghosts could be contacted through an electronic device. Whatever the truth behind Edison, one has to believe it makes a good story and backdrop to the ghost box. Even more intriguing, some today claim they are in contact with Thomas Edison via the ghost box, but many respected researchers of the latest ghost box technology have yet to make contact with the famous, dead inventor.
...
Frank’s Box is a ghost box that produces random voltage to create raw audio from an AM tuner, where it is then amplified and then fed into an echo chamber and recorded. In short, ghost boxes such as Frank’s box create audio bits and white noise that ghosts and/or spirits can then manipulate into forming words – real time two-way communication.
...
The ghost box can be used for EVP, as it can be recorded, then analyzed for messages from spirits and ghosts. However, what makes the ghost box unique is that it can be heard audibly through either an external speaker or headset, where responses from the other side can be heard and responded to live – not unlike chatting with someone by walkie-talkie. It does require the user to train his or her ear to hear the messages that are brought forth, as the noise and audio bits can at times be somewhat distracting. But if one experiments long enough with a ghost box, it will become apparent that the audio sound bites and white noise will begin to be manipulated to form answers to questions, phrases and more. For this reason alone, we recommend recording all sessions and listening to them later. Upon playback, one might be amazed at what is captured in the audio. "
++++++++++
The Ghostbox.co.uk the record label: Taken from the website
"Ghost Box is a recording label for artists that find inspiration in library music, folklore, vintage electronics and haunted television soundtracks."
Taken from an interview with Julian House from Ghost Box from Soul Riot magazine:
"...the best way to put our stuff out was to start a label.. There was such a richness to the references we both shared, not just musical.. It made sense that we could put releases out which had this complete world attached to them.. A set of things united by a design identity, fragments of real or imagined books, collections of images, films, links... Something people can become lost in and want to be a part of.."
www.soulriotmagazine.co.uk/julianHouse.html
+++++++++
Which for some reason brings me to Delia Derbyshire's piece "Dreams"
Taken from
http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/recordings.php
Delia Derbyshire created in collaboration with Barry Bermange:
9 minute edit of "Dreams" mp3
Taken from
http://www.angelsghosts.com/ghost_box.html:
"The argument has been made that Thomas Edison was working on a ghost communication device – a ghost box of sorts, to contact the dead. However, there are many Edison experts that would argue that it was only legend, a myth that is untrue. They will point out that he neither believed in the afterlife, nor did he believe spirits and ghosts could be contacted through an electronic device. Whatever the truth behind Edison, one has to believe it makes a good story and backdrop to the ghost box. Even more intriguing, some today claim they are in contact with Thomas Edison via the ghost box, but many respected researchers of the latest ghost box technology have yet to make contact with the famous, dead inventor.
...
Frank’s Box is a ghost box that produces random voltage to create raw audio from an AM tuner, where it is then amplified and then fed into an echo chamber and recorded. In short, ghost boxes such as Frank’s box create audio bits and white noise that ghosts and/or spirits can then manipulate into forming words – real time two-way communication.
...
The ghost box can be used for EVP, as it can be recorded, then analyzed for messages from spirits and ghosts. However, what makes the ghost box unique is that it can be heard audibly through either an external speaker or headset, where responses from the other side can be heard and responded to live – not unlike chatting with someone by walkie-talkie. It does require the user to train his or her ear to hear the messages that are brought forth, as the noise and audio bits can at times be somewhat distracting. But if one experiments long enough with a ghost box, it will become apparent that the audio sound bites and white noise will begin to be manipulated to form answers to questions, phrases and more. For this reason alone, we recommend recording all sessions and listening to them later. Upon playback, one might be amazed at what is captured in the audio. "
++++++++++
The Ghostbox.co.uk the record label: Taken from the website
"Ghost Box is a recording label for artists that find inspiration in library music, folklore, vintage electronics and haunted television soundtracks."
Taken from an interview with Julian House from Ghost Box from Soul Riot magazine:
"...the best way to put our stuff out was to start a label.. There was such a richness to the references we both shared, not just musical.. It made sense that we could put releases out which had this complete world attached to them.. A set of things united by a design identity, fragments of real or imagined books, collections of images, films, links... Something people can become lost in and want to be a part of.."
www.soulriotmagazine.co.uk/julianHouse.html
+++++++++
Which for some reason brings me to Delia Derbyshire's piece "Dreams"
Taken from
http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/recordings.php
Delia Derbyshire created in collaboration with Barry Bermange:
9 minute edit of "Dreams" mp3
Thursday, 13 May 2010
speculum rotarius (electronic ghosts)
Text from exhibition Hzchen at Berg26 17.03.10 - 01.04.10 (http://www.berg26.net & http://berg26.blogspot.com/)
speculum rotarius (Electronic Ghosts)
Electronic Ghosts
A sound installation for two rotating mirrors, two loudspeakers, light sources, an interactive psychical system via the software EVP maker and computer.
The installation Electronic Ghosts uses modern methods of EVP researchers, specifically the 'Speech Synthesis Method', such as that developed by German EVP researcher and software designer Stefan Bion. In this method, the spiritual entity is given auditive 'aids' of raw audio material, which by influencing these, can subsequently form words with which to communicate with living beings.
The software EVPmaker gives the EVP researcher options as to how they obtain their EVP recordings, one option is to use the program to arbitrarily cut-up and randomise segments of a sound file to build the raw audio material suitable for EVP. (see diagram) Alternatively and more correctly, Bion suggests the creation and use of a set of phonemes, containing every sound element of a given language upon which the random number generator acts and a raw material which is not speech (just phonemes), can be used to synthesize speech, thus aiding communication with etheric beings. The EVP researcher can choose the source of the random number generation such as Pseudo Random Number Generator (Pseudo RNG), Fractal equation or an Internet service.
The physical set-up of the installation can be viewed as an experiment in the aesthetics of disappearance. Where the nature of visual reflections and the phenomenology of the eye have been contrasted with the nature of acoustic reflections and the phenomenology of the ear in this thesis, the rotating mirror is taken as an attempt to readdress the notion of disappearance. By paralleling the visual and acoustic reflection by placing the speaker facing towards the rotating mirror, where the visitor will also stand, the disappearance and reappearance of both these acoustic and visual reflections is an attempt to treat them equally, in spite of the obvious phenomenological differences.
Auditive material has been sourced exclusively from samples of Michael Jackson. The installation is proposed to function on two levels; for believers of EVP, it is intended that a psychic interaction takes place between the sample of Michael Jackson, via the EVP maker and method of speech synthesis, and the spirit of Michael Jackson. Those with hearing tuned to identify EVP may make out words, phrases or messages from the now deceased Michael Jackson and may thus be able to communicate with his disembodied spirit.
For sceptics of the paranormal, the installation can function as an experiment of psychological projection as outlined in Joe Banks' concept of "Rorschach Audio" or auditory illusions akin to those of Diana Deutsch, as the visitor can attempt or resist the formation of sounds into words with varying meaning. The nature of human perception as "unconscious inductive inferences" (Helmholtz) can be emphasised by this process, in which the ears and brain draw on experience and psychological projection to hypothesise our conception of reality.
Video & audio documentation coming soon...
Friday, 23 April 2010
Friday, 12 March 2010
Spiricom
"From 1979 to 1982, George Meek and Bill O'Neil developed a device they dubbed the “Spiricom” (short for spirit communication). The Spiricom was a set of 13 tone generators spanning the frequency range of the adult male voice."
Taken from: http://www.angelsghosts.com/spiricom.html
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Michael Jackson's Ghost
http://michaeljacksonsghost.com/
"Reports are coming in from actual Michaeal Jackson fans, that Michael’s Ghost is visiting them! We are not making this up! Michael is visiting hi fans in dreams, in shadows of bedrooms, and even one report of Michaels poster seemingly coming to life!
Is this Michael’s ghost? What do you think? Write us and let us know!
Apparently Michael Jackson is more in touch with his fans than ever before! Perhaps for Michael, that truely is heaven."
Nov 13th 2009
"Michael lives on with his fans! Is it possible that the combined power of Michael Jackson’s fans can actually resurect his spirit? We love his music, videos, and even his Disney Show! There has been much speculation on this subject. The fact is no other celebrity, next to Elvis Presley has had such a following of devote fans. If every Michael Jackson were to concentrate on the very same image of Michael, simultaniously around the world; what would happen? What if everyone used their cell phone to send a text to each other with an image? Could that create an actual apparition of Michael? Could it go as far as summoning Michael from the spirit world?
These are all very good questions. I am sure there are Michael sightings the world over. We will keep our ears open for any sightings so keep checking back!"
Jan 4th 2010
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