die ablenkung

Archive for the ‘read’ Category

* … dubstep… techno

Posted on November 9th, 2008 by ab. Filed under other, read.

Not new, but nice piece about the dubstep/techno crossover from Ned Bauman here.

* Mark Bain - A Warm Bath in Sound

Posted on July 7th, 2008 by ab. Filed under events, read.

American sound artist Mark Bain’s performance at last week’s Tuned City symposium in Berlin gave me faith in the restorative properties of very loud, sub-bass sound. Bain works with acoustics, architecture and infrasonics. He amplifies buildings and other large constructions with seismographic and other specially designed equipment. Before beginning, Bain explained that the sound may become uncomfortable for some people, and that it was his intention to drive us all out of the basement space. It was indeed a bit uncomfortable inside between the big d&b stacks, I felt the sound in my throat more than anything, giving me a choking sensation and making me want to cough. But just outside was not only bearable, but very pleasant. I could feel the sound on my skin, on the hairs, and under my skin — the way a hot bath penetrates the top layers.

The performance was held in the construction site of a building that will incorporate some of his sound works into its very structure. The walls, internal and external, will have jacks in them that residents and passers-by can plug into with headphones and listen. Fantastic.

When talking about Bain’s experiments, people often bring up Tesla and his (mythological?) earthquake machine:

Excerpt from the New York World, July 11, 1935

Nikola Tesla revealed that an earthquake which drew police and ambulances to the region of his laboratory at 48 E. Houston St., New York, in 1898, was the result of a little machine he was experimenting with at the time which “you could put in your overcoat pocket.”

“I was experimenting with vibrations. I had one of my machines going and I wanted to see if I could get it in tune with the vibration of the building. I put it up notch after notch. There was a peculiar cracking sound.

“Suddenly all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around. I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine. The building would have been about our ears in another few minutes. Outside in the street there was pandemonium.

“The police and ambulances arrived. I told my assistants to say nothing. We told the police it must have been an earthquake. That’s all they ever knew about it.”