Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Phonautogram
Majorly hauntological:
On a digital copy of the recording provided to The New York Times, the anonymous vocalist, probably female, can be heard against a hissing, crackling background din. The voice, muffled but audible, sings, “Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit” in a lilting 11-note melody — a ghostly tune, drifting out of the sonic murk.Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison [NYTimes.com]
Labels: au clair de la lune, hauntology, phonautogram
:: posted by David, 8:35 AM
2 Comments:
god, minkin. thanks for creeping me out first thing in the morning. there goes my productivity for today!
"The recordings were not intended for listening; the idea of audio playback had not been conceived. Rather, Scott sought to create a paper record of human speech that could later be deciphered."
"There is a yawning epistemic gap between us and Léon Scott, because he thought that the way one gets to the truth of sound is by looking at it." Perhaps. But, funny enough, Scott's work fits the modern music writing paradigm like a glove - we're not just listening to sound waves, we're also looking at them in our music warez, and that visual aspect is now an essential part of the music production process. GO SCOTT!
"There is a yawning epistemic gap between us and Léon Scott, because he thought that the way one gets to the truth of sound is by looking at it." Perhaps. But, funny enough, Scott's work fits the modern music writing paradigm like a glove - we're not just listening to sound waves, we're also looking at them in our music warez, and that visual aspect is now an essential part of the music production process. GO SCOTT!
