Research Catalogue

About this exposition

One important reason to address the (limitations of) analogue studio techniques in education today, is that they offer a unique possibility to gain insight in the relationship between compositional utopias and studio practice – between ideals concerning sound composition and musical reality. The Royal Conservatoire houses two unique and predominantly analogue studios: the Karlheinz Stockhausen Studio of the Composition Department, which gives an overview of techniques and equipment from several decades, and the Voltage Control Studio (BEA5) of the Institute of Sonology, which contains one of the largest modular sound synthesis systems currently in operation. Although the handbook in preparation will primarily address Sonology’s analogue studio, users of the Stockhausen Studio will benefit from reading it. The logic behind Sonology’s analogue studio is inseparable from a serial approach to music composition. Whereas in serially composed instrumental music, the musical dimensions such as pitch, duration and dynamics are treated as separate parameters, in a modular approach to electronic music, the sounds themselves fall apart in parameters. Each module of the analogue system represents a specific function of sound, and together these functions form a network that is physically represented by cables on a patch field. Planning and analysing these networks will be an important aspect of the handbook. The handbook will discuss analogue studio techniques in education and composition practice not only from a technical perspective but also from a musical one. The author’s previous research in the field of historical production practice by composers such as Jan Boerman, Gottfried Michael Koenig and Dick Raaijmakers will be translated into practical examples. The research method will consist of experiments in the analogue studio, protocolling the technical configurations and recording the audible results. Working methods of Boerman, Koenig and Raaijmakers will be analysed based on their own documentation, and subsequently translated into the possibilities of the Royal Conservatoire’s studios. The research will result in a handbook with a theoretical introduction, explanations of pieces of equipment (both in text and in graphical representations), with configurations of equipment divided into the categories of sound production, sound transformation and sound spatialisation, and accompanied by sound examples.

type	research exposition
keywords	music, electronic music, analog electronics, sonology
date	16/01/2017
last modified	16/01/2017
status	in progress
share status	public
license	All rights reserved
url	https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/326991/326992
connected to	KC Research Portal

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Kees Tazelaar - A Handbook for Teaching Analog Studio Techniques in Function of Composing Contemporary Electronic Music (last edited: 2017)