Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
The term “Music Concrete” is used to describe music that is developed from recorded sounds, particularly natural and artificial sounds. It is a type of electronic, acoustic music (Palombini 14). Music concrete can include sounds from recordings of human voices, conventional instruments, and the natural surroundings, as well as sounds developed from digital signal processors. Initially, music concrete was based mainly on the creation and manipulation of electronic sounds instead of recorded sounds. The conjectural and artistic aspect of music concrete was created by Pierre Schaeffer in the early 1940s (Reydellet 10).
Pierre Schaeffer’s work started at the Studio d’Essai de la Radio Diffusion National, which was originally meant for the opposition movement in French radio. In August 1944, Studio d’Essai de la Radio Diffusion National was the first to air in liberated France. It was during this period that Pierre Schaeffer started to conduct experiments on Radiophonic techniques using the existing sound techniques (Palombini 14). Schaeffer’s work was influenced by his encounters with voice actors and Radiophonic art. The two factors played a significant role in arousing and reinforcing his concept of sound-based composition. Schaeffer’s work was also influenced by the existing film technology. Actually, cinematography served as the basis for music concrete.
According to Battier, before Pierre Schaeffer, a number of musical experts, including Jean Epstein had drawn attention to the way in which recorded sounds disclose the concealed aspects of acoustic music (190). Even Schaeffer mentioned Epstein when referring to extra melodic sound material. Epstein had already envisaged the use of natural sounds in creating musical tones and dissonance (Battier 191). Schaeffer’s work was basically assembling concrete sounds from different sources to create music, rather than scribbling musical concepts and entrusting their realization to conventional musical implements.
According to Reydellet, music concrete is not all about a distinctive musical sound and tone but emphasizes the general forms. It must also be presented through unconventional means. As a result, music concrete is fundamentally based on the use of sounds as a basic compositional resource. In addition, it emphasizes the significance of performance in sound-based performance (12). This essay will explore factors that promoted the development of concrete music and how they have helped in the development of other musical instruments.
Music concrete and the emergence of post-war technologies
The growth of music concrete was promoted by the emerging technologies in the post-world war II era (Teruggi 213). In the late 40s, a classical radio studio was made up of shellac record players and recorders, microphones, mechanical resounds, filters, and a mixing table. These technologies restricted the activities of the composers. The shellac recorder player was able to read sound both normally and in reverse. It could also change the speed of sound at predetermined ratios, thus allowing the change of keys (Teruggi 214).
The shellac recorder records all the manipulated music. The mixing table could mix different sounds using an independent control key. The reverberation unit created the reverberation effect and enabled mixed sounds to blend successfully. Filters were basically used to improve or get rid of certain sound frequencies. Last but not least, the microphone could be used to capture sound (Teruggi 214).
The application of these sets of technologies resulted in the development of quite a few sound management techniques, which include sound transposition, sound looping, sound sample extraction, and filtration of sound. Sound transposition involves sound reading at a variable speed, while sound looping is the creation of loops at particular points with a record. On the other hand, sound sample extraction entails the cleaning up of a small segment of a record for better clarity, whereas sound filtration involves the elimination of key sound frequencies (Teruggi 215).
The tape recorder emerged in mid-1949. Nevertheless, its function was less dependable as compared to the Shellac recorder. In 1950, the tape recorders were improved and became more reliable. For that reason, the music concrete technique considerably grew. An array of novel sound management operations was explored using enhanced media management techniques and operations, for instance, frequency variation. Tape recorders brought an entirely new technique of organizing sound. The ax-cut junctions of the Shellac recorders were substituted with micrometric junctions, which allowed editing of very tiny fragments of sound to create an entirely new sound (Teruggi 217).
Concrete music and the development of new devices
In the period between the 1950s and mid-1970s, countless new sound creation tools were developed, which include three-head tape recorders, Acousmonium, early sound spatialization system, company synthesizer, studio 54 mixing desk, and the photogenic among others (Palombini 14). Photogene was a device capable of manipulating sound structures. This enabled composers to adjust the sound to fit specific compositions.
The first photogenic was known as the chromatic photogenic, which was managed by a single octave keyboard. The second photogenic was a continuous-variation photogenic, which manipulate speed by means of a control rod and could adjust the length of a tape. The third and the last version was the universal photogenic, which allowed for the separation of pitch variation from length variation. Universal photogenic has been further improved using the current digital technology.
The three-track tape recorder introduced polyphony on the radio and studio devices. It had nearly a dozen playback heads to repeat sound loops in reverberation (Teruggi 218). The morphophonemic, on the other hand, is a device that repeats sound loops at more than twenty stipulated speeds. This device was envisaged to create advanced forms through echoes, and accumulate episodes through holdups, filtering, and responses (Teruggi 219).
A sound spatialization system is a machine meant for spatial control of sound. Initially, it was aimed at controlling the pulsating level of sound played by different players. This created a naturally distributed sound from monophonic sources. As a result, the device offered a blend of live and predetermined positions (Poulin 284). On the stage, the spatialization system enables a performer to position a sound in any direction, merely by adjusting a handheld transmitter. The system is based on the idea that sound should be managed in an open presentation to produce a concert situation. The music is normally received at a varying intensity from different locations of the room. This concept is still common in modern acoustic concerts (Poulin 285).
Studio 54 was developed by a German-based physicist by the name of Enrico Chiarucci. Studio 54 was created after the fall of the Cologne studio in the early 1970s. The studio had a number of devices, which include Coupigny synthesizers and a mixing desk. The synthesizer was named after the most famous sound instrument designer Francois Coupigny (Battier 200). The creation of the studio 54 mixing desk and Coupigny synthesizer was purposely aimed at the development of concrete music. The merging of the desk and the synthesizer allowed the composers to work with a lot of ease. In addition, the system was adapted for other external devices (Teruggi 219).
Acousmonium is an arrangement of loudspeakers created in the mid-1970s. It is a specialized sound-reinforcing system comprising of more than 50 loudspeakers and a maximum of 100 loudspeakers. The number of speakers depends on the size and nature of the concert. The speakers were designed particularly for concrete music concerts. Sound spatialization is significantly improved under this system.
Normally, the speakers are evenly spread, all the way through the performance space. In addition, the system uses a mixing machine to control the positioning of the acoustic devices across the loudspeakers using a procedure that is generally referred to as sound diffusion (Battier 202). According to Teruggi, Acousmonium substitutes classical sounds by diffusing sound from all over the performance room towards the center, thus creating an orchestra of loudspeakers (225).
Conclusion
Concrete music is a recorded sound, particularly natural and artificial sound. Music concrete is fundamentally based on the use of sounds as a basic compositional resource. In addition, it emphasizes the significance of performance in sound-based performance. The hypothetical and artistic aspect of music concrete was developed by Pierre Schaeffer in the early 1940s. Schaeffer’s work was influenced by his encounters with voice actors and Radiophonic art. The voice actors and Radiophonic art played a significant role in arousing and reinforcing his idea of sound-based composition.
Schaeffer’s work was also influenced by the existing film technologies. Even before Schaeffer, a number of musical experts had drawn attention to the way in which recorded sounds disclose the concealed aspects of acoustic music. Nowadays, concrete music has been embraced by very many artists. It also contributed to the development of numerous musical instruments and machines. The instruments and machines include three-head tape recorders, Acousmonium, early sound spatialization system, synthesizers, mixing tables, and the photogenic among others.
Works Cited
Battier, Marc. “What the GRM Brought to Music: From Musique Concrete to Acousmatic Music”. Organised Sound 12.3 (2007): 189-202. Print.
Palombini, Carlos. “Machine Songs V: Pierre Schaeffer: From Research into Noises to Experimental Music”. Computer Music Journal 17.3 (1993):14-19. Print.
Poullin, Jacques. The Application of Recording Techniques to the Production of New Musical Materials and Forms. Applications to ‘Musique Concrete, Ottawa: National Research Council of Canada, 1957. Print.
Reydellet, Jean. “Pierre Schaeffer, 1910-1995: The Founder of ‘Musique Concrete’”. Computer Music Journal 20.2(1996): 10-11. Print.
Teruggi, Daniel. “Technology and Musique Concrete: The Technical Development of the Research Group on Concrete music and their Implication in Musical Composition”. Organized Sound 12.1(2007): 213-231. Print.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.