SAMPLING AND THE ‘SOUND OBJECT’ IN CONTEMPORARY SONIC ART Nathanael James Bates Master of Arts An exegesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. School of Art College of Design and Social Context RMIT University June 2013 DECLARATION I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; and; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. …………………………………. Nathanael James Bates 30 June 2013 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the generous support of all those who provided encouragement, expertise and advice throughout the period of research. I would like to thank my supervisors; Dr. Philip Samartzis and Darrin Verhagen, the writing circle for writing feedback; Annalea Beattie, Thembi Soddell, Michael Graeve, Matthew Sleeth, Peter Burke, Samara Adamson-Pinczewski and company, fellow artists for the interviews and discussions; Shannon O’Neill, Camilla Hannan, Lloyd Barrett, Thomas Knox-Arnold, Luke Jaaniste, Marcus Schmickler, Lionel Marchetti, Yoko Higashi, Cat Hope, David Shea and Philip Brophy, Annie Lennox for copyright advice, Daniel Teruggi for the blessing on behalf of Bernard and INA, and friends and family; ma and pa, Prue and family, Asher and Charlie, Linda and Paul, Jac, Heather, Kerry, Kristina, Meg and Deb. For Mia: you don’t know how critical you were in making it possible for me to finish. iii CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE PHD………………………………………………………………………. 3 ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………….…………………………….... 3 INTRODUCTION TO THE EXEGESIS…………………………………………………….…… 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT……….…………………………………………….…… 5 PART I: THE CONTEXT…………………………………………………………………………………. 8 POSITIONING THE RESEARCH…………………………………………………………….….. 9 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY…………………………………………………………….…… 10 SECTION ONE: COMING TO UNDERSTAND SAMPLING.………………………………………….……… 11 PRACTICING SAMPLING IN A CONTEMPORARY SITUATION.............. 11 ESTABLISHING PARAMETERS………………………………………………………… 14 EMPIRICAL COMPOSING: A CASE STUDY………………………………..…….. 18 SECTION TWO: COMING TO UNDERSTAND MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE………………………………….. 21 MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE IN RELATION TO THIS RESEARCH.................... 21 MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE THEORY………………………………………………………. 23 MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE TECHNIQUES………………………………………………. 26 MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE AND THIS RESEARCH IN SUMMARY…………….. 29 SECTION THREE: COMING TO UNDERSTAND PLUNDERPHONIA……………………………………….. 30 PLUNDERPHONIA IN RELATION TO THIS RESEARCH………………………. 30 THIS RESEARCH IN A BROADER PLUNDERPHONIC CONTEXT…………. 33 SUMMARY: MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE VS. PLUNDERPHONIA…………………………………………… 36 ACOUSMATIC MEETS REFERENTIAL………………………………………………. 36 PART II: THE WORKS……………………………………………………………………………………. 38 PROJECT OVERVIEW……………………………………………………………………………… 39 STAGE ONE: THE SCORE…………………………………………………..……………………………………….. 40 SELECTING A WORK TO REMAKE………………………….………………………. 40 CONVERTING THE WORK INTO A SCORE………..………………….…………. 43 1 CONTENTS STAGE TWO: THE SAMPLING.…………………………………………..……………………………………….. 46 SELECTING SOURCES TO SAMPLE FROM……………….………………………. 46 GENERATING SAMPLES…………………………………………………………………. 51 STAGE THREE: THE RE-CREATION…….…….…………………………..……………………………………….. 52 TRANSFORMING SAMPLES…………………………………..………………………. 52 RE-CREATING SOUND OBJECTS………………………………………….…………. 54 THE SAMPLER AS INSTRUMENT……………………………………………………..55 STAGE FOUR: THE RE-COMPOSITION…………….…………………..……………………………………….. 58 PERFORMING ON A SAMPLER………………………………………………………. 58 RE-COMPOSING THE SCORE…………………………………………………………. 64 THE RESULTS…………………………………………………………………………………….….. 69 ROCKreation of the World……………………………………………………………. 70 ROCKreation of the World II…..……………………………………………………. 71 ROCKreation of the World III…………………………………………………………. 72 THE CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………………………………… 74 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 76 DISCOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 82 THE APPENDICES…….………………………………………………………………………………….. 89 A. La Création du Monde track list………………….…………………………………….. 89 B. Sound object list………………………………………………………………….……………. 90 C. Score conversion charts…………………………………………………………………….. 92 D. List of sample sources……………………………………………………………………….. 98 E. Table of Tones, Mis-tones, Multi-tones and Sones…………………………….. 99 F. Diary/blog of re-creation phase (SAD project)……………………………………. 100 G. List of live performances………………………….……………………………………….. 116 THE APPROPRIATE DURABLE RECORD…………………………………………………… 3 X CDs ROCKreation of the World……………………………………………………………. CD ROCKreation of the World II…..……………………………………………………. CD ROCKreation of the World III…………………………………………………………. CD 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE PHD INTRODUCTION TO THE PHD ABSTRACT This project aims to develop a working methodology for the use of sampling in the production of new sound works for recording and performance. Sampling is the use of fragments of recorded sound using recording technology that affords high fidelity recording, instant playback, transposition and processing facilities. It is explored in the project works as a medium that challenges traditional notions of composition, score, performance, originality and musical legitimacy. The research is conducted using the contemporary understanding of sampling as a practice that uses, or reuses, existing music recordings, most often the work of others. However, this research contends that sampling has its origins in musique concrète, the approach to music developed by Pierre Schaeffer from 1948 onwards, that focuses on music made empirically from recorded sound material separated from its source. In contrast to contemporary sampling, musique concrète adopts a much broader palette that includes recordings of ‘non-musical’ sounds of the environment, in addition to manipulated acoustic and electronic instrumental sound sources. Philosophically, this research develops the position that the tension between sampling sound of recognisable origin and the musique concrète approach of freeing sound from referential allusion is fertile territory for production that does not necessarily require the resolution of the tension. The research reveals a number of fundamental dualities inherent in the practice of sampling that create similar tensions; tensions between composition and performance, between the original and the copy, and between the producer and the consumer. Embedded within the work produced in both recorded form and in live performance, these dualities are shown to be the grey areas ripe for creative exploration. 3 INTRODUCTION TO THE PHD INTRODUCTION TO THE EXEGESIS This research engaged with the following three research questions: • What is the difference between the contemporary practice of sampling and the compositional paradigms posed by musique concrète? • In what ways can the tension between composition and performance, created by sampling technology, inform a contemporary sound practice? • How can this tension, and the relationship between sampling and musique concrète, be translated into a methodology for the execution of work in the practice of sampling? The research has been conducted through a series of iterations of a recorded work and the adaptation of the work for a series of live performances. The work produced was conceived of as a novel way to investigate the above questions with the exegesis focused on clarifying the fundamental basis for the practical work through reflection and interrogation of the principles involved. Any tendency toward simplification in the exegesis is a result of this concern with fundamentals. During the course of the research the specific research questions expanded to become larger questions that addressed the fundamental principles of my practice. These ‘big’ questions included “what is sound,” “what is music,” “what is recording,” and “what is creativity.” Although much of the consideration of, and writing about, these larger questions has been removed from the final exegesis, these questions continue to serve as philosophical underpinnings of my practice and remain, in essence, unanswered. Or rather, they serve their purpose as motivators for my practice because they are unanswerable. It is by undertaking my practice that the questions are responded to with the knowledge that there are multiple possible answers. Rather than provide definitive answers to the research questions, this research then presents an exploration that can serve as one of many possible answers. Having said that, a definitive position is established by the results of the research. That position is that the apparent oppositional binaries implied in the research questions, the binaries of contemporary sampling and traditional musique concrète, of composition and performance, of the original and the copy et cetera, can be successfully embraced as dualities. This embrace of dualities, and the modular nature of a sampling practice, is reflected in the writing of the exegesis. Written in discrete sections and paragraphs, and then ordered and re-ordered in the final redrafting process, the exegesis mirrors the way a sampling practice disassembles and reassembles material, allowing material to be both individual objects and parts of a whole. Similarly, the subtitles scattered throughout the exegesis, and the way they are used to reference something already familiar whilst