Radio Without Radio Waves: Utopian Proposals
What role does radio have in today’s complex world of podcasts, phone apps, and digital broadcasting? Is there still scope for those Utopian ideals that birthed radio in the first place? This talk will examine the history of radio by considering eight transmission technologies, from telegraph to webcast. From this foundation, “radio” will be defined in a novel way, without restriction to any particular technological regime. It will be demonstrated that radio in any form has an important role as an ephemeral and inclusive force, flourishing as “invisible voices in the wind, in thunder, in the dream” (R. Murray Schafer).
September 2017
Atoms and Digital Audio: Epicurus Meets Mika Vainio
Though we commonly describe sound as a wave, a minority viewpoint holds that sound is more properly corpuscular. This concept can be traced back to the atomists, who held that all of nature could be construed as two elements: atom and void. Foremost among these thinkers is Epicurus, who proposed that an infinitesimal “swerve” in the otherwise regular movement of atoms is responsible for all interactions and hence all nature. This paper will illustrate the contemporary relevance of this theory, in light of corpuscular theories of sound, granular synthesis, and the minimal techno of Mika Vainio and Panasonic.
September 2017
Desktop Electronic Music
This series of 12 articles covers interface design, proposals for mixer architectures, MIDI wiring diagrams, improvisation, and the music of Mika Vainio (Panasonic). What they have in common is the concept of Desktop Electronic Music (DEM).
August 2017