Metal Fatigue Music (1992 Toyota Previa)
Jeff DeGolier and Ben Vida
An abstract sound piece, composed for the contemporary listening environment: the minivan. Stockhausen meets dB (decible) drag racing.
2012
Metal Fatigue Music (1992 Toyota Previa) (2012) is an audio automobile performance scored for digitally programmed pure wave oscillators, computer controlled analog synthesizer and boom car. Metal Fatigue Music uses pure wave tones, programmed to sweep through low frequency ranges and played through the sound system of a boom car—in this case, the iconic Toyota Previa minivan—to physically activate the body of the car and producing a sub-bass and metal fatigue drone. This piece is experienced from both the inside and outside the vehicle. The composition will be presented a live performance at Socrates Sculpture Park on September 29, 2012.
20th century electronic music was often contextualized though the site and method of its audition. Electronic music presentations rely on the sound system as the source of all sound projection. The location of the system functions as a frame for how a composition is received and understood. Housed in locations that are either institutional (such as Francois Bayle’s Acousmonium, built for GRM Radio France) or hyper-commercialized (the Wave Front system at Disney’s Epcot Center), these settings, by their nature, create a frame of exclusivity. By utilizing the car stereo for electronic performance our intent is to refocus the source of delivery to a location that is less formalized, to a temporary common space available to all. Since the car stereo mobilizes the soundsystem, now the place of audition can be anywhere. Eventually, we envision this versions of this work will be presented in a number of locations and contexts. Even when this sound system is brought off the street and into a formal setting such as a museum or gallery it brings with it its prearticulation of mobility: the promise of recontextualization. Within the boom car community, competitions are held to measure the decibel levels of the audio systems (see wikipedia's definition of dB drag racing). Pure waves are used to test amplitude. This is a non-musical sound event—the pure waves function solely to activate the sound system and to reveal its maximum decibel level. Metal Fatigue Music reframes this practice, combining the history of experimental electronic music performance and readymade sculpture with the test tone materiality of the boom car competition. The sweeping pure waves used in Metal Fatigue Music take a cue from the works of Alvin Lucier and Maryanne Amacher by functioning on the level of architectural activation rather than solely as a discreet musical composition. The project also draws historically from the work of visual artists Robert Rauschenberg and Kienholz by taking a similar interest in the simultaneous adoration and criticism of contemporary culture's dependency on the automobile and mass-production in general.
The audio materials in Metal Fatigue Music are, in a sense, a secondary property only understood through physically activating the body of the car. The abstract nature of the composition takes the piece away from the framework of musical composition and delivers it to a place of sonic phenomenology and material essentialism. This work recontextualizes the electronic music performance, delivering it to any number of diverse locations and invites a wider audience to take part in an ecstatic public event.
Jeff DeGolier and Ben Vida
An abstract sound piece, composed for the contemporary listening environment: the minivan. Stockhausen meets dB (decible) drag racing.
2012
Metal Fatigue Music (1992 Toyota Previa) (2012) is an audio automobile performance scored for digitally programmed pure wave oscillators, computer controlled analog synthesizer and boom car. Metal Fatigue Music uses pure wave tones, programmed to sweep through low frequency ranges and played through the sound system of a boom car—in this case, the iconic Toyota Previa minivan—to physically activate the body of the car and producing a sub-bass and metal fatigue drone. This piece is experienced from both the inside and outside the vehicle. The composition will be presented a live performance at Socrates Sculpture Park on September 29, 2012.
20th century electronic music was often contextualized though the site and method of its audition. Electronic music presentations rely on the sound system as the source of all sound projection. The location of the system functions as a frame for how a composition is received and understood. Housed in locations that are either institutional (such as Francois Bayle’s Acousmonium, built for GRM Radio France) or hyper-commercialized (the Wave Front system at Disney’s Epcot Center), these settings, by their nature, create a frame of exclusivity. By utilizing the car stereo for electronic performance our intent is to refocus the source of delivery to a location that is less formalized, to a temporary common space available to all. Since the car stereo mobilizes the soundsystem, now the place of audition can be anywhere. Eventually, we envision this versions of this work will be presented in a number of locations and contexts. Even when this sound system is brought off the street and into a formal setting such as a museum or gallery it brings with it its prearticulation of mobility: the promise of recontextualization. Within the boom car community, competitions are held to measure the decibel levels of the audio systems (see wikipedia's definition of dB drag racing). Pure waves are used to test amplitude. This is a non-musical sound event—the pure waves function solely to activate the sound system and to reveal its maximum decibel level. Metal Fatigue Music reframes this practice, combining the history of experimental electronic music performance and readymade sculpture with the test tone materiality of the boom car competition. The sweeping pure waves used in Metal Fatigue Music take a cue from the works of Alvin Lucier and Maryanne Amacher by functioning on the level of architectural activation rather than solely as a discreet musical composition. The project also draws historically from the work of visual artists Robert Rauschenberg and Kienholz by taking a similar interest in the simultaneous adoration and criticism of contemporary culture's dependency on the automobile and mass-production in general.
The audio materials in Metal Fatigue Music are, in a sense, a secondary property only understood through physically activating the body of the car. The abstract nature of the composition takes the piece away from the framework of musical composition and delivers it to a place of sonic phenomenology and material essentialism. This work recontextualizes the electronic music performance, delivering it to any number of diverse locations and invites a wider audience to take part in an ecstatic public event.