Works » By Title » S » Stand Dwelling Persistent Surround (16:00 / 1983)

Has as its only sound source the recording of a soprano sax which is manipulated extensively through “classic” tape studio techniques (splicing, filtering, speed change, looping) as well as digital delay and digital delay feedback loops. Complex new sounds are created through multi-layering of more simple altered component sounds (derived from the previously mentioned studio techniques), with each of these components having a unique dynamic contour. The layers vary from a single track of solo sax sound to a maximum of combined altered and original materials of 36 tracks. The piece began as almost a documentary of the situation of the street musician, and essentially remains so, but on a somewhat abstracted (more musical) plane. Initial attempts at representing the street musician (sax soloist) within the city soundscape by layering recordings of traffic noise seemed to make little impact. By using only the soprano sax as sound source a spectral unity is achieved throughout and, on the conceptual level, suggests that the synthetic scale (that which has no clear human scale referent) is composed of, or springs from the human... maybe pointing to the human to be conscious and in control of, and be responsible for, such developments to the sound environment of urban areas. AC