Computer Music Journal 4/27 and Leonardo Music Journal 13 arrived in the post yesterday.

In LMJ Peter Manning writes an article on “The Influence of Recording Technologies on the Early Development of Electroacoustic Music”. The article is interesting as it is not only concentrating on Musique Concréte (RTF) and Elektronische Musik (Nordwestdeutcher Rundfunk) but also works by artists associated with Bauhaus in the thirties.

However the abstract makes a statement that I find hard to agree on:

From the earliest experiments with the manipulation of 78-rpm disks during the 1920’s the technology of recording has played a major role in the evolution of electroacoustic music. This has extended not only to the recording and reproduction of material but also to key components of the compositional process itself. Although such influences have become less prominent with the advent of digital technology their impact during the formative years of electronic music was significant and far-reaching…

To me this is a slightly narrow-sighted approach. The recording technology of today is no longer tapes or disks but digital samples that is numbers. Numerical treatment of samples forms the technical basis of a lot off what I and a lot of other artists do. Widening the perspective to include recent approaches to moving images as well software such as Jitter Auvi and the recent conference p1k53l proves that the work of a lot of visual artists is closely related the the digital representation of the media they are working within as well.