| StoreTags: hallucination, sound sculpture, audium
Author: Tridact on December 04 2007 Viewed 1443 times. 18 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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Anyone ever been to the Audium in San Francisco?
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It's been quite a few years since I was there last. I went two times - the first of which was quite an experience. The second time I think I was too tired and didn't work out so well. I probably fell asleep.
The place is a small theater in San Francisco, open two nights a week. The room is designed like a dome, with 169 speakers covering the space, on the floor, walls and hanging from the ceiling. Seating is in concentric circles. I think it started in the early '80s, maybe with a NEA grant or something
The sound played is live, with some kind of mixing board in the back. You can hear the guy throwing the faders. He plays what sounds like field recordings and abstract sounds that sound like modular synth samples, probably to tape. All sound is mixed three dimensionally, and his "sound sculpture" performances are done completely in the dark, so as not to have sight interfere with the sound experience. There are two half-hour sessions with a little break in between.
Now I first went, it was with a friend who recommended it to me. I was hoping for something great, but I was okay with just knowing what it was, and that it might only be that - an interesting night out. We took our seats, the lights went out and the sounds started up. I found it interesting - the sounds did seem to travel through space - a distant marching band, some abstract modular noodlings. When the intermission came, I was mildly impressed.
It was the second session where I lost my head. Now I've never been one to get into psychedelics, and I've never done any intoxicants that caused more than some giggling and fun times. I was sober when I went to the Audium. But man, that second session put me in a total dream state. Without getting into the specifics, I saw imagined places, places I hadn't seen for years and years, and inexplicable images from the unknown. I'm certainly not a religious person, but this is the closest I've had to a spiritual experience. The best way I could describe it was like dreaming while awake - unbelievable. This is what I'd hope for when I went there, and the place fulfilled its promise.
Afterwards the fifteen or so people there crowded around the sound sculptor guy, eager to tell them about their experience. He was a humble guy - we spoke to him briefly. He was very interested in sound as being something felt, not just listened to. Must be a lot of fun doing that job.
My other friends who went had similar experiences in most cases, even seeing the same particular images, which I find fascinating.
Anyway, I thought I'd share about this place. I can't imagine I'm the only one here who's been there. It's a fun place even if you're just interested in experimental sound performances, 3D sound, musique concrete etc. | |
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12/04/07
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Roshi
Do they do laser floyd?
Just kidding...sounds really neat.
12/04/07
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Tridact
It doesn't have much of a hippy vibe at all - more of a retro '60s futurism in a Stanley Kubrick way.
12/04/07
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startwav
i didn't know it was still around. went maybe ten years ago and loved it, although the room and the speakers needed some updating. i remember one speaker was dropping out and clipping which sort of threw things off for me. it was good though...i was pleasantly surprised it was sound sketches rather than something more um.. comercially viable. lots of small details in the sounds. he even dimmed the lights over ten minutes so everything was geared towards immersion. nice.
12/04/07
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Roshi
Yeah, it really does look like the corova milk bar...pretty sweet
12/04/07
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atum
seen a special once about the dude who designed it. seemed to me that everyone they asked about it said they were interested in seeing the way it turns out. i got the sense that they thought it was crazy. i think it the most logical thing to do. instead of going for maxium capacity and your typical flashy venues perks like hanging chandlers,velvet seats, and gold encrusted statues of greek muses. the idea of designing a theatre to make sound travel better without diffusion or distortion is great and should be a standard for all new buildings.
12/04/07
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lematt
yeah each year in marseille we have a festival with some 2 hours sessions of 48 speakers audio sculptures !
it's the most beautiful sound experience that i ever had.
12/04/07
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lematt
this place: the audium, seems absolutely beautifull !
12/04/07
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zifcak
it's pretty cool. i've been twice. i fell asleep both times, but i think that's ok. it's pitch black and a lot of the sound is pretty mellow. definitely worth checking out. i think it was actually begun in the 60s though, not the 80s.
on a related note, san francisco is also home of Recombinant Media Labs, which has 16 channel surround sound and floor transducers, and 10 channel video surround. its other location, the Compound, has similarly impressive specs.
the audium is definitely its own oddity though. the guy who runs it only exhibits his own pieces, and he mixes them on a custom black mixing board with no labels (he mixes in the dark) with joysticks. the design looks like star trek or something.
12/05/07
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Tridact
zifcak said: "i think it was actually begun in the 60s though, not the 80s."
Yeah you're right. After I posted I saw this more detailed history on their site:
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12/05/07
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lgo
apparently started over fifty years ago!
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