36 Years of Music Technology

Listening to an artist/composer like Warren Burt speak reinforces the idea of control. His overview of his 36 years in the domain of music technology provided an unique insight as to how someone can continue to develop and grow within this discipline. The element of control and sometimes the lack of control is integral to the way one uses technology in music. I found it incredible to witness the scope and enormous amount of projects that Burt has worked on. Most of it though, at its fundamental was about control:

What can I control? How can I use this object to control something else? Can I control this object? Is there an alternative way to control? What about triggers?

Although Burt never actually asked these questions in the forum, it seems implicit that his success is a result of it. Thus, experimenting, overcoming challenges, the uniqueness of his projects are derived from control. One example that I found fascinating was the use of a simple calculator to control the signal of a transistor radio, prior to an effects unit.

Other aspects of Burt's work include installations, synthesis, the use of algorithms, and interactive setups that can actually give an uninitiated audience immediate gratification. An example of the latter was at the Brisbane Expo in 1988. This created a collage of sound.

In reflection, I find it difficult to relate the impressive work of Burt to stereo miking and polar patterns. However, the use of a hyper-cardioid pattern may be critical in a future interactive collage. Burt has been at the forefront of developments in music technology, especially with his creation of new instruments and synthesisers. Even though my SuperCollider experience is limited to greeting the world, I am interested to discover where it may lead. This is an exciting aspect of making it to third year Music Technology; where will it actually take me? What paths are yet to be discovered or built?

REFERENCES
Burt, Warren. 2006. Artist Talk. Presentation presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 9 March

Chappell, Urso S. A. 2005. “World Expo '88.” Expo Museum. http://www.expomuseum.com/1988 (9 March 2006).

Grice, David. 2006. Stereo Miking. Tutorial presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 7 March.

Haines, Christian. 2006. SuperCollider (Introduction). Tutorial presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, 9 March.