DIGITAL VS. ANALOGUE MIXING

Digital vs. Analogue Mixing

Abstract

The theory of multidimensional continuous and discrete systems is applied to derive a parametric description of musical sounds from a physical model of real or virtual string instruments. The mathematical representation of this model is given by a partial differential equation for a vibrating string. Suitable functional transformations with respect to time and space turn this partial differential equation into a multidimensional transfer function. It is the starting point for the derivation of a discrete-time system by classical analog to discrete transformations. The coefficients of this discrete model depend explicitly on the geometric properties and material constants of the underlying physical model. This ensures a meaningful behaviour of the discrete system under varying conditions and allows for an intuitive control by the user. Furthermore, the performance of real-time implementations is discussed. Finally, several extensions of this synthesis method for computer music applications are presented.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Chapter I: Introduction4

Chapter II: Literature Review23

Chapter III: Design Development and Implementation54

Chapter IV: Methodology59

Chapter V: Discussion63

Chapter VI: Conclusions74

References76

Digital vs. Analogue Mixing

Chapter I: Introduction

While the basic issues I have identified as arising from the emergence of the technical media are in some ways of quite general import, the manner in which any particular representational technology is normalized, regularized, and institutionalized is always quite specific. Just as the nature of Fritz Lang's experiments placed specific representational demands on contemporary sensory devices in order to render them adequate to the rigors of science, the emerging phonography and sound “Pillow Girl” asserted its own requirements for the proper implementation of both camera and sound & picture integrator, shaping their characteristic uses in thoroughgoing ways. Contrary to what we might expect, explicitly theoretical debates about the general nature of technological representation were central to the development of Hollywood representational norms, and helped determine how sound technologies were understood and deployed.

Particularly at moments of institutional crisis, reorganization, and transformation, these debates assumed a discursive importance that often shaped technological research and aesthetic experimentation, serving both as practical standards and regulative ideals.

In this report, I will explore several influential manifestations of integration of sound & picture, examining them not only for their internal coherence and insight but also for the role they play in determining different forms of representational practice. As I have suggested in previous reports, I am not only interested in how explicitly theoretical arguments illuminate our understanding of aesthetic form and practice, but perhaps even more in how representational practice can often imply, embody, or even produce a sophisticated theoretical knowledge of its own.

Fritz Lang's systematic experimental interventions in the realms of performance, inscription, and reproduction, like Edison's similar discoveries with the phonograph, can be mined productively for their practical (and unstated) theorization of the processes of technological representation. In a parallel fashion, this report examines the practices and theories of sound technicians during Hollywood's transition to sound sound “Pillow Girl” production. I also examine academic theories of integration of sound & picture, which address in self-conscious and logical fashion the issues ...