Always enjoy the OP's posts.
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Seeing sounds and music.....
I guess that I always thought everyone had this ability if they could only stop long enough to listen. Clearly a lot of people are unable to sit still long enough to have music become something other than background noise. Yes; I see shapes and forms, colors, strobes, pulses. Often I "see" the emotion as a shape and color; often these emotions at war with each other. I've often wondered if it was due to a higher degree of imagination. I have whole visual stories unfold before me taking me away to worlds unseen and unknown. One album that takes me on a fantastic journey is side two of Rush' Caress of Steel, one of their most underrated albums. In one passage I can almost feel the salt spray from waves as the ship is tossed about. Music! |
I guess that I always thought everyone had this ability if they could only stop long enough to listen. Clearly a lot of people are unable to sit still long enough to have music become something other than background noise.You describe perfectly my own experience also... Thanks for your illuminating post... The only difference is i use this "imaginative visual ability" or "illusion for some" to acoustically design my room.... Acoustic could be "seen", not only music could be seen....And when you "see" acoustic you learn that musical acoustic is not merely about 2 channel localisation of sound sources POINTS in the room merely, but essentially also "timbre" VOLUMES dynamical localisation in your head/room... A violin "object" is an abstraction, an imaginary POINT, localized in the acoustical space of the room it is an abstraction of the concrete "timbre" perceived VOLUME phenomenon ... The sounding object at the origin of the playing note is 3 dimensional concrete vibrating body , not a point waiting to be localized anymore, but a VOLUME ,"étalé" in french, or spread out dynamically like a fractal in musical space... This conflict and harmony between these point/volume localization is an aspect of acoustic and musical experience... An acoustic tone is not a musical note, and a timbre cannot be reduced to his spectrum....Anymore than a volume could be reduce to a point....But like in projective geometry there exist a correspondance between a point and a surface, each volume being the results of this interaction, "timbre" acoustical information volume contain also room acoustical information or environmental objects information and not only the playing note reduced to his own spectrum... By the way i speak about my living experience here, and nothing i say is science or scientific , they are only my way to convey in words and concepts my experience... Science ask for very precise psycho-acoustic experiments, some of which inspire me a lot....But what is "seen" by me is created by my own imagination and work only like a tool... Is it a deception ? I dont care because my seeing is an evolutive process in my own life history and give me ecstasy and a firm grip on my room acoustic .... My deepest respects.... |
This video about "cymatic" describe exactly some aspects of what i spoke about... Hans Jenny the cymatic creator was a disciple of the Goethe phenomenological approach in science and pupil of Rudolf Steiner... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3oItpVa9fs No need to have "sands" or water....Timbre perception play the role of sand.... The rythmic changes in the controlled pressure zones of a room using Helmholtz method to do it mechanically induce in my listening experiments the visualization of the TRADE-OFF between localisation and width of a "point-like" object or of the sounding resonant body of the violin for example and the spreaded out dynamical localisation of the "timbre" microdynamic related to this resonant body which is also a sound source with a variable dimension and location in the room which we can modify at will with the right acoustic control... Using material passive treatment in acoustic and active mechanical control will optimize this TRADE-OFF, between source width (ASW) and listener envelopment ( LEV) which is for me at the heart of small room acousttic... Yes it is a bit more complicated than looking only for a "stereo" image and localization left/right .... Most people dont understand acoustic....I struggle with it myself but i become able to know what it is about even if i dont undertand it all... By the way understanding for me is " seeing" first not applying a mathenatical formula only.... And even some educated one confuse timbre and spectrum..... We must meditate about this fact: no recording is able record the perfect original playing musical event, and no small room is able to reproduct it but only to recreate it in his own acoustic translation satisfyingly or less than so, depending of the mastery of room passive treatment and active mechanical control.... The acoustic of small room is NOT the acoustic of big hall or theater.... The goal and tools here are different.... To this day all audio business and hobby completely underestimated acoustic in favor of progress in electronical design... Audiophiles then instead of focusing on acoustic spend their money in an empty chase of their tail very costly sometimes... No electronical design progress in gear can replace acoustic....The reverse also is true for sure...But the audio engineering field was already mature decades ago.... Acoustic of small room is not a mature enterprise in the audio world...Only a dedicated business of those few who knows it ... I never read an article about what interested me in acoustic mechanical control of small room in ANY audio review...NONE... The reason is simple, most people dont understand Helmholtz mechanical method... Acoustic sellers sell costly Helmholtz generator to replace bass traps for example...It is a very limited way to understand Helmholtz generator and use them like i use my grid of more than 40 like a "silent orchstra" or like the silent big pipes linked to an organ in a chuch...To absorb some sounds and diffuse others... And any way the subject matter cannot interest someone who dont own a dedicated room.... A grid of Helmholtz genrators cannot be used in a small living room... |
Music is something happening when some sounds "speak" to you like if another human being was adressing you.... It is the reason why the sounds appear to me, like a tonal "vowellling" wed to a timbre " consonanting", creating perfectly clear syllables of meaning... The miracle is this: these spoken flowing "meanings" are also a VISIBLE fluid geometries flowing sometimes like in fractal geometry and sometimes more like in a projective variety, than sometimes like a river to sea or like flames to the stars.... |