with Birgit Schweimler: ambient soundscape Kerschlach 1 at Birgit's painting studio during "Aukio -Offene Ateliers" open doors weekend.

16. - 17. November 2019

at Aukio Ateliers, Pähl (near Starnberg, Germany) 

Kerschlach 1 is an aleatory ambient soundscape that can run for several hours, or even days.  It is not “composed” in the classical sense but results from random events. The overall harmonic tone of the piece is inspired by Birgit Schweimler’s paintings and the mood of the forest surrounding the Aukio studios in Kerschlach, located between Lake Starnberg and Lake Ammer.

The source material of the piece consists of several sound fragments of synthesizer textures and electronically treated acoustics. These samples were stored onto a CD-R, together with a set of digital silences. The tracks are randomly played by a CD-player, thus generating a chance-driven string of sonic events interspersed among longer quiet pauses. Multiple copies of an identical sample on the disc increase its statistical probability to be played.

The signal is then fed into a chain of digital effect processors, including a 27 seconds feedback delay line with minimal “aging”, as well as several psychoacoustic treatments to generate the final ambience. Events will repeat and gradually die away over several minutes, thus continually reshaping the soundscape in ever new (and hopefully interesting) layers. This use of “loops” for creating complex sound-textures is a well-established technique, pioneered by composers such as Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp and many others.