IMMATERIAL CONSEQUENCES - AN AMPLIFIED ABSENCE

MAR
2019
Sheldon Concert Hall
St. Louis, MO
Solo for fully miked orchestral stage and digital mixing board
By Daniel Neumann
2019
Written for Alarm Will Sound

alarmwillsound contemporary feedback danielneumann

Feedback is the return of part of the energy at the output of a system back to its input, an acceleration of consequence, or the influence of an effect of a process to its preceding stages, like climate change, a chain of cause-and-effect as a loop. 

In this following work the absence of performers on stage gives way to foreground the apparatus that is usually hidden, or allegedly transparent. 

Prerequisite
A fully miked orchestral stage with a minimum of 16 microphone inputs
A digital mixing board with hard compressors in each input channel 
(low threshold, ratio of 1:100) 
Channel faders of ALL used inputs must be accessible simultaneously
Stage monitors
The sound engineer as performer from the mix position
No one on stage

Soundcheck
During soundcheck each compressor threshold is to be set very carefully and the most dominant feedback frequencies to be filtered out in order to allow for more complex tones and beatings to occur. 
The filtering should be done for each channel individually first.
Then as a next step combined feedbacks from multiple channels should be provoked and factored into the filters.

Create a palette. Take time.
Use hard panning and dedicated routings to different speakers if available.
Use stage monitors (post fader!) for dedicated microphones and route a given microphone always to the farthest away monitor.
Prepare some standard effects (reverb, delay) with dedicated routings.

Execution
The piece will necessarily be different every time.
The complex feedback tones between many microphones and microphone positions are to be constantly shaped by the performer-engineer with the aim to create subtle resonances, ringing in the zone of varying complex tones and intermodulations. Loud dominant single frequency squeals or a steady wall of solid feedback is to be avoided.

Shape by listening. Only slightly above the threshold of feedback; One³ +1dB.

Cross the threshold of feedback slowly with multiple faders.
Feedback becomes the horizon. Shape by listening.
Settle at the threshold with as many microphones as possible.
Keep everything afloat. Shape by listening.
End by sustaining a tone or chord.


Past Performances

#01 
March 01 2019
The Sheldon Concert Hall
3648 Washington Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63108

Title: Immaterial Consequences, Probably Preshow
 - for fully miked orchestral stage and digital mixing board
By: Daniel Neumann

World premiere

The piece Immaterial Consequences:: Probably Preshow is an open composition for the sound engineer as solo performer. A fully miked orchestral stage, a digital mixing board and the amplification system in the hall become the instrumentation for this performance. It will necessarily be different every time, and the duration is open. The engineer is asked to slowly bring up multiple microphone inputs on the mixing board and carefully push the amplification towards and slightly above the threshold of feedback. The resulting complex feedback tones between the many microphones and microphone positions are to be constantly shaped by listening, with the aim to create subtle resonances, or ringing in the zone of morphosis and intermodulations.

At the Sheldon Neumann is using the setup for tonight's concert with Alarm Will Sound as his instrumentation.