Experimental studio of the SWR

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The SWR experimental studio is a recording studio and laboratory for new music in Freiburg im Breisgau . It is considered one of the world's leading studios for electronic and live electronic music. As a rule, compositions with electronics are created here as co-productions by composers, music IT specialists and sound directors. In addition to researching new musical processes and producing musical works, the design of performances is a large area of ​​responsibility of the experimental studio.

Origin / foundation

In 1968 Heinrich Strobel , the first main music department head of Südwestfunk , founded the Heinrich Strobel Foundation , which later functioned as the main institution of the studio. Its aim was to promote the encounter between composer, music and new technology.

In 1969 Strobel commissioned Karlheinz Stockhausen to compose a work for two pianos and ring modulators for the Donaueschinger Musiktage . This is considered to be the initial spark for the establishment of the experimental studio: Stockhausen needed electronic devices such as ring modulators, filter banks , compressors and others, which at that time were not necessarily available in a broadcasting company , for the implementation of the work called mantra . That is why the experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of the SWF eV - today's experimental studio of the SWR - was founded in 1971 at the instigation of the head of the Südwestfunk-Musik department, Otto Tomek , to realize this and other works with electronics and settled in the Günterstal regional studio .

chronology

The official start of operations took place on September 1, 1971. The first artistic director was Hans Peter Haller , who had previously developed a sound converter ("mantra device") that can be operated by the player for Stockhausen's mantra . In cooperation with the company Lawo , the innovative technical infrastructure of the studio was created in several expansion stages. The first stage (1971–1973) focused on music with sound conversion in real time ( live electronics ), after which in the second stage, mainly effects of electronic sound expansion ( ring modulators , delay machines , filters , reverb , gate , vocoder ) and movement ( Halaphon) were the focus.

In 1980 Luigi Nono began his sound research in the experimental studio. Until 1989 he composed almost all of his late works here . During the same period, the first digital devices are being developed in a third expansion stage. The transition from analog to digital technology is the 3rd generation of the coupling network , an audio matrix with 48 to 96 inputs and outputs for connecting microphones , speakers and effects devices .

In 1989 André Richard took over the artistic direction. In the following years, the digitization of the studio's technology was further advanced. In the course of this, there was also a turn to music informatics .

In 1992, when the studio moved to Kartäuserstraße in Freiburg, it was expanded to more than 700 m². Bayerischer Rundfunk has also been involved in financing the studio since 2004 . Detlef Heusinger has been the artistic director since 2006 .

The Giga Hertz Prize for electronic and acousmatic music initiated by Peter Weibel was awarded for the first time in 2007 by the ZKM and the Experimental Studio. The first winner is Jonathan Harvey .

In 2008 the name was changed to the Experimental Studio of the SWR , the studio's official name to this day.

Since 2009, the experimental studio has hosted the matrix academy for the composition of electronic and live electronic music at various European and non-European locations. The ensemble of soloists Ensemble Experimental under the direction of Detlef Heusinger emerged from the cooperation within the framework of matrix in 2011 . In 2017 the academy took place in Ljubljana and ended with three concert evenings in the palace.

Important technical developments

In the following section only some important technical developments of the experimental studio are explained, for detailed information on the functionality of the corresponding instruments up to 1989 see: Hans Peter Haller: The experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of the Südwestfunk Freiburg 1979–1989. Baden-Baden 1995/96.

The work of the experimental studio was oriented live-electronically from the beginning. The performance of the works developed in the studio and the development of new live electronic instruments play an important role here. Even before the studio was founded, the engineers at SWF experimented with live electronics . As early as 1953, Bruno Heck and Fred Bürc k developed a frequency converter that can transform sounds in real time . This made it possible for the first time to reproduce sounds in other pitches without a time delay .

In 1956, Hans Peter Haller developed the ring modulator , the functionality of which is based on the frequency converter from Heck and Bürck . The sound alienation that this device can generate takes place via addition and subtraction of the input frequency with a sinusoidal oscillation with a certain frequency . The ring modulator was often used in compositions of the musical avant-garde and film music .

The small sound converter Modul 69B , which was developed in 1969 for the composition Mantra by Karlheinz Stockhausen by Hans Peter Haller and Peter Lawo, contained a microphone amplifier , a compressor , a filter , a ring modulator , a sinus tone generator and a volume control. With the help of this device, the performers were able to transform the sounds produced with the piano themselves and thus include the live electronics in their interpretation. In 1970 Cristóbal Haffter and Hans Peter Haller developed the first electronic device for sound control in a given room, the halophone. In the course of the following years, the movement of sound in space became an important part of many compositions.

Haller and Lawo further developed the technique of sound movement in space and this is how the halaphone came into being: a control device for the distribution and movement of sounds in space and their reproduction via loudspeakers . With the halaphone, the sound can move punctually and continuously, in different directions and speeds in space. In 1990 a digital filter bank was developed that breaks down the entire audible frequency range of the human ear into 48 whole- tone sections.

In 1993 it was possible for the first time to use the matrix mixer , a mixer with 64 inputs and outputs, to distribute and move a sound over 64 loudspeakers in the room.

"As an» instrument «for interpreting live electronic music", the AreC controller (Advanced Remote Control) was developed in the experimental studio between 2002 and 2005. The controller enables all devices for live electronics to be controlled using OSC via Ethernet . This separation of devices (computer or other software) and controller makes it possible to operate the live electronic elements completely silently from any location.

An important part of the studio to this day is the opportunity to work on the development of new technical devices, which are often created in collaboration between technicians and composers.

Collaboration with composers

The entire collaboration between the employees of the experimental studio and various composers is not presented here in detail, only a few known results of such collaboration are briefly discussed. The names of other composers who worked in the Freiburg studio can be found at the end of this section.

  • 1970/1972: John Cage - Songbooks I and II
  • 1971: Karlheinz Stockhausen - mantra for two pianos and ring modulator : This composition commission gave a collaboration between Stockhausen and the later head of the experimental studio, Hans Peter Haller, who developed a ring modulator for this composition that can be operated by the pianists .
  • 1972: Cristóbal Halffter - Plantopor las victimas da la violencia : The first composition in which the spatial sound was electronically controlled in real time with the halophone. This composition attracted a lot of attention.
  • 1973: Pierre Boulez - Explosante / Fixe

In the 1980s there was an intensive collaboration between Luigi Nono and the Freiburg experimental studio, which, in addition to the techniques that are now frequently used, such as ring modulation, filters, transposition, reverb, delay or vocoder, also included innovations in digital sound storage in his compositions. In collaboration with the studio, the works Das Atmende Klarsein (1981), Io, frammento da Prometeo (1981) and the great stage work Prometeo (1984) were created.

The matrix mixer was first used for the world premiere of Don Quixote by Hans Zender .

André Richard , who was head of the experimental studio from December 1989 to December 2005, focused his work on collaborating with young composers and radio play authors who, with the help of grants, were able to work in the studio free of charge and familiarize themselves with the techniques of live electronics . This represented an important contrast to Haller's work with well-known, established composers. To this day, working grants are awarded annually to aspiring composers.

In addition, the following composers worked in the experimental studio:

Vinko Globokar , Paul-Heinz Dittrich , Brian Ferneyhough , Klaus Huber , Emmanuel Nunes , Dieter Schnebel , Kazimierz Serocki , Silvia Fómina , Günter Steinke , Gerhard E. Winkler , Bernd Asmus , André Richard , Franz Martin Olbrisch , Peter Ablinger , Isabel Mundry , Wolfgang von Schweinitz , Diego Minciacchi , Uros Rojko , Michael Obst , Johannes Kalitzke , Nicolaus A. Huber , Rolf Gehlhaar , Marco Stroppa , Daniel Rothman , Giuseppe Gavazza , Jakob Ullmann , Mark Andre , Amnon Wolman , Chaya Czernowin , Gerald Eckert , Alvin Curran , James Saunders , Dai Fujikura , Lars Petter Hagen , Valerio Sannicandro , Alwynne Pritchard , Julio Estrada , Hilda Paredes , José Maria Sánchez-Verdú .

literature

  • Werner M. Grimmel: Prometheus in the realm of sounds. Via the Freiburg experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of Südwestfunk. In: New magazine for music. 156.5 (1995), pp. 58-60.
  • Hans Peter Haller: The experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of the Südwestfunk Freiburg 1971–1989. Research into electronic sound conversion and its history. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1995, Volume 1 ISBN 3-7890-3802-4 , Volume 2 ISBN 3-7890-3917-9 .
  • Josef Häusler: Mirror of New Music. Donaueschingen Chronicle tendencies, factory reviews. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-7618-1232-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Werner M. Grimmel: Prometheus in the realm of sounds. Via the Freiburg experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of Südwestfunk. In: New magazine for music. 156.5 (1995), pp. 58-60.
  2. ↑ SWR: Chronicle: 45 years of the SWR experimental studio . Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b SWR: Art and Technology in Dialog . Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Brochure: Experimental Studio of the SWR 1971-2011 (PDF; 1.4 MB). Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  5. ^ SWR: Members of the Experimental Studio . Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b Detlef Heusinger: EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO des SWR: 1971 - 2011 . Ed .: Südwestrundfunk, SWR experimental studio. Freiburg.
  7. ↑ Maxim Nopper, Detlef Heusinger, Stefan Boll: Ensemble Experimental (ENEX) ensembleexperimental.de. Retrieved November 3, 2017 .
  8. ↑ matrix on tour - applications now possible | SWR Experimentalstudio - Home | SWR Experimental Studio | SWR Classic . In: swr.online . ( swr.de [accessed on November 3, 2017]).
  9. ↑ Josef Häusler: Mirror of New Music. Donaueschingen Chronicle tendencies, factory reviews. Kassel 1996, p. 269.
  10. ^ Hans Peter Haller: The experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of the Südwestfunk Freiburg 1971-1989. Research into electronic sound conversion and its history. Volume 2, Baden-Baden 1995, p. 114 ff.
  11. ^ Official website of Luigi Nono: Works . Retrieved October 16, 2017.

Coordinates: 47 ° 59 '30.3 "  N , 7 ° 51' 36.9"  E