Pauline Oliveros – Big mother is watching you

"When we hear the rhythmic line being displaced by the computational process we hear alterations in the relationships between sound intensities which constitute the rhythm. However, we also obtain information—however partial—about computational processes within the mechanism generating the sounds...
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With computer generated sound in particular, it is possible to locate the sound in a wider containing system rather than in the speaker diaphragm alone. From the purview of a computer musician or critic, locating the sound in a vibrating object alone may constitute an arbitrary and incomprehensible excision: for the succession of vibratory events may manifest an organizing process whose generative mechanism includes (say) a computer-audio system and gestural inputs determined by performers or various environmental contingencies."

 'Sonic Art and the Nature of Sonic Events' - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2010 1

- David Roden

"In the summer of 1966, Pauline Oliveros devised a setup at the University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio that allowed her to ‘. . . [play] the classical studio in real time’ (Pauline Oliveros Interview). The setup employed tone and noise generators, amplifiers and tape machines with feedback loops. In her own words: ‘The whole set up was quite non-linear and required careful listening and instantaneous responses to play’ (Pauline Oliveros Interview). ...

In listening to these pieces we are listening to the system itself and the process of the sounds becoming. This type of work engenders a different listening strategy than a piece of tape collage. Content still matters as does materials that are input to the system, but rather than the form being determined solely by a sound’s morphology (micro) and juxtaposition (macro), the interaction within (and with) the system endows it with form. In Oliveros’ case, techniques suchas a ‘. . . double feedback loop between channels . . .’ lead to a ‘. . . continuous reiteration of attack until: it decays, a new attack occurs, or a resonant mode is activated . . .’"

'Noise/Music and Representational Systems' in Organised Sound · August 2006 2

- Doug van Nort

​references:

1. 'Sonic art and the Nature of Sonic Events' in the Review of Philosophy and Psychology, pp. 153-4 by David Roden  (https://philpapers.org/rec/RODSAA-2), published  (2010)
2. Noise/music and representation systems in Organised Sound, August 2006 by DOUG VAN NORT  ( https://doi.org/10.1017/S135577180600145 ) , published online: 14 August 2006​