March 2008 Archives

"But there were some blind alleys, too. Having the luxury of workshops with the BBC Concert Orchestra, we tried other ideas. One was to build a drum machine out of the white noise. I figured it would be simple: a hih cluster of tones for the high-hat, a fuller machine made from what is basically 32 wooden boxes strung with wires. And everyone'd be amazed. The first few seconds of one run-through was enough to know that this wasn't going to worry Kraftwerk much. Instead, it was just the same, unwelcomely-atonal chord repeated over and over, for minutes on end, to the quiet distress of everyone in the room. You're better off not having been there.

"This was, of course, because it's not perfect white noise that's being generated: it's not a white-noise module connected to an envelope generator connected to a loudspeaker, but a room full of breathing, shuffling, occasionally distracted players. And some players (and so some frequencies) are inevitably going to be louder than others, or poke out when the bows change direction, or because you're sitting closer to some players than others. It's not science.

"So in this roundabout way, I finally realized that this was the point. I want to be reminded throughout the music that there are 32 people sitting here playing, rather than 'sections' of players. And, to enjoy the fact that, because every player is different, then every play-through will be different. And in these imperfections, there's other music. It reminded me of when you think there's a radio playing quietly somewhere, and you stop whatever noisy work you're doing--the vacuum cleaner, the car engine--to listen out for it, but by then, it's disappeared too."

     --Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, from the program notes on his orchestra piece "Popcorn Superhet Receiver"