Random
Acoustics

The catalogue

1. No.TitlePerformersRecorded atDateTime
2. RA 001

   Spellings

   Frisque Concordance

   John Butcher, Georg Graewe, Hans Schneider, Martin Blume

   MUSEUM Bochum

   1992-10-04

   50:01

3. RA 002

   Vicissetudes

   Frank Gratkowski – Georg Graewe

   Frank Gratkowski, Georg Graewe

   LOFT, Cologne

   1992-03-21

   49:22

4. RA 003

   Chamber Works 1990 – 92

   Georg Graewe

   Phil Minton, Michael Moore, Anna le Baron, Georg Graewe, Hans Schneider

   MUSEUM Bochum · Donaueschingen · STADTGARTEN, Cologne

   1991–1993 3 dates

5. RA 004

   Pele's Tears

   Earl Howard

   Earl Howard, Frank Gratkowski, Melvyn Poore, Hans Schneider

   LOFT, Cologne

   1993-10-13

   1:01:32

6. RA 005

   Groundwork

   Melvyn Poore

   Melvyn Poore, Lawrence Casserley

   LOFT, Cologne

   1994

   49:10

7. RA 007

   Flex 27

   Graewe – Reijseger – Hemingway

   Georg Graewe, Ernst Reijseger, Gerry Hemingway

   LOFT / STADTGARTEN / BIM HUIS, Cologne, Amsterdam

   1993

8. RA 009

   Polwechsel

   Radu Malfatti, Burkhard Stangl, Michael Moser, Werner Dafeldecker

   VHS Ottakring / Kino Pottenstein, Vienna, Pottenstein

   no date

   49:00

9. RA 010

   Snake Eyes

   Pair a' Dice

   Joker Nies, Jeffrey Morgan

   BEX-Studio, Cologne

   1993-12-29 – 1994-09-19

   51:18

10. RA 011

    Concert Moves

    Butcher – Durrant – Russell

    John Russell, Phil Durrant, John Butcher

    Schloss Morsbroich / c.u.b.a., Leverkusen, Münster

    no date

    53:23

11. RA 012

    Slamadam

    Gerry Hemingway Quintet

    Michael Moore, Wolter Wierbos, Ernst Reijseger, Mark Dresser, Gerry Hemingway

    Teatre aan de Moelen / BIM Huis, Laan/Bussum, Amsterdam

    no date

    1:01:27

12. RA 015

    Ereignislose Musik – Loose Music

    Burkhard Stangl

    Gunter Schneider, Radu Malfatti, Burkhard Stangl

    ORF Landesstudio Tirol / Schloss Stoitzendorf, Tyrol, Eggenburg

    no date

    1:08:35

13. RA 017

    Electro-Acoustic Solo Works 1984 – 95

    Gerry Hemingway

    Gerry Hemingway

    not documented

    no date

14. RA 018

    Irrefragable Dreams

    Robert Dick and Mari Kimura

    Robert Dick, Mari Kimura

    Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel / Acoustic Recording, Basel, Brooklyn NY

    no date

    59:44

15. RA 020

    The Flume Factor

    Frank Gratkowski Trio

    Frank Gratkowski, Dieter Manderscheid, Gerry Hemingway

    Germany and Austria per the artist’s website

    1997-01 – 1997-02

    1:09:35

16. RA 021

    Unique Horn 1997

    Martin Mayes

    Martin Mayes

    not documented

    no date

    59:22

17. RA 022

    Lines

    Jim Denley, Axel Doerner, Phil Wachsmann, Marcio Mattos, Martin Blume

    MUSEUM Bochum · Gateway Studio, Kingston upon Thames

    1995–1996 2 dates

    58:49

18. RA 023

    Battuto

    John Corbett, Mats Gustafsson, Terri Kapsalis, Fred Lonberg-Holm

    AirWave Recording Studios, Chicago

    1996-10-07

    1:06:33

19. RA 024

    Zeug fuer Schlagquartet

    Thomas Witzmann

    Thomas Meixner, Thomas Oesterdiekhoff, Dirk Rothbrust, Achim Seyler

    LOFT, Cologne

    1996-09-13/14

    1:02:07

20. RA 025

    Tuba Libre

    Giancarlo Schiaffini

    Giancarlo Schiaffini

    home studio of Giancarlo Schiaffini

    1997-03

    1:09:19

21. RA 026

    Stelen

    FOURinONE

    Johannes Bauer, Luc Houtkamp, Dieter Manderscheid, Martin Blume

    LOFT, Cologne

    1999-01-15

    1:04:59

22. RA 027

    Feldstaerken

    Thomas Lehn

    Thomas Lehn

    not documented

    no date

    59:57

Not on the archived website: RA 008, RA 016 and RA 019, known from Discogs, and RA 006, RA 013 and RA 014, not documented at all. See the catalogue.

Musicians

• Martin Blumedrums, percussion
• John Butchertenor, soprano saxophone
• Robert Dickflute
• Georg Graewepiano
• Frank Gratkowskialto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
• Gerry Hemingwaydrums, steel drums, electronics

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons. Martin Blume: Schorle, CC BY-SA 3.0; John Butcher: Andy Newcombe, CC BY 2.0; Robert Dick: Hreinn Gudlaugsson, CC BY 4.0; Georg Graewe: Michael Hoefner (Nomo), www.zwo5.de, CC BY-SA 3.0; Frank Gratkowski: Schorle, CC BY-SA 4.0; Gerry Hemingway: Hpschaefer, CC BY-SA 4.0. All image credits

All biographies · Index of all 46 musicians

Random acoustics, measured

• Airborne sound insulation, enclosures and booths

  Airborne sound insulation explained: mass law, R and Rw, D and DnT,w, flanking and leaks, and what speech level reduction (ISO 23351-1, DS,A) measures.

• Normal and random incidence: two ways to measure absorption

  Impedance tube (ISO 10534-2) vs reverberation room: why lab absorption can exceed 1, edge effect, αw and absorption classes (ISO 11654), NRC and SAA.

• Random incidence: the diffuse field and the reverberation room

  What random incidence means: the diffuse sound field, the random-incidence absorption coefficient and the ISO 354 reverberation room as reference.

• The room as part of the recording

  Direct sound, early reflections, C80 and D50 in plain language, close and ambient microphones, and the rooms named on RANDOM ACOUSTICS records.

• Measuring reverberation time

  How reverberation time is measured: noise, sweeps and impulses, Schroeder integration, T20, T30 and EDT, ISO 3382-1 vs 3382-2, and the usual pitfalls.

• Speech in shared rooms: intelligibility, privacy and open-plan metrics

  Speech in shared rooms: STI basics, privacy versus intelligibility, ISO 3382-3 metrics (D2,S, Lp,A,S,4m, rD), masking sound, absorption and screens.

On the music

• How to listen to free improvisation

  What free improvisation is and what to listen for, explained through RANDOM ACOUSTICS records: duo, trio and quartet line-ups and a first listening path.

• Composition and improvisation: where the catalogue draws the line

  Written, improvised or both? Reading RANDOM ACOUSTICS track lists, from Witzmann's percussion pieces and FOURinONE to Georg Graewe's note on Battuto.

• Cologne and the Rhine-Ruhr: the rooms where these records were made

  The rooms behind the RANDOM ACOUSTICS records: LOFT and the Stadtgarten in Cologne, the Museum Bochum, Amsterdam's Bim Huis and places further afield.

• Electro-acoustic music: live electronics, tape and acoustic instruments

  Tape, live processing and electronic instruments beside acoustic ones: the electro-acoustic side of RANDOM ACOUSTICS, from Earl Howard to Thomas Lehn.

• The solo album and the unlikely instrument: tuba, horn, flute, drums

  Solo tuba, horn, drums and keyboards, plus a flute and violin duo: how RANDOM ACOUSTICS recorded instruments rarely heard on their own.

Where it was recorded

Six releases name LOFT in Cologne; others were made at the MUSEUM Bochum, the Stadtgarten, the BIM HUIS in Amsterdam and in studios from Kingston upon Thames to Chicago.

Recording chronology · Venues