Post
by jliat » Sat May 05, 2018 12:42 am
You are quite right that people can use a term like noise for anything, and the meanings of words are never fixed. And that this can lead to the 'anything can be...' noise, art, whatever. At which point any meaning breaks down. Which is maybe what some want? But to have meaning you need difference. So in sound, noise has a meaning only if it is different... to what. Music, speech, information. Or its other meaning is 'a sound one doesn't like'.
A more recent definition is a word which typifies a certain sound of a genre in music. I think the OP's drone work is not in the latter terms 'noise'. But noise became trendy, so people like to use the term. Like they use 'experimental', where once it was experimenting with new ways of making music, and art was trying to be progressive like science.
And the ideas of convention were broken down, by art which was unconventional, so that the convention became to be unconventional! And the origins of that move goes back at least to Dada of the early 20th C. Being unconventional has been the artistic convention for over 100 years.
So noise qua noise was back in the 90s unconventional, but no longer is. However it (IMO) still has two factors which do make it different, in your sig, the ability to play is one. Its not needed. (despite the claims of hard work, practice and such) And from this there is no criteria for judgement using 'skill'. Secondly more than any other genre, audiences are irrelevant and almost non existent. This follows from the first. If I can download Audacity for free, use generate white noise, apply bass boost and get HNW, why should I pay to hear HNW.... other than to say i've seen the Rita or Vomir, or own the Merzbow box set.
And so we arrive at the deeply ironic state of people posting, asking how to get that sound that is so “original”... and maybe they don't get the irony of asking how to have an original thought... and worse some offer advice!
Wanting to make sounds that express oneself, that you like and that others like and admire – is called wanting to make music. Wanting to make sounds without any skill which express nothing, that you are not bothered about and no one else is either, is IMO noise.
this is actually a nice way to label noise. pretty nice. in a way noise was categorized by intention rather than the shape of it. cool.
any chance of an OS X version?
