Analog Ambitions
Working with tape is far from new. In fact, for a long time analog productions were the norm. So our box of tools is familiar to many, but has become entrenched in terms of sound, methodology and description. The words we use to describe this material can be quite restrictive and strip it of the freedom to pursue new avenues.
Het Concreet uses analog tape as an instrument - not just as a carrier. This forces us to find new words to express what we do and how we arrive at our music. We want to dislodge ingrained connotations so as to construct our own fully dedicated and completely updated set of tools.
In the coming years we will document our quest on this page in sound, image and word. We will talk to musicians, makers, philosophers and scientists about what we do, see and hear, thereby creating our own tape loop philosophy.
Het Concreet connects yesterday’s technology with the makers of today. In Het Concreet’s studio, analog sound techniques find their way into the present. In the spirit of the analog music pioneers of the last century - Éliane Radigue, Brian Eno, Pierre Schaeffer - Het Concreet is working on tomorrow’s experimental music.
Het Concreet works in a triangle of maker, material and listener:
> we focus on the maker by experimenting in lab form with analog material and inviting makers from different disciplines to take part in the experiment;
> we focus on the material by engaging with professionals from the fields of art, philosophy, science and business about the value of imperfection, mindfulness and surrender and the parallels with other disciplines;
> we focus on the listener by designing presentation forms for abstract music in which the trained/untrained listener becomes a part of our world of sound.
Sound is the vocabulary of nature
– Pierre Schaeffer
Working with analog material means working with mindfulness and surrender. Mindfulness, because the process requires us to ensure that every millimeter of tape is in the right place. Surrender, because the material is brittle and imperfections will by definition creep in. These imperfections are where our ambitions start. Whereas digital recording techniques produce identical results, analog recordings are subject to wear and coloration. The result is never identical, but rather unique every time. Het Concreet operates in this field of tension where perfection comes into conflict with the human dimension. In the triangle of maker, material and listener, the task we set ourselves is to make our music resonate with a larger audience. We involve the listener in our music by making use of a variety of art disciplines and sharing our world of sound built on mindfulness and surrender in this way.
