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01: RESEARCH
I am a PhD candidate in the computing department at Goldsmiths College, London where my research involves investigating how the evolution of technology from analogue to digial forms
has altered how we engage with creative processes. The following text is from a chapter from my thesis titled 'Analogue Signals and Digital Bits'.
Recorded sound (digital and analogue recording are strictly identical here) is not a true representation of a specific 'live' sound created within particular environmental conditions. Something is lost in the recording process. Even the most advanced microphones fail to capture the true and complex nature of sound, even under the most controlled conditions; in this sense recorded sounds can never be ‘authentic’. ‘Authenticity’ is obviously a problematic term here but it is outside the brief of my current research to explore its ramifications.
For some, who grew up in the analogue world of vinyl records and magnetic tapes, it was difficult to adapt to the digital sound aesthetic that is CDs, when they became commercially available in the early 1980s. Many observed, for example that the sound was ‘cold’ and ‘sterile’, whilst others accused those who refused to surrender their attachment to vinyl of wallowing in nostalgia. In retrospect, however it would seem that at least some of those observations about CD sound quality were not simply born out of romantic, or nostalgic notions about the passing of vinyl. Perhaps some people simply yearned, consciously or unconsciously, for those frequencies that are removed during the process of converting continuous analogue sound signals to discrete digital data. Digital sound represents a very different sound aesthetic than analogue sound, not least because analogue signals are continuous in nature and digital sound is made up of samples, which are discrete.
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02: PRACTICE
My research and practice is informed from my interest in the relation between visual and acoustic space and from a desire to interlace artistic and scientific disciplines – I hold both an MA in Interactive Media and a M.Sc. in Music Technology. My practice concerns both image and sound; I am a photographer/filmmaker and a practicing classical musician. Furthermore, as an web designer/developer I have a particular interest in how artists might best use digital platforms to aid creative processes and the dissemination of creative output.
This site is under construction and so not fully active at present. New content will be added in the coming days.
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 | NETWORKS | CONTACT |
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location: London
e: brian@briankavanagh.com
t: +44 (0)7549942133
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