⏩ We dive into the vibrant Chilean experimental music scene with insights from Renzo Torti-Forno, Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez, and Pablo Godoy Frez, through sound compositions, unique processes, and a continuous evolution in sound and electroacoustic art. REVIEW of a Festival, by Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez in NOISE is the Message.

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🎚️ Signal Flow =⏩⫸
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█ TRIPLE Conversation: The Electroacoustic Community of Chile [CECh] and the Darwin Vargas Festival of Valparaíso, by Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez in NOISE is the Message.

👉 Sound art and experimental music pioneers in Chilean contemporary culture

On Friday, October 14, 2022, the Electroacoustic Community of Chile (CECH) participated in the 19th edition of the PUCV Darwin Vargas International Festival of Contemporary Music, organized by the Institute and Conservatory of Music at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, held continuously since 2004. This event has roots in previous editions, inspired by the nearly uninterrupted International Festival of Electroacoustic Music Ai-Maako, which ran from the early 2000s until 2021—a unique experience in Chile for both its curated repertoire and its spatialized presentation via strategically placed speakers around the venue. This festival attracted both Chilean and international composers with formal training, as well as audiences who, for the first time, experienced this genre and its unique listening setup.

The impact and longevity of Ai-Maako are evidenced by numerous events and activities, as well as a remarkable increase in attendance, which is quite uncommon in this field. Workshops, talks, conferences, and other activities surrounding the festival sparked the emergence of new creators and concert spaces. This evolution is closely linked to the Chilean netlabel Pueblo Nuevo.

The Covid-19 pandemic, combined with various technical and logistical challenges, marked the 2021 edition as the last official one. However, perhaps due to tradition or unforeseen circumstances, this edition was still labeled as the Ai-Maako Festival. This event premiered two new works and presented one already available online. It also featured the prolific Chilean composer Iris Sangüesa Hinostroza, who contributed significantly to electronic music and worked at the Electronic Music Laboratory at CLAEM, Instituto Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina. This could signify the entrance of this Chilean electroacoustic festival into the history of music, marking both the end of one era and the fertile beginning of something new.

🖖🏽 Programe Notes

«Silence is a way of expressing Music.»

—| PABLO GODOY FREZ

Everything (2021)
Pablo Godoy Frez
World Premiere

I began by exploring the concept of “nothing.” After experimenting with various options and going through a long, tedious process, I concluded that, instead of “nothing,” I would work with “everything,” utilizing all the sound resources stored in my old computer: recordings, unused material, electronically generated and processed sounds, various samples, noise, acoustic and electronic instruments, voices, sine waves, etc. With the selected material, I crafted a simple and direct discourse that somehow synthesizes years of work.

«There is no NOISE, there is no difference between one sound and another, everything is part of the Music…»

—| RENZO TORTI-FORNO

6×216 Mixtape Side B (2021)
Renzo Torti-Forno
World Premiere

Composed between April and May 2021, this piece was created using a technique halfway between plunderphonics and musique concrète. It uses samples compiled by Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez for the 6×216 mixtape, released by Pueblo Nuevo (PNMXT006) in April 2021. A folder containing all samples used by Figueroa accompanied the release, comprising the first 6 seconds of each track from every album released by the label—from its inception in 2005 through December 2020—for a total of 216 fragments. This piece was made using these audio fragments, modified exclusively through speed adjustments, reverse playback, cut-and-paste, and volume and panning adjustments. No additional effects were applied to maintain the integrity of the original samples. The composer set a self-imposed rule to include all 216 samples (even those containing only silence) and to make the piece exactly twice the length of the original mixtape.

«…musical sound-making is a worldview, a human metalinguistic perspective…»

—| GERARDO FIGUEROA RODRÍGUEZ

6×216 Mixtape (2020-21)
Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez

In mid-2020, Mika [Martini] suggested via WhatsApp that I create a mixtape for the netlabel’s 15th anniversary. After some deliberation, I found that the traditional model (selecting appealing material to arrange as a playlist) felt exclusive, competitive, and hierarchical. Simultaneously, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s quote, “art consists precisely in going too far,” resonated in my mind.

Clarity came on Sunday, September 13: to include everything and everyone, I decided to work with the entire catalog. Given its volume, I landed on a duration of six (6) seconds, inspired by the timeframe needed to avoid copyright in YouTube videos or podcasts and the short attention span online. To ensure consistent quality, I captured the sounds directly from the site’s player. With this framework in place, I began the project.

Complete version available here.

💻 About our PROCESS

This time, Gerardo handled the entire selection and editing process in Audacity for Mac, assembling the interview audios alongside the mentioned works.

Subsequently, the audio stems were processed for final assembly in Ableton Live, applying equalization and necessary adjustments for the final bounce, generating a stereo track.

The narrative was constructed based on the queried topics. This opened the door to a linear editing experience where digital silences were used to counter radio automators.

A sound bed track was also created, with random interventions at casual moments and unprogrammed panning to embrace the possibility of unexpected errors or interventions.

Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez, October 2024.

📣 Thus, we release a new NOISE of the 2024 cycle.
📝 Research, production and editing work carried out by Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez 🇨🇱 in collaboration with Franco Falistoco 🇦🇷 between September and October 2024.