I’m Sitting in a Room

I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have.

Translation:

I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now / I am recording my voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again / Until the frequencies due to the resonance of the room reinforce themselves / In this way, any resemblance to my speech, except perhaps its rhythm, will be destroyed / What you will hear, then, are the natural resonances of the room, articulated by my voice / I regard this activity not so much as the demonstration of a physical phenomenon / But more as a way of smoothing out any imperfections my voice might have. (Alvin Lucier, “I am sitting in a room”, 1970).

“What interests me is the movement the sound makes from its source into space, its three-dimensional quality. Because sound waves must surely go somewhere once they are emitted. What they become then interests me enormously.”

Alvin Lucier