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Jérémie Teboul, Ezra "A Method for the Analysis of Handmade Electronic Music as the Basis of New Works." Ph.D.
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2020
Abstract: “Handmade electronic music” is the set of sonic works that imply purpose-built electrical devices and digital systems. In this document, I detail why the increasing accessibility of these technologies has made a generalizable mode of study of such works elusive. I assess the potential of reverse engineering as a qualitative practice-based research method to remedy
that. A critical deconstruction of technical objects for comprehensibility, maintenance, and improvement, this approach has underexplored potential in the humanities generally, and electronic music discourse specifically.
I focus on electronic circuits, computer code, and human-legible representations of these technical media. I offer a view of reverse engineering through the lens of technology studies as not only a complement to interview and archival-based research but also as a necessary step
in the full documentation of artistic experiments rooted in electronic mediums. I present how this new approach to musical analysis in a sociotechnical context enables better-informed documentation and reiteration of electronic works by connecting material decisions with
artistic consequences.
The generalizable nature of this reading is illustrated through six case studies: four focusing on previous projects by significant practitioners in the field, and two detailing my own inquiries. My pieces are the aesthetic response to the scholarly process of analyzing and reverse-engineering systems with musical potential. In other words, if reverse engineering allows for connections to be made between tools and aesthetic experiences, it can also reveal
alleys of artistic experimentation with musical technologies left unexplored by past artwork. Here, research and practice do not only serve each other, they are co-constructed.
Department: Electronic Arts
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Advisor(s): Curtis R. Bahn
