White Noise - Text 1
When we speak of “white noise”, it is often to refer to a hiss caused by a technical problem one hopes to eliminate. That said, the creation and manipulation of this kind of hiss, like other techniques used in ‘glitch art’,[1] also have an artistic function when this hissing is taken out of its initial context. The topic of this section is to define what is meant by white noise, to explore the technical elements required to create it and to understand its uses in an artistic context. More precisely, I will explore the way in which this particular kind of glitch can pass from the status in which it is seen simply as an acoustic mistake to one in which it is part of the sounds incorporated into a creative work. I will begin, therefore, by defining the notion white noise and drawing up an inventory of the multiple uses to which it can be put. To do this, I will adopt an approach involving an analysis of discourses. I will then show how to create white noise using an electric circuit; in this sub-section, how devices function will be the topic of study. Finally, I will explain how white noise is incorporated into online sound libraries of glitches and how these can be used in the creation of sound art. In this case it is a question of examining practices.
White Noise: Definition and Uses
Let us begin with a simple question: what is white noise? White noise is defined as “a tone generated in a random manner combining every frequency simultaneously. One might imagine a concert in which each musician plays a sound with the same intensity but a slightly different frequency”.[2]
