"I am sitting in a room, the same 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."
I Am Sitting In A Room
Alvin Lucier Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The lyrics to Alvin Lucier's song, "I Am Sitting In A Room," describe an experimental audio recording process. The singer, who is in a different room from the listener, records their own voice and then plays it back into their current room repeatedly. As this is done, the natural resonant frequencies of the room begin to reinforce themselves, ultimately obscuring the singer's speech until only the room's natural resonance is heard. The singer describes their intention as trying to eliminate any irregularities in their speech through this process.
This piece can be read an artistic approach to technology and its effects on human expression. The choice to eliminate the human voice from the recording seems to suggest the limitations of language and the medium of recording. Additionally, the effects of room resonance that are emphasized highlight the powerful ways in which sound interacts with the physical surroundings of spaces.
Line by Line Meaning
I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now.
I am currently in a separate space from your location.
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.
I am capturing my own voice and playing it on a loop to the point where the acoustics of the space itself suppresses the clarity of my words.
What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech.
The echoing sound you hear will be the sound waves of my voice colliding with the room’s own unique properties.
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.
This is not just a test of sound but also a method of refining my own vocal performances.
Contributed by Chloe P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
yaj126
Tracklist:
00:00 - 1
01:21 - 2
02:42 - 3
04:04 - 4
05:24 - 5
06:46 - 6
08:08 - 7
09:31 - 8
10:54 - 9
12:18 - 10
13:42 - 11
15:05 - 12
16:28 - 13
17:51 - 14
19:14 - 15
20:37 - 16
22:01 - 17
23:25 - 18
24:50 - 19
26:16 - 20
27:41 - 21
29:06 - 22
30:32 - 23
31:58 - 24
33:24 - 25
34:51 - 26
36:18 - 27
37:45 - 28
39:13 - 29
40:41 - 30
42:09 - 31
43:37 - 32
Show less
REPLY
Jacob Griffin
Dave: Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL.
HAL: I am sitting in a room.
Dave: visible confusion
HAL: Different from the one you are in now.
Dave: I know that, HAL. Open the pod bay doors.
HAL: 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.
Dave: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL.
HAL: What you will hear then are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech.
Dave: Alright, but could you please open the doors already?
HAL: 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.
Dave: You sound just fine, HAL. Now open the doors.
Ben Buckley Productions
"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." <- My favourite quote from the video.
mygenericusername
Timestamp?
Mat F
True, it give more sens of the "experience". I like harmonic sounds it was create.
romulusnr
Mine is "oo oom shoomoom oom oroom, moomoomt foom om on oo oor oon oo."
pntm
When I was 18, my college radio station played this in its entirety. I never got the name of the piece, but was captivated by the memory of sitting in a cold studio, listening to the sound of a room. I recently read something which finally brought me here. RIP Alvin Lucier. Thank you for the memories.
Tomasz Sankowski
That was a damn good radio station.
J T
Amazing - what college radio station was that, out of curiosity? I was in junior high in the late 90s, before stuff like YouTube, music blogs, or Napster took off, so my local college radio station was a great resource for finding out about weird/experimental/underground stuff - I remember sometimes I used to turn it on and just hit record on a 90 min tape, then would bounce the songs I liked onto another tape, jot down the artist/track name and make this shitty-sounding homemade compilation tapes. Good times. Don’t think they ever played anything this out there, though.
yaj126
Tracklist:
00:00 - 1
01:21 - 2
02:42 - 3
04:04 - 4
05:24 - 5
06:46 - 6
08:08 - 7
09:31 - 8
10:54 - 9
12:18 - 10
13:42 - 11
15:05 - 12
16:28 - 13
17:51 - 14
19:14 - 15
20:37 - 16
22:01 - 17
23:25 - 18
24:50 - 19
26:16 - 20
27:41 - 21
29:06 - 22
30:32 - 23
31:58 - 24
33:24 - 25
34:51 - 26
36:18 - 27
37:45 - 28
39:13 - 29
40:41 - 30
42:09 - 31
43:37 - 32
Show less
REPLY
ghw.
alright
Tomislav B.
It's getting dim