The Physics of Music and Color: Sound and Light (original) (raw)
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Music and color: Relations in the psychophysical perspective
Color Research & Application, 1992
Relations between music and color have long been debated, it seems inconclusively. I describe the theory behind three electronic sound-to-light transducers built to give a visual impression of music to students and deaf people. In psychophysical theory, any psychotogical correlation between music and color must derive primarily from the physical stimuli, which, as sonic or radiant energy, have only two variables: (a) amplitude, causing loudness or brightnessllightness: and (b) wavelength, causing musical tone or hue. Correlation of tone and hue is also indicated by their cyclic nature, as octave cycle and hue cycle. Accordingly, only the latter cycle can represent the former.
Structural correspondence between music and color
Color Research & Application, 1991
The article outlines the ,features that are typical of the attempts to bridge between music and color on the artistic and scientijc levels. It emphasizes the importance of clarifying the factors common to color and sound both for the purpose of understanding the communication codes of arts as well as.for the development of syntax for expression in colors. The article adopts Gombreich's approach to investigate the connection between music and color through comparison of the relationships between the elements and not through comparison of the elements themselves. The article presents an experiment that examines how the organization of the sounds in a musical piece is expressed in color design: (1) How the overall impression of a piece of music is expressed in the choice of colors and in their reciprocal relationships; (2) What are the characteristics of color scales that were shaped according to a musical scale; and (3) What is the visual effect of a color scheme that was built according to the formation of notes of the musical piece. exist. In his work Theory of Colors,8 published in 1840, Goethe wrote: "That a certain relation exists between the two, has been always felt;. .. Colour and sound do not admit of being directly compared together in any way, but both are referable to a higher formula, both are derivable, although each for itself, from this higher law" (p. 298). Kandinsky l o argued that decoding the formula connecting color and music would constitute a sort of uncovering of the spiritual origins of art. Such a revelation would contribute to our self-knowledge and would bring the plastic arts closer to abstraction. The search for this association must, in his opinion, be made at the level of principle, rather than at the level of external expressions. Referring to the correspondence between color and sound, Gombrich says in the last chapter of his book Art andlllusion': And yet can we really compare such renderings of sound patterns in visual terms with the rendering of visual impressions in visual terms? Granted even that most of us experience such synesthetic
The purpose of this presentation is to share findings from a decades-long search to develop the optimal method, with some basis in natural law, for translating music―and perhaps all auditory manifestations―into chromatic visual displays, a process this paper names Chromoacoustics, (" CAS ") or " color and sound. " The outcome could provide insights into the operation of well-concealed natural laws. It is clear that this research could furnish beneficial results through instructional and therapeutic applications, among which are means to provide enhanced tools for teaching the hearing-impaired. Résumé Le but de cette présentation est de partager les conclusions issues d'une recherche de dizaines d'années visant à développer la méthode optimale, avec une certaine base avec les lois naturelles, pour traduite la musique – et peut être toutes les manifestations auditives – en des affichages visuels chromatiques, un procédé que cet article appelle Chromoacoustique, (« CAS ») ou « couleur-son ». Le résultat pourrait donner un aperçu de l'opération de lois naturelles qui sont bien dissimulées. Ceci a été accompli car il est clair que l'issue pourrait générer des résultats bénéfiques à travers des applications pédagogiques et thérapeutiques, procurant des outils pour l'enseignement chez les malentendants.
Demonstration of a proposal of correspondence between Light and Sound
2020
Abstract: Demonstration of a proposal of correspondence between Light and Sound. This proposal was materially exemplified by means of a new hyperinstrument, which gives its users the control over a multi-sensorial algorithmic composition generated in real-time. In this paper we present the origin and motivation of our correspondence proposal. We describe with some detail, the designed methodology to convert sound frequency to colour wavelength and the designed strategy to present the visual results on RGB systems. Audiovisual documentation of the demonstration available at http://3kta.net/solu Resumen: Demostración de una propuesta de correspondencia entre Luz y Sonido. Esta propuesta fue ejemplificada materialmente por medio de un nuevo hiperinstrumento, que da a sus usuarios el control sobre una composición algorítmica multi-sensorial generada en tiempo real. En este escrito se presenta la origen y la motivación de nuestra propuesta de correspondencia. Se describe con cierto detal...
Visible and Audible Spectrums -a proposal of correspondence
Presentation of a proposal of correspondence between Light and Sound. This proposal is materially exemplified by means of a new hyper-instrument, which gives its users the control over a multi-sensorial algorithmic composition generated in real-time. The employed methodology and mathematical model are also presented with some detail, insofar as they pretend to be matter and reference for future developments in the field of multi-sensorial composition.
Color, Form, and Motion: Dimensions of a Musical Art of Light
Leonardo, 2000
Lumia are an art form that permits visual artists to play images in the way that musicians play with sounds. Though the idea of creating lumia has a long historical tradition, modern graphicallybased computers make it possible to design instruments for creating lumia that are more flexible and easier to play than at any previous time in the history of art. In designing and playing lumia, three principal dimensions require attention: color, form, and motion. By organizing the design of lumia and instruments for creating them along these dimensions, it is possible to learn a great deal from art theory and history, as guidelines have been devised for the effective use of each of these dimensions.
THE CONCEPT OF TEXTURAL VALUE. ADOPTING TERMINOLOGY FROM THE THEORY OF LIGHT.
EMS : Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference – Beijing 2006.
This paper examines the use of terminology that springs from parts of the theory of light, applied to electroacoustic music, highlighting the intimate connections between the visual and the auditory, and suggesting that music is not solely an auditory experience. Furthermore, the extra-musical nature of various sonic parameters cannot be addressed solely with reference to musical language, but should include possible relationships and analogies with other forms of art and, in general, with aspects of life. Hence, the concept of Textural Value is introduced as a unifying feature that relates sonic parameters and attributes with light, contributing to a meaningful understanding of music. The terms of Frequency and Amplitude, Hue, Saturation, and the Brightness of a sound are presented as coordinates that unify aspects of sound and light.