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Author Topic: IRCAM  (Read 2841 times)

MDM,

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IRCAM
« on: September 04, 2009, 07:06:20 PM »

has anyone ever seen the room at the IRCAM facilities in Paris?

A friend is going to record something there, he showed me photos.

amazing stuff..

the walls are completely covered with computer-controlled panels.

the room is huge.

wow.
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I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy .. in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry and music.
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KB_S1

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2009, 08:03:32 PM »

HAving a look at the website just now.
Maybe it is just fatigue but I am finding the website impossible to navigate.

Do you have any links to to photos of the room you are talking about?
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maxim

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2009, 03:40:05 AM »

i'm not sure but if are you talking about the dead room, then yes

i've been there

it's so dead it's creepy

i'm not sure i'd like to perform in there, it felt like i was already 6 feet underground

it's a pretty amazing place though

nice location... (it's the brown building on the right)

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en& amp;geocode=&q=ircam+paris&sll=50.189271,1.133477&am p;sspn=3.777165,9.591064&ie=UTF8&ll=48.859796,2.3517 05&spn=0,359.997658&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbl l=48.860087,2.350885&panoid=dd_cZAnfusHt0KVLtXp8yQ&c bp=12,73.15,,0,-5.1

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MDM,

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2009, 05:54:41 AM »

the panels are all controlled by a mac.

I think the liveness can be controlled too?

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I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy .. in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry and music.
John Adams (1735-1826) 2nd President, United States

KB_S1

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2009, 06:35:27 AM »

It looks incredible but, not particularly musical.
I am sure  it sounds great and as you say can be adapted but it just doesn't look inspiring.

Perhaps that would all change once one is in the room?
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<a href="http://www.parklanerecordingstudios.com/" class="link3">Park Lane Studio</a> Where to find me most of the time<br /><br />

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kb_s1/" class="link3">Flickr</a>where to see what I have been up to  <br /><br />

MDM,

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2009, 07:13:56 AM »

I dunno.. looks good to me..

the panels seem to have one side reflective and the other side no.
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I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy .. in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry and music.
John Adams (1735-1826) 2nd President, United States

aip

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2009, 07:41:07 AM »

I live in Paris, and have bought some of their software, and gone through training sessions on said software. It is clinically correct and powerful stuff, but of all the softs I have from them, the only one I use regularly is AudioSculpt. The problem from my point of view is that the immense microscopic search for detail and control is heavily compromised by a heavy handed work method. Used for analysis and patient sculpting, it fares well, but it kills spontaneity to a point where I am much more musically inspired by lesser quality, user friendly software. The building houses all of its labs and recording and research underground, and thus avoids a lot of problematical street noises. They have open door days once a year, and it's a gas to visit.
aip
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Seb Riou

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2009, 09:01:37 AM »

The big hall is intended to host multi-speakers diffusion (forget 5.1, we're talking around 20 channels here), along with "ensemble contemporain", which is basicly a precussive ensemble of a symphonic orchestra plus a few winds or strings, sometimes piano. All this joyful party play together (usually a "musician-conductor" real time sampling and treating the orchestra, played back on the multichannel system), so it gets pretty gnarly.
The moving panels are so efficient it is scary, from live to dead in a few seconds.
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Eric H.

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #8 on: September 05, 2009, 09:21:06 AM »

I did an internship there for a couple of month years ago.
All i can tell about the main room is that it is fully modular. you can control the height of the ceiling ( that is divided in 3 parts), those panels on the walls (lots of them) are individually controlled and each have a reflective side and an absorbent side.
Also, it is big to record, but not so much for a concert hall.
The room is really a big shoebox. It doesn't sound really good either. They use it mainly for western modern written music and in coordination with their labs. The Institute is 100% public funded, and has a variety of research going on in the acoustical . A pretty exciting place to work at.
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eric harizanos

Podgorny

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #9 on: September 05, 2009, 09:27:27 AM »

Wow.  Vibey place.

Rolling Eyes
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"Nobody cares what the impedance is; all they care about is when you can walk into the room, set up a mic, turn the knobs, hit record, and make everybody go 'wow.'"

MDM,

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #10 on: September 05, 2009, 10:28:18 AM »

hmm.. doesn't sound too good eh? too bad..

I'll wait for the recording... still curious to hear what such a room would sound like.
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I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy .. in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry and music.
John Adams (1735-1826) 2nd President, United States

Eric H.

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #11 on: September 05, 2009, 11:18:20 AM »

Well, if i guess your taste right, i'd say it is not too good. But if it is just to record, you then get lots of space to work with, so the room sound can really be worked around. I guess in the all dead mode, it be quite cool for a studio sound.
usually they leave it 50/50. That mode is not really my taste. Never heard the 100% live setup. But there is nothing in the room apart from the panels that influence the sound. On the bright side, you can make a very nice recording on the dry side because of the space.

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eric harizanos

guy_4

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Re: IRCAM
« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2010, 08:51:45 PM »

Hello All,
I worked there several years in the mid-80's.
I mostly agree with Eric H opinions about the Big Room, named " Espro ".
On a funny side : at this time the original control system for rotating the acoustic panels was quite unreliable, and during concerts it happened some panels were suddenly living their own life, and started turning  Laughing
Finally the system was disconnected, and a study was started to design a more reliable system, based on a Mac ( Apple was a sponsor of the Institute )
Guy
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