The beauty of sound. The future of sound. – A multi-faceted journey through the various aspects of sound.
An English-language series of events called “Resonances” was launched at the FUTURE FORUM by BMW Welt on the subject of sound. The series is hosted by Renzo Vitale, Creative Director Sound at BMW Group Kicking off with “Soundscapes of Electrification”, Renzo and our selected experts Prof. Dr. André Fiebig (Professor of Psychoacoustics at TU Berlin), Emma Frid (Postdoctoral Researcher at IRCAM/KTH Royal Institute of Technology) and Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto, Artist, Musician and Label Owner), embarked on a multi-faceted journey through the various aspects of sound.
We explored the idea of a soundscape of tomorrow and particularly the relation of sound and electrification. Even if the concept of electricity is not recent, the topic of electrification has been gaining attention in the past few years, specifically caused by the impact of electric vehicles. With the evolution of drive trains, the sonority of cars is a rapidly advancing field of research. Renzo Vitale carries the responsibility to “define the sonic statics of the BMW fleet”. He works together with a “team of hundreds” in order to create sounds that will fill our streets. One of the team’s main tasks at BMW is the sound of electric cars on the exterior. The principles of their work are the vast impacts that sound has on people’s lives. Renzo insists that sound as we know it is information, “but sound is also emotion”. Therefore the sound of an electric car has to enable the driver to express his emotions. Renzo thinks “a car is a highly complex performative art installation”. This theory guides and inspires him when composing the sound of future cars.
1st Episode – SOUNDSCAPES OF ELECTRIFICATION
Guests: Alva Noto, Emma Frid and André Fiebig
2nd Episode – VISIONARY MUSIC CREATION CONNECTING HUMANS, ROBOTS AND AI
Guests: Portrait XO, Moritz Simon Geist, Dan Tepfer