Finally, the third and last article resulting from my research project has been published. The article “Testing Spatial Hearing and the Development of Kunstkopf Technology, 1957-1981” is part of the volume “Testing Hearing. The Making of Modern Aurality” edited by Viktoria Tkaczyk, Mara Mills and Alexandra Hui (OUP, 2020).
Earlier 2020, the second research paper was published under the title “Zwischen neuem ‘Hör-Gefühl’ und ‘Psychoterror’: die Debatte über die emotionale Wirkung der Kunstkopf-Stereophonie im Hörspiel der 1970er Jahre”. The paper is part of the volume “Technikemotionen” edited by Martina Hessler.
Werner Bleisteiner from Bavarian Broadcasting has produced a great slideshow to go along with the radio play “Splendor and Misery of Kunstkopf Stereo” (Thank you, Werner!). And since I had requests to offer English subtitles for the radio play, we have also put together German and English subtitles that are now embedded in the slideshow (you can find them in the settings menu of the video). Read the rest of this entry »
I have published some of my results on the history of Kunstkopf stereophony (and it’s failure to revolutionize radio listening in the 1970s) in volume 23 (2017) of ICON, the journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology. You can read the full paper here (accessible only for ICOHTEC members) or find a pre-print on my academia page. See below for an abstract of the paper: Read the rest of this entry »
Within the framework of the research project “Failure and Success of Dummy Head Stereo: An innovation history of 3D listening”, Stefan Krebs and Andreas Fickers produced a binaural radio play about the history of binaural stereo.
On June 11, 2017, the Luxembourgish public service radio station radio 100,7 has broadcasted our binaural radio play “Glanz und Elend der Kunstkopf-Stereophonie” [Splendorand Misery of Dummy Head Stereophony]. You can still listen to the radio broadcast online (just click the button “lauschteren” [listen]). The first eight minutes, that give some background information on the research project, are in Luxembourgish! – the radio drama itself is in German!
You can soon also listen to the full radio drama on this blog (stay tuned).
Here are two short sequences from the radio play “Glanz und Größe der Kunstkopf-Stereophonie” – A radio play from Stefan Krebs, with Hans Peter Hallwachs as Kunstkopf; Stephan Wurfbaum as journalist and Andreas Fickers as media archaeologist; Research, script and mise-en-scène: Stefan Krebs; Sound: Christian Schimmöller; Producer: Werner Bleisteiner; Historical and technical advisors: Günther Hess and Stephan Peus
Next week (June 17), I will present our binaural radio drama at the next Forum Z organized by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH). Forum Z (Z for “Zeitgeschichte”, contemporary history) is a platform for a critical and open discussions of current issues in contemporary Luxembourgish and European history. Interested citizens are invited to debate with experts about different topics, new approaches and new sources in contemporary history. The next (and third) Forum Z will focus on the “Future of Storytelling”, in particular on how digital technologies will and already have affect(ed) historical storytelling.
The event will take place at the Centre national de littérature in Mersch. My colleagues from C2DH will present different virtual exhibitions and new digital tools like histograph. I will set up twelve pairs of headphones and invite people to listen to “Glanz und Elend der Kunstkopf-Stereophonie”, a binaural radio play about the history of (full) binaural sound reproduction.
When I give talks about failure and success of Kunstkopf stereo one frequently asked question is how many Kunstkopf recordings have been made during the 1970s or since the introduction of commercial Kunstkopf microphones in 1973? Read the rest of this entry »
Here you can find some photos from our past workshop on “Histories and Practices of Multi-Channel Sound Reproduction” hosted at the C2DH digital history lab (Feb. 2-3-, 2017). All photos were taken by Andy O’Dwyer. Read the rest of this entry »
Kunstkopf stereophony 