Page - 59 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/01

Voicing the Technological Body | 59www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/1, 49–69 All three described constructions of microphonic bodies have in common the elec- tronic amplification of relatively soft vocal sounds. The presence of body sounds is en- hanced by technology. By amplifying characteristic vocal sounds each style generates characteristic vocal identities. Crooning is mainly about intimacy, be it more erotic or more melancholic, with mostly male singers who are soft but masculine. Beatbox- ing and vocal percussion present the vocally produced sounds of drum kits or drum machines. In contrast to crooning, this type of amplified presence communicates an encounter not with another person but with a kind of human machine or instrument. Growling, too, implies alienation from the human in the human voice, but in this case the non-human part resembles not a machine but rather some kind of monster. All three types of amplified presence are based on certain uses of the microphone, employed to amplify and record relatively soft bodily produced sounds. It makes us perceive vocal sounds in an intimate way, as if our ears are very close to the mouth of the vocalist. Hence the microphone is for sound what the microscope is for sight: both increase what is rather “small”, zooming in to bring it close to our sensual or- gans. Sometimes, vocalists handle the microphone in a certain way, holding it close to the mouth, touching it, or cupping it with one or two hands to produce certain ef- fects, for example. Altogether, the microphone is more than a technology that makes an absent body present, for it may even enhance that presence. At the same time, the types of microphonic bodies discussed here do not necessar- ily depend on other technological transformations via electronic effect, even though in practice it is quite common to make use of reverb, delay, or compression, for ex- ample. The combination of bodily produced sound with such technologies will be dis- cussed in the following category. WHO OR WHAT IS SINGING? HYBRIDITY The debate over the difference between recorded sound and its source emerged along with the early gramophone. That difference became even more obvious with the development of modern studio technique. Peter Wicke saw the recording of Bud- dy Holly’s song “Words of Love” as a milestone in this development. Norman Petty recorded Holly in 1957 in Clovis, New Mexico, using multitrack recording to allow the singer to perform a second voice in addition to his own first voice. Wicke noted the significance for the media culture of the twentieth century of this new phenomenon, whereby one voice could be heard twice simultaneously on a record: “As a synthesis of human sound production and machine-made mutations this product epitomizes the bodiless sound of the media age.”34 Recording popular music changed from docu- mentation of something that could also be performed live to music production. Re- 34 “Das Produkt ist als Synthese aus menschlicher Lauterzeugung und maschinellen Mutationen der Inbe- griff für den körperlos gewordenen Klang des Medienzeitalters”, Wicke 2011, 70, translation F. H.; see also Wicke 2001.