Space and Sound: The effects of live and pre-recorded music on dance
Many dancers, musicians and performing artists have tried their hand at digitally editing performance footage at some time, perhaps from live gigs or for promotional clips . I've been editing for many years, and have several sound engineers in the family who digitally master music. We've found these waveforms to be quite revealing, highlighting nuances that are sometimes difficult to pick up by listening alone. To observe audio as digital waveforms is always fascinating, as they show the 'structural form' of sound. In recent years, whilst editing dance performance clips, some interesting patterns and differences between live music and pre-recorded waveforms have emerged, that have spiked my curiosity. The main difference is the syncopation of sound with visual performance footage that to live music, compared to choreographed work to pre-recorded cd tracks. In 1998, when I filmed and edited "Bellydance Live" in Cairo, with an Egyptian band, where we d...