No stage, no mics, no sound engineer, just my naked voice and some skeletal midi sounds amplified (via multiple FM transmitters) by the attendees, who are given portable FM receivers and invited to move around so that they can become the main sound source of the performance and actively participate in the shaping of the music.

It can be performed indoors or outdoors using, for example, the radios in various cars as speakers.

Participative performance

Using multiple FM transmitters, I occupy specific FM radio frequencies on a given radius to amplify my instruments with whatever FM receiver is nearby, be it a handheld transistor, a boombox, or car sound system.

Encouraging attendees to pick some radios and move freely around the space with them, finding their own amplification strategies, and playing with reflections, delays, feedbacks and interferences, creates a unique, empathic and unpredictable context for the performance.

Listening = Music

By giving the attendees full autonomy with the radios, we are essentially creating a site-specific sound diffusion, with the potential to be much richer than classic stereo or even the most advanced multichannel systems. It can also result in total chaos, but accepting creative accidents is part of the fun, and more often than not, of the music.

When attendees become mobile speakers, their awareness increases dramatically. Not only do they engage more easily with each other and the music, but listening clearly becomes the music, and not just figuratively. This, in turn, helps to blur the demarcation between emitter and receiver, overturning the hierarchy of powers that underlies classical performance.

Autonomous and sustainable practice

Amplifying music via battery-powered FM transmitters and radios makes it possible to perform anywhere, be it indoors or outdoors, creating more abundant and playful performing opportunities. This autonomy of the stage (and all its intrinsic infrastructure) considerably reduces the cost of performing, contributing to making it a more sustainable practice.

Legal compliance

For this performance I am using radio equipment from the brand Reketess of the type FT11, which is in compliance with the RED Directive 2014/53/EU, the ROHS Directive 2011/65/EU, the WEEE Directive 2022/19/EU, as well as the IEEE (FCC) and ICNIRP exposure limits for occupational/controlled RF exposure environments.

FM transmission has a lower latency (5 ms to 10 ms) than Bluetooth 5.3 (about 40 ms), which makes it way more suitable for real-time playback amplification and monitoring during recording.

Find about the technical specs to present the performance HERE