Alvin Lucier's 1969 minimalist piece in which a spoken text is repeatedly played back and re-recorded in a room until the room's resonances replace the words. This is the 1981 Lovely Music recording.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it as the canonical work behind repeated re-recording experiments, and a pivotal piece of minimalist music worth listening to patiently.
“I'd recommend setting aside the time to listen to these beginning to end if you can.”
Patient listening pays off in minimalist work
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I love the earlier, even more minimal pieces like Music With Changing Parts: link And I love the parallels to things like I Am Sitting In A Room by Alving Lucier: this video (If you're not familiar with this piece, it might be worth reading about it first - link ) I hesitate to say this because it depends on your tastes, but I'd recommend setting aside the time to listen to these beginning to end if you can. You'll probably feel a bit fidgety for the first 10 / 15 minutes, but in my view it's really worth persevering because I find the payoffs are worth it.
Cites itthevibesmanMay 2016
“This is a cool homage to Alvin Lucier's I'm Sitting in a Room”
Original Lucier piece that the re-upload experiment homages
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This is a cool homage to Alvin Lucier's I'm Sitting in a Room [1][2]. I was lucky to get a chance to hear Lucier give a colloquium at Brandeis when I was an undergrad---earlier in his career Lucier had been faculty at Brandeis. [1]: link [2]: this video
Cites itnecubiOct 2020
“a classic work of experimental music”
Classic piece of repeated re-recording until speech dissolves
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This is like a physical version of "I Am Sitting In A Room" [0], a classic work of experimental music. In that piece, Alvin Lucier speaks the words "I am sitting in a room different from the the one you are in now..." into a recorder, which is then played back into another recorder, on and on until it becomes unintelligible. [0] this video
Cites itkamihekuDec 2022Full comment
That could be a fun exercise, I'd imagine you might end up with something like "I Am Sitting In A Room" [0][1] [0] link [1] this video
Cites itaustinjpNov 2023
“It's a pivotal piece of minimalist music.”
Recording of the piece, where room resonances replace words
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A piece of sound art in which Alvin Lucier repeatedly played back and re-recorded his voice in a room, until his words became completely unintelligible, and only resonant frequencies of the room remained. It's a pivotal piece of minimalist music. Edit to add link to YouTube of the recording: this video
