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Volume 13, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1751-4193
  • E-ISSN: 1751-4207

Abstract

Len Lye made extraordinary, energetic direct films in the mid-1930s with the help of his sound editors, Jack Ellit and Ernst Meyer. While receiving recognition for his visual animation, the full extent to which Lye broke new audio-visual ground has been underestimated. This article proposes Lye and his collaborators as important pioneers of audio remixing, a musical process generally assumed to have much later origins. His short, hand-painted films including (1936) and (1937) were constructed using little to no visual editing, while their soundtracks were substantially cut and pasted. These soundtracks were painstakingly constructed from pre-existing musical recordings, re-arranged into bespoke instrumentals. This significant audio-visual accomplishment has remained largely unnoticed, despite predating experiments in audio manipulation by better-known composers. This article brings these considerable audio-visual innovations to the fore, and highlights the important relationship between dance music and Lye’s avant-garde filmmaking.

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2021-10-01
2024-04-26
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): abstract film; audio editing; avant-garde; Cuban music; dance remix; jazz; Len Lye

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