I Think To Tomorrow: An Audio Interpretation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation

Episode 57

 

I Think To Tomorrow: An Audio Interpretation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation

 

An imagined reconstruction of the Spy-Beam technology from the novel The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov, using randomly selected phrases in different tones and voices.

 

Playlist

1. Isaac Asimov read by William Shatner – Foundation: The Psychohistorians. (1976 Caedmon Records). Passages the 1951 edition of the novel comprising page 14 plus the Spy-Beam passage from page 34. 1:40 and 0:18
2. Isaac Asimov, “Psycho History And Encyclopedia” from The Foundation Trilogy (1990 BBC Enterprises Ltd.). Passages the 1951 edition of the novel comprising page 14 plus the Spy-Beam passage from page 34. 1:37 and 0:17
3. Isaac Asimov, miscellaneous passages, The Mayors From Foundation Read By The Author (1977 Caedmon Records).

Additional audio processing and synthesis created by Thom Holmes using WavePad, Logic Pro, MetaSynth CTX 1.2, Arturia ARP 2600 V, Arturia Moog Modular, Arturia Pigments, Madrona Labs Aalto, and various audio processing applications. The piece is organized as follows:

• Part 1: Foundation “Spy-beam” passage from page 34, dramatized readings from the BBC and Caedmon (with William Shatner), with audio processing. 4:00
• Part 2: Foundation page 14, computer-voiced versions, randomized, plus synthesized sounds. 20:00
• Part 3: Foundation page 14, computer-voiced versions plus myself recorded and played back using the Bell & Howell Language Master, randomized, with synthesized sounds and audio processing. The Bell & Howell 1757B Language Master was made in the 1970s and was Language Card Teaching System using magnetically striped cards that could record and playback sounds that were about 5 seconds in length. It could only play or record one time at a time that was manually fed into the transport system, essentially a capstan with a magnetic head like a reel-to-reel tape recorder. It was used in classrooms to teach language skills, vocabulary, and so forth. 11:00.
• Part 4, Foundation page 14 plus read by William Shatner plus random passages from The Mayors section read by author Isaac Asimov. Both dramatized readings from the Caedmon records, with audio processing and synthesis. 6:00

Background Music

• Isaac Asimov read by William Shatner – Foundation: The Psychohistorians. (1976 Caedmon Records). Passages page 14 including Encyclopedia Galactica 4. 1:40
• Isaac Asimov, miscellaneous passages, The Mayors From Foundation Read By The Author (1977 Caedmon Records). 2:60

Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.

Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes.

For additional notes, please see my blog Noise and Notations.