One often overlooked beauty of analogue radio is the possibility of tuning through a waveband without finding a station but to encounter the most interesting noise patterns. Any form of digital broadcasting will forsake this opportunity. Ersatzrauschen is an imagined tuning through an empty waveband on the dial, offering the rather unlikely chance for the listener to stumble across it whilst hopping through discrete internet streams. The sound source for the piece is not radio but a malfunctioning 8-track digital data tape recorder made by Bell & Howell. A built in self-test function produced variable noise patterns on the eight individual outputs which I used to perform a real-time mix. 

Commissioned for Signal

Knut Aufermann, born 1972 in Hagen (Germany), studied chemistry at the Universities of Hamburg and Potsdam. In 1998 he moved to London to study audio engineering and in 2002 gained a Master degree in Sonic Arts from Middlesex University. 

From 2002–2005 he was the station manager of Resonance104.4fm, London’s unique radio art station and has produced dozens of shows for the station. Besides this he plays improvised electronic music in groups such as Tonic Train, The Bosch Experience, London Improvisers Orchestra, as well as solo and other ad hoc combinations, with hundreds of concerts across Europe. In 2004 he curated and played in the UK tour Feedback: Order from Noise, featuring a.o. Alvin Lucier and Otomo Yoshihide. 

He is currently active across Europe as a lecturer, musician, organizer, writer, curator and consultant. Recent engagements include workshops for the Dutch Art Institute, productions for Kunstradio in Austria and remote performances for TKU university in Tokyo. 

Together with Sarah Washington he runs the project Mobile Radio (http://mobile-radio.net) investigating alternative means of radio production. Their works have been broadcast in 12 countries. He is also a founder member of the international Radia network of independent cultural radio stations (http://radia.fm). 

knut.klingt.org