Audio feedback transforms a playback system into a noise-generating instrument

Audio feedback — the loop created when a microphone picks up sound from the speaker it feeds — has been used as a primary compositional tool in noise music. Robert Ashley’s The Wolfman (1964) was performed by playing vocals through loudspeakers simultaneously with a tape and controlling the feedback by putting his mouth up against the mic, generating an overpowering avalanche of noise. Merzbow (Masami Akita) later abstracted noise by freeing it from guitar-based feedback alone, expanding the feedback principle to the entire signal chain. Feedback exploits the physical acoustics of the room, equipment gain structure, and microphone positioning, turning the performance space itself into part of the instrument.

Examples

Robert Ashley’s ‘The Wolfman’ (1964) — mic-against-speaker vocal feedback. Guitar feedback in noise rock (Sonic Youth). Contact microphone feedback. Pedal chain feedback loops in Japanoise performance.

Assessment

Describe the physical mechanism of audio feedback. How does Robert Ashley’s The Wolfman use feedback as a compositional rather than accidental element? What role does gain staging play in controlling feedback?