Acousmatic Fabrications: Les Paul and the ‘Les Paulverizer’

Abstract

Acousmatic sound – a sound that one hears without seeing the causes behind it – creates situations where visual contributions to auditory experience are diminished. The author theorizes that acousmatic separation unsettles the relationship of the source, cause and effect of sound. To draw out the consequences of this theory, Les Paul and Mary Ford’s multi-tracked recordings and live performances are examined, and three central claims are posited. First, Paul’s turn to multi-tracked recording was motivated by mimetic rivalry when his ‘sound’ was imitated on the radio. Second, Paul misdirected listeners of his radio program by creating scenarios that depended on false attributions of source and cause. Third, the problems that faced Paul in live performance of his multi-tracked hits resulted in Paul’s creation of the ‘Les Paulverizer’. This device afforded the maintenance of acousmatic spacing during live performance but also forced him into the unusual position of ventriloquizing his own voice.