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Title:  Stock Exchange Piece Artist:  Matthieu Saladin Label:  w.m.o/r Format:  CD Price:  € 10.90   Mp3 samples: none

Title Description:
The Stock Exchange Pieces are transpositions of rates and index of the Stock Exchange to sine waves, with simple substitution of units. The rates fluctuations determine the swings of resulting frequencies.
In this piece, the rates of oil and gold and their respective 50-day moving averages (MA 50) usually associated with them are transposed to sine waves by simply swapping units. For example, if the oil barrel is worth 61.43 USD, the frequency of the sine wave will be 61.43 Hz; for gold, if its index is at 648.05 USD/ounce, the frequency of the sine wave will be 648.05 Hz, etc. Thus, the swings of high frequencies correspond to fluctuations of gold and its MA 50 and the swings of low frequencies to fluctuations of oil and its MA 50.
The considered period is 50 days (from March 4 to April 22, 2007) so that the moving average of the last index is calculated from all the individual values heard during the piece. The ratio for duration is 1 day is equal to 1 min, thus the piece lasts 50 min. The index/frequencies are separated in pan, according to the following distribution: rates of gold and oil on the left, MA 50 on the right.
The sine waves move about, converge or move away from each other, mirroring oscillations of the Stock Exchange and thus generating acoustic phenomena in their movement Ð sonic transcription of a flow.

Instrument: sine wave generator
Recorded April 22, 2007


The good thing about not having money, is that one doesn't have to worry how to make more money. I am not sure if Saladin has money, or shares, but the stock market is the starting point for his 'Stock Exchange Piece'. He took the rates of oil and gold over a fifty day period, and 'translated' the fluctuations into sine waves. So if the rate is 61.43 dollar for a barrel of oil today, then he will pick that as frequency in sinewaves and with the gold it's dollars per ounce (oil becomes low frequencies and gold higher frequencies). Each day, one minute. There is a bit which I don't understand about the 'moving averages' (MA50), but alas I can't be economic about that. That's about it. The result, one might ask, any good? Yes it is. The fluctuations don't jump around a lot, but it moves up and down, and slow as it is, the piece moves up and down in a slow. A great slow, heavy drone piece. (FDW - Vital Weekly)

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