Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[john david fullemann <>]

Bill

The Astatic cartridges cost just a few dollars back in the 70s,
now they are 25$.  www.canadianastatic.com/
The best things about them were that
1. the output was enormous 3-10Vpp
2. the stylus was inserted into a 3mm cup and held in place with
   a knurled thumbscrew. Very simple and rugged, on a dark stage.

My major contribution was probably that I wired the pickups into
HiZ differential preamps, to eliminate hum. Back then the SCR
lighting dimmers and stage cabling emitted stunning amounts of
EMI.

The contact mics I made (johncage.it/en/1979-montestella.html#devices
used square piezo elements removed from 2$ radio shack guitar
pickups.  Now larger piezo discs mounted on metal plates can
be had that are easier to handle and also deliver a lot of
output when bent.

With different cactii, the resonance of the cactus/pickup/bracket
should be adjusted to best suit each particular cactus.

For large ones, the pickup can hang in the air and you can
even add some weight to the far end of the pickup to bend
the metal plate a little. This gives the pickup a flatter
frequency response.

For small ones, mount the pickup in something and using an
aligator clip, attach the cactus to it.

For everything else in between use your imagination and your
ears.

Good luck.

-John David Fullemann


Den 2016-03-03 kl. 16:42, skrev Bill Trigg:
> Good morning, everyone!
>
> I was surprised to find nothing in the archives on this topic.  I am
> preparing a performance of Branches, and am having difficulty figuring
> out how to connect the phonograph cartridge to an amplifier.  None of my
> tech people have an answer.  Any assistance you all could offer would be
> greatly appreciated!
>
> Bill Trigg