Takten von Masse (Studies in Timing Spectra) is a prismatic decomposition of time and a study in minimal frequency differences. It takes as its starting point two different models from particle physics that predict slightly different mass spectra for the same particles — like two bells cast from different materials that sound almost, but not exactly, alike. Sound and electromagnetic phenomena converge at one crucial point in physics: both are oscillations, both possess spectra, and their description follows the same mathematical structures.

The piece exploits this coincidence to transpose quantum-mechanical models into acoustic situations: resonating bodies whose eigenfrequencies map the mass states of the particles; sound fields that glide between the two theories; rhythms in which the spectrum becomes a temporal distribution. What sounds is the attempt to translate information from a world of spectral structure into the sensory domain in which humans perceive spectra most differentially: sound.

Composition, sonification: Marcus Schmickler
Dramaturgy, sonification: Julian Rohrhuber
Scientific consultation: Dr. Deborah Rönchen, Harrison B. Prosper, Arunima Bhattacharya