Irv Teibel

• Name — Irv Teibel • Birth Name — Irving Solomon Teibel • Born — 9 October 1938 • Birthplace — Buffalo, New York • Died — 28 October 2010 • Place of death — Austin, Texas • Genre — Field recording • Occupation — Sound recordist, graphic designer, photographer • Label — * Syntonic Research, Inc. • Atlantic • Website — http: www.irvteibel.com/

Teibel was born in Buffalo, New York in 1938. He attended the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California before serving in the army as a public information specialist in Stuttgart, Germany. During this time he became interested in electronic music and musique concrète and began experimenting with tape at a local radio station. While in Germany he also claimed to have studied briefly with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Teibel returned from Europe in 1966 and settled in New York City where he worked a number of jobs including associate editor at Ziff Davis. He also took night classes in electronic music at The New School during this time and was a founding resident of the famous Westbeth Artists Community. In 1969, he worked with Tony Conrad on Conrad's film Coming Attractions which involved recording the ocean at Coney Island. After this experience, Teibel became interested in using natural white noise for psychological purposes. Working with neuropsychologist Lou Gerstman at Bell Labs, he processed a short ocean loop recorded at Brighton Beach through an IBM 360 computer to create one continuous thirty-minute soundscape. This became the first environments recording, "The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore". The record was unique for its extremely long playback times—30 minutes per side at 33 rpm—and could be played at any speed from 16 up to 45 rpm. "The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore" was one of the first commercially available releases edited with a mainframe computer and one of the earlier examples of commercial quadraphonic sound. In 1970, Teibel created an environmental sound installation for the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, and in 1971, he began teaching a class in experimental recording techniques at The New School. In 1973, to demonstrate how magnetic tape could be manipulated, Teibel edited Richard Nixon's August 15 speech to reveal that the president, in fact, had "prior knowledge" of the Watergate break-in. In the subsequent years, Teibel performed as an expert witness for magnetic tape technology. In 1981, Teibel moved to Austin, Texas with his then-wife Rosanne. They had two daughters, Jennifer and Dara. In Austin, Teibel was involved in the local Jewish community. He lived there for 29 years until his death on October 28, 2010 at age 72. His brother Phil was a violinist with the Buffalo Philharmonic.

• environments 1 (SD 66001, 1969) • environments 2 (SD 66002, 1970) • environments 3 (SD 66003, 1971) • environments 4 (SD 66004, 1974) • environments 5 (SD 66005, 1974) • environments 6 (SD 66006, 1974) • environments 7 (SD 66007, 1976) • environments 8 (SD 66008, 1974) • environments 9 (SD 66009, 1979) • environments 10 (SD 66010, 1979) • environments 11 (SD 66011, 1979)