AW-001: Raum K3 - Freie Stimmen: Live im Raum K3
- 1Kurztonritual
- 2Bewegung durch Stimmenfeld
- 3Echo unter Treppe
- 4Zungensplitter
- 5Rückwärtschor
- 6Kontaktton
- 7Spulenstück für 2
- 8Abschaltung
AW-001
•
Open edition
AW-001: RAUM K3 – Freie Stimmen: Live im Raum K3
Label: Aurora Weltklang
Format: ¼″ open-reel magnetic tape (mono program) / Digital Archive Reissue
Recording Date: 12 October 1970 (22:17–01:03)
Release Date: January 1971
Edition: 27 copies (distributed via intercommunal barter)
Location: Raum K3, Freiburg (sub-basement of former printworks)
Total Runtime: 57:45
Genres: Site-Recorded Drone · Vocal Process Ritual · Tape Collage · Proto-Kraut Improvisation
SIGNAL PRESSURE REVIEW
Freie Stimmen: Live im Raum K3 still feels less like an album than a séance. Captured in a damp Freiburg print-basement by Loreta Svein, Otto Meer, Greta Dorn, and the elusive engineer E. Friedl, it hums with the electrical ghosts of 1970. The 47 Hz mains buzz wasn’t filtered—it was worshipped, fed back into the mix until the room itself began to breathe.
“Kurztonritual” opens with Svein’s fractured syllables rebounding off concrete and steel, Meer marking time on scrap percussion while Dorn’s bass drifts like a generator idling in the dark. “Bewegung durch Stimmenfeld” pulls Friedl’s contact-mic drone into focus: the building sings through its own pipes. Every failure becomes feature; every hiss, a presence.
Side B turns the séance into sabotage. “Rückwärtschor” folds human breath backward; “Kontaktton” grinds aluminum and reverb into one thick metallic smear. “Spulenstück für 2” lets tape-handling itself become performance—reels slip, loops fray, the hiss overtakes the room. “Abschaltung” doesn’t end so much as evaporate, leaving silence that still vibrates.
The packaging matched the atmosphere: vellum insert, myrrh-scented liner, edition marks written in sigils. No hype, no promotion—just word-of-mouth among communes that recognized sound as ritual. Fifty-plus years later, Freie Stimmen still feels dangerous, not for volume but for intent: a blueprint for the raw nerve that would become Aurora Weltklang’s identity.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION & RECORDING SPECIFICATIONS
• Recording Venue: Raum K3 (sub-basement, Freiburg printworks facility)
• Capture Format: ¼″ mono tape @ 3¾ ips
• Deck Used: Grundig TK 145 (variable-speed knob removed; mono-only modification)
• Reel Stock: BASF LGS 35 LH grey leader — reused dictation archive reel
• Microphones: ceiling-hung dynamic (center corridor); contact mic on aluminum pipe; unshielded condenser behind stair vent
• Routing: direct split via resistive Y-adapter; 47 Hz hum retained as “voice of the room”; tape hiss –42 dB on Track 4 (uncorrected)
• Supplementary Calibration: Concord CR-1 field recorder + hand-wired LBA-2 Line Bloom Analyzer module adding thermal mic drift
TRACKLIST + CUE LOG
Side A – (29:27)
1․ Kurztonritual – 06:24
2․ Bewegung durch Stimmenfeld – 10:07
3․ Echo unter Treppe – 06:04
4․ Zungensplitter – 06:52
Side B – (28:18)
5․ Rückwärtschor – 04:35
6․ Kontaktton – 06:49
7․ Spulenstück für 2 – 08:54
8․ Abschaltung – 08:00
Total Runtime: 57:45
INSERTS & VISUAL EPHEMERA
8-page PDF featuring the following inserts / visual ephemera:
• Folded screen-printed vellum insert (spiro-glyph by Svein — “Spoken only once. Heard forever.”)
• Myrrh-infused padding sheet behind reel spool
• Sigil-coded edition marks (in symbols, not numbers)
• Original kraft tape-log sheet with ink blots, signed “L.S.”
• 1978 playback card with myrrh dosing instructions
• Diagram overlay for ZIRKEL speaker placement (triangulated from glyph)
• Annotated sleeve copy (#33) with faint graphite name “Rosa T.”
PHYSICAL RELEASE DETAILS
• 1970 communal reel edition: ¼″ open-reel tape (stereo spool for mono program)
• Leader / Markings: Matte grey leader with hand-inked spiral glyph (varies per copy); etched splice code Verloren, nicht stumm (“Lost, not mute.”)
• Packaging: Uncoated fiberboard slipcase (pale sand tone)
• Spine: Black-foil stamp — “AW 001 // Raum K3 // Freie Stimmen”
• Rear Silkscreen: ½″ black spiral + text “Only her breath is left.”
SUBSEQUENT FORMATS & VARIANTS
• Cassette Circulation (1978): ≈ 80 mono C60 copies in burlap pouch; micro-zine insert with breath diagram; many warped in Varel storage
• LP Reissue (1994, AW-001R): Edition of 250; adds two bonus tracks from alternate corridor mic source — Altgang (1972 Duval mix) (4:59) and Reentry (alt mic) (4:40); Duval reconstruction; fluorescent-ink insert; playback note suggesting 32 rpm for “correct pressure”
• Bootleg CDr (France, early 2000s): Freiburg Vocal Ritual 1970 — track order scrambled, “Kurztonritual” looped ×4 intro, sleeve photo actually MIRRORDEN rehearsal
• Digital Archive Reissue (2025) - features two bonus tracks, 8-page PDF of visual ephemera
OUTTAKES & UNRELEASED MATERIAL
• Bonus tracks Altgang and Re-entry included in digital archive reissue
EPILOGUE
As Aurora Weltklang’s first release, Freie Stimmen captured a basement moment before the communes had language for what they were doing. Raw, hypnotic, and caught between raga-drone, acid-folk, and proto-Kraut jam, it documented the birth of a collective vocabulary. Heard now, it’s not a relic — it’s the hum of the circuit just closing.
FOR LISTENERS OF:
• Amon Düül (earliest sessions)
• Taj Mahal Travellers
• Gila – Free Electric Sound
• ZIRKEL 92 – Gemeinsprache I
• Tundral – Übergangsklima
credits
released October 1, 1970
• Loreta Svein (voice, guitar, electronics, drones)
• Otto Meer (drums / percussion, tape collage)
• Greta Dorn (bass guitar, electric guitar, drones)
• E. Friedl (printworks facility engineer)
all rights reserved
Label: Aurora Weltklang
Format: ¼″ open-reel magnetic tape (mono program) / Digital Archive Reissue
Recording Date: 12 October 1970 (22:17–01:03)
Release Date: January 1971
Edition: 27 copies (distributed via intercommunal barter)
Location: Raum K3, Freiburg (sub-basement of former printworks)
Total Runtime: 57:45
Genres: Site-Recorded Drone · Vocal Process Ritual · Tape Collage · Proto-Kraut Improvisation
SIGNAL PRESSURE REVIEW
Freie Stimmen: Live im Raum K3 still feels less like an album than a séance. Captured in a damp Freiburg print-basement by Loreta Svein, Otto Meer, Greta Dorn, and the elusive engineer E. Friedl, it hums with the electrical ghosts of 1970. The 47 Hz mains buzz wasn’t filtered—it was worshipped, fed back into the mix until the room itself began to breathe.
“Kurztonritual” opens with Svein’s fractured syllables rebounding off concrete and steel, Meer marking time on scrap percussion while Dorn’s bass drifts like a generator idling in the dark. “Bewegung durch Stimmenfeld” pulls Friedl’s contact-mic drone into focus: the building sings through its own pipes. Every failure becomes feature; every hiss, a presence.
Side B turns the séance into sabotage. “Rückwärtschor” folds human breath backward; “Kontaktton” grinds aluminum and reverb into one thick metallic smear. “Spulenstück für 2” lets tape-handling itself become performance—reels slip, loops fray, the hiss overtakes the room. “Abschaltung” doesn’t end so much as evaporate, leaving silence that still vibrates.
The packaging matched the atmosphere: vellum insert, myrrh-scented liner, edition marks written in sigils. No hype, no promotion—just word-of-mouth among communes that recognized sound as ritual. Fifty-plus years later, Freie Stimmen still feels dangerous, not for volume but for intent: a blueprint for the raw nerve that would become Aurora Weltklang’s identity.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION & RECORDING SPECIFICATIONS
• Recording Venue: Raum K3 (sub-basement, Freiburg printworks facility)
• Capture Format: ¼″ mono tape @ 3¾ ips
• Deck Used: Grundig TK 145 (variable-speed knob removed; mono-only modification)
• Reel Stock: BASF LGS 35 LH grey leader — reused dictation archive reel
• Microphones: ceiling-hung dynamic (center corridor); contact mic on aluminum pipe; unshielded condenser behind stair vent
• Routing: direct split via resistive Y-adapter; 47 Hz hum retained as “voice of the room”; tape hiss –42 dB on Track 4 (uncorrected)
• Supplementary Calibration: Concord CR-1 field recorder + hand-wired LBA-2 Line Bloom Analyzer module adding thermal mic drift
TRACKLIST + CUE LOG
Side A – (29:27)
1․ Kurztonritual – 06:24
2․ Bewegung durch Stimmenfeld – 10:07
3․ Echo unter Treppe – 06:04
4․ Zungensplitter – 06:52
Side B – (28:18)
5․ Rückwärtschor – 04:35
6․ Kontaktton – 06:49
7․ Spulenstück für 2 – 08:54
8․ Abschaltung – 08:00
Total Runtime: 57:45
INSERTS & VISUAL EPHEMERA
8-page PDF featuring the following inserts / visual ephemera:
• Folded screen-printed vellum insert (spiro-glyph by Svein — “Spoken only once. Heard forever.”)
• Myrrh-infused padding sheet behind reel spool
• Sigil-coded edition marks (in symbols, not numbers)
• Original kraft tape-log sheet with ink blots, signed “L.S.”
• 1978 playback card with myrrh dosing instructions
• Diagram overlay for ZIRKEL speaker placement (triangulated from glyph)
• Annotated sleeve copy (#33) with faint graphite name “Rosa T.”
PHYSICAL RELEASE DETAILS
• 1970 communal reel edition: ¼″ open-reel tape (stereo spool for mono program)
• Leader / Markings: Matte grey leader with hand-inked spiral glyph (varies per copy); etched splice code Verloren, nicht stumm (“Lost, not mute.”)
• Packaging: Uncoated fiberboard slipcase (pale sand tone)
• Spine: Black-foil stamp — “AW 001 // Raum K3 // Freie Stimmen”
• Rear Silkscreen: ½″ black spiral + text “Only her breath is left.”
SUBSEQUENT FORMATS & VARIANTS
• Cassette Circulation (1978): ≈ 80 mono C60 copies in burlap pouch; micro-zine insert with breath diagram; many warped in Varel storage
• LP Reissue (1994, AW-001R): Edition of 250; adds two bonus tracks from alternate corridor mic source — Altgang (1972 Duval mix) (4:59) and Reentry (alt mic) (4:40); Duval reconstruction; fluorescent-ink insert; playback note suggesting 32 rpm for “correct pressure”
• Bootleg CDr (France, early 2000s): Freiburg Vocal Ritual 1970 — track order scrambled, “Kurztonritual” looped ×4 intro, sleeve photo actually MIRRORDEN rehearsal
• Digital Archive Reissue (2025) - features two bonus tracks, 8-page PDF of visual ephemera
OUTTAKES & UNRELEASED MATERIAL
• Bonus tracks Altgang and Re-entry included in digital archive reissue
EPILOGUE
As Aurora Weltklang’s first release, Freie Stimmen captured a basement moment before the communes had language for what they were doing. Raw, hypnotic, and caught between raga-drone, acid-folk, and proto-Kraut jam, it documented the birth of a collective vocabulary. Heard now, it’s not a relic — it’s the hum of the circuit just closing.
FOR LISTENERS OF:
• Amon Düül (earliest sessions)
• Taj Mahal Travellers
• Gila – Free Electric Sound
• ZIRKEL 92 – Gemeinsprache I
• Tundral – Übergangsklima
credits
released October 1, 1970
• Loreta Svein (voice, guitar, electronics, drones)
• Otto Meer (drums / percussion, tape collage)
• Greta Dorn (bass guitar, electric guitar, drones)
• E. Friedl (printworks facility engineer)
all rights reserved
