Most art festivals succeed or fail in direct relation to their name-recognition amongst their desired audience; the Decibel Festival is no different. However, few festivals can claim to have actually grown into their name like this years forthcoming electronic, multimedia showcase that calls Capitol Hill home for four days every September.
Simply put, decibels measure the ratio between two quantities. They are most frequently used to quantify sound levels and, thus, it's perhaps no surprise that this is how the story of the Decibel Festival begins.
In January 2003, the first Decibel-titled event occurred at the infamous Washington Hall. Its focus was music, specifically minimal techno - an up-tempo blend of electronic dance music that tends to be more stripped down, bare and thoughtful than the typical progressive dance remixes of commercial pop hits one can currently hear on local station C89.5 FM. The event, Convergence, marked the first physical incarnation of an idea that had been floating around on local techno e-mail-groups for some time.
Months earlier, in a post to a local e-mail list, Sean Horton, executive director and curator of the Decibel Festival, asked if anyone was interested in creating a multi-day music festival similar to those that occur annually in Detroit, Montreal and Barcelona. The result: 50 people showed up to the first meeting. Still, he admitted, "By the fourth meeting, we were down to the hardcore 10." Those 10, however, pooled their talents and resources and launched the first annual Decibel Festival in September 2004.
While the first festival included film forums, visual artists and educational clinics, the audio portion of the event took center stage. Four nights of electronic music at four different Capitol Hill clubs marked the cornerstone of the event as dance music lovers from throughout the Northwest descended on Capitol Hill to hear the likes of techno luminaries such as Richard Devine, Sutekh and John Tejada.
However, Horton and his cohorts' vision didn't stop with the audio. Instead it encompassed, perhaps unconsciously, the many facets of the decibel that this year's festival finally enacts. Like its namesake, the scope of the Decibel Festival is significantly wider than the field of acoustics.
Visual scientists use decibels to express the diminution of optical power. While visual art has always played a role at the festival, this year it gets its due with "Optical" - a day-long event where artists will perform music alongside multimedia, computer-generated visual art in one synchronous performance. Recall how piano players in the 1920s provided sound for silent films. Now, imagine if they could actually control that film. This is Optical. Musical artists will use sound to trigger, interact and create virtual eye-candy.
And while it's doubtful that many are familiar with the Optical performers that include Speedy J and Ryoichi Kurokawa, Horton's convinced their artistic talents add volumes to the festival. He witnessed a recent performance by Kurokawa at Mutek, Decibel's big brother, a multi-day electronic arts festival held in Montreal and often cited as a model for the Decibel Festival.
"Visually, it's the best thing I've seen in a multimedia performance in years. Beautiful, complex and unlike anything I've ever experienced," he said.
The field of electronics also uses the decibel as a unit of measure. This field, much like the visual field, while always a part of the four-day event in the past, similarly gets its due this year.
In the past, Decibel included various clinics on music hardware and software, but this year they've expanded the educational element of the festival and created a more expansive one-day conference. Artists and software companies will offer demonstrations and panel discussions will take place, all with the goal of educating the public.
With this in mind, Decibel plans to offer half-off conference-only admission to students in the hopes of expanding the understanding of the technology behind much of the music featured at the event and in students' MP3 players.
"One of the goals has always been education," said Tanya Lutman, Decibel's Communication Director. "By creating a one-day conference as opposed to individual clinics, it allows us to make [education] more of a priority."
The newly expanded educational and visual elements of the festival have now found parity with the audio portion. "We now manage the visual, education and music elements of the festival as separate entities even though the entire festival is promoted as one event," Horton explained. Still, it's that latter element that will draw the most foot-stompin', throw-your-hands-in-the-air excitement this year.
What began in 2004 with only 20 volunteers and 14 musical showcases in smaller Capitol Hill clubs now requires 70 volunteers and boasts 18 musical showcases at even larger venues, all still within walking distance of one another, a key requirement for festival organizers since Decibel is set up to encourage the sampling of different electronic genres. Coincidentally, this growth has simultaneously permitted Decibel to increase the number of genres festival goers can expose themselves to with 2006 being the most musically diverse year yet.
Another sign of its growth: in 2004, an estimated 3,000 people attended at least one Decibel event. In 2005, that number rose to 7,000. This year, festival organizers expect to reach 10,000. There will even be a public market outside the Broadway Performance Hall to allow pedestrian traffic to sample the goings-on.
"The marketplace allows us to feature local fashion designers, craftsmen and other artists," explained Kristina Childs, Decibel's Sponsorship Coordinator. "Foot traffic off the street will see what's happening and hopefully join in."
Ultimately, the goal of the festival is to bring together the various constituencies that have an affinity for technologically inspired art.
"The goal is to bring all these people with a love of technology together. Regardless of whether you're a beginner or an expert, a musician or a visual artist, the idea of Decibel is to get all of these parties together and to appreciate the similarities and interactions that can happen," Horton said.
If the growth of the festival is any indication, there's little doubt that Horton and his crew will achieve this goal, and he credits much of Decibel's success and its expansion this year to his group of volunteers.
"The Decibel staff we have this year has everything to do with our growth. The pieces we were missing in previous years are no longer missing," he said.
Indeed, each facet of the decibel has seemingly found its place.
The 2006 Decibel Festival takes place Thursday, Sept. 14, though Sunday, Sept. 17, at Capitol Hill venues including Neumos, Chop Suey, the Baltic Room, Barca, the Bad Juju Lounge and the Broadway Performance Hall. More information is available at www.dbfestival.com.[[In-content Ad]]
