My sound exhibition piece consist in a quadrophonic setup placed across the Gallery 46 garden, playing a generative granular composition that I created in SuperCollider. The composition is created with a library of buffers containing samples, this buffers are then later fed to two granular synths that manipulate such samples and then split them up to 4 channels. Using random LFO’s, the synth’s triggers and manipulates the samples, creating a purely generative piece. I am going to use NRT synthesis to record the 4 outputs of the script, this will record into a wav files a 20 minute version of the generative piece. This recording will be looped in a Raspberry Pi box and then outputted to the four monitors of the exhibition.

The Raspberry Pi will be the brains of the installation, it will be plugged into a multi-channel interface and an amp that would connect to each monitor. The monitors will be placed acousmatically, covered by plants, blending the sound from the speakers with the natural ecology of the garden. Below is a quick drawn map of the installation and how it’s going to work. For the real thing the speakers will be placed differently and the control centre will have to be placed in a strategic position that is also water prove.

I will need:

• 4 times 3.5mm inch cables
• An audio interface with 4 outputs.
• Raspberry Pi
• 4 waterproof monitors
• 4 stands
• 4 XLR cables

The concept of my piece revolves around the theme of consciousness, more specifically the hibridification of two conscious states. In modern life we have split our conscious activity into two different interfaces, the real or analogue world and the digital work, through computers and technology . With this concept in mind I wanted to explore how sound design is able to create or distinguish the sonic ecology of both consciousness interfaces. Creating a sound environment that will combine digital processes with natural sound environments. I fed field recordings into two different granular synthesisers, and modulated parameters that affected or disfigured (digitally) various aspect of the audio, mainly the grains (rate, which grains, etc). This creates a generative sequence of sounds that shift from affected audio, to non-affected audio. By this (also combined with the sonic ecology of the place) it will create a unique soundscape that adopts glitches and digital manifestation and combines it with a non affected sonic ecology. Below is a binaural recording of the installation, taken place in the performance lab of LCC.

Through his own experience and practice, Adam Basanta came up with a guide outlining different strategies for composing gallery sound pieces, with a particular focus in time and space and how they relate to each other to shape the form of a gallery. The first strategy in this guide is Inquiring Across Disciplines, what it’s meant by this is the natural division between the concept of form inside the musical practice and in the context of sound art galleries. Sound is forced to inquire in media as visual art and sculpture to fulfil the spatial demands of a gallery space, in the other hand music performances do not take into consideration space as one of the main compositional demands. “Sound materials are dispersed spatially and temporally, and are experienced by a mobile visitor at their own space”. Because of the autonomy of the audience in a sound gallery piece, the form of the piece has to be designed towards a first-person experience.

Basanta explains that to design this first person experience its crucial to think about time as one of the main modulators of the dimension of the piece, Olafur Eliasson explains that without time the individual experiencing the piece cannot engage with the form and its excluded of experiencing the sequential matter of it. Considering this it’s important to point out that there is not a single experience “there are at least as many forms as there are visitors experiencing the work”.

The figure above is an example of an architectonical analysis of a sound gallery piece. Its use is to map listening positions and how these are affected by the architecture of the space, knowledge in acoustics is helpful to avoid unwanted sonic features. Listening spots can determine the narrative of the piece and by the correct placing of sound sources linear or quasi linear narratives can be created.

Luc Ferrari is one of the most important names in experimental music and electronic music. Working along Pierre Schafer, he developed early Musique Concrete. He taught in important institutions of the medium like the Rheinische Musikschule, working with Stockhausen. But what makes Luc Ferrari notorious is his works on electroacoustic music, combining both his classical music knowledge with sophisticated sound design, using tape an other electronic tools. In his whole career, Ferrari met and collaborated with figures such as John Cage and Michel Chion, winning multiple music and academic awards.

I’ve listened to Luc Ferrari’s Presque rien NO.1 and I felt totally compelled by its narrative. Using field recordings from one of his visits to the Dalmatian islands and then combining them with diverse percussions and dialogue. The piece is calm inducing, when hearing it I got lost in its world. I think this is achieved by its vast amount of details. Every time I heard the piece, I noticed something different. Back in the days I got a huge interest in western classical music, but I left the interest due to my growing interest to electronic sound sources. Ferrari combines them both and doesn’t fail to create a pleasurable aesthetic. He inspired me to try again with traditional music technique, but always combining them with new and exciting electronic practices.

Masami Akita better known as Merzbow, is a Japanese musician and artist, focused specifically in noise music. It could be argued that Merzbow is one of the leading pioneers of the Japanoise scene, working with noise as his main building blocks of compositions. I recently read an interview conducted by Jason Gross to Merzbow in 1997 where they discuss Merzbow ideology and concepts behind his music. Merzbow explains that his approach on doing music comes from his necessity to escape the traditional ways of composition and aesthetic, specially to abandon the delicate music scene that has developed in Japan in the recent years. His music has also been connected with sexual practices such as bondage (he actually did the sound track for a bondage group), similar to his approach with music he seeks to explore the limits of sexuality, to break with the traditional sex culture of Japan. By using effect pedals and mixers as instruments, he creates thick violent layer of noise, that give character to his style. Merzbow music is also widely inspired from industrial music, his album “Ecobondage” was creating using self made metal percussion.

“Ecobondage” is an example of Herzbow interest in bondage and hard sex cultures, the title of the album comes from a book by Michel Foucault, a philosopher that explored sexuality.

Merzbow was a big inspiration for me when composing my assessment piece. I used industrial sounds and heavy distortion to convey the genre of noise music. I will now further explore the Japanoise scene and at the same time indulge in other noise cultures around the world.

Ambisonic is a sonic format that instead of being multi-channel, like stereo or 5.1, is 360 surrounding. In ambisonics, the hearing experience can be described as 3D, placing sounds not just in front of you, but all around your body. Ambisonics are being used mainly to mirror other similar formats, like VR. To records sound in an ambisonic format you need a special type of microphone that contain multiple diaphragms, pointing to all directions. Some binaural microphones can also record 360 sounds. This type of microphones are defined by two prosthetic ears that are use to mimic the way humans listen, the purpose of these microphones is to record sound such as how humans hear them. (Picture below displays Neumann KU 100, binaural dummy head)

The format of ambisonics is going to change the way we record and play back sounds. Everyday the technology becomes more accessible and sound practitioners are using them in creative processes. An idea that occurred to me of a creative use of ambisonics, is DJ mixing but with 360 surrounding sound. The listener will experience the mixing changes in different hearing locations, giving the opportunity for the listener to interact with the music in a greater depth.

Last Friday, my group and I presented a sound installation in the entrance of the LCC campus. We did an audiovisual performance, using a wide range of electronic and industrial sounds. Our concept was deconstruction, we developed the idea by using destruction sound practices, like distortion. In the middle of the performance we had a projector that displayed a 16 minute loop video showing the shopping mall that is in-front of LCC, being demolished. The video also contain subtitles that narrated our manifesto on deconstruction .

I contributed in the performance by designing some drones and granular percussion that I manipulated live with a midi controller. The drones I design where quite interactive with the composition, I managed to do a performance that was very cohesive with what the rest of my peers where doing. Also I was triggering samples that one of my group members gave me, giving more tools to interact with.

On conclusion, I think the performance was very successful. The team collaborated in good unison and everyone was engaged with what was happening. I had a great time taking part in the performance, in the middle of it I lost my self in the noise and felt quite emotionally compelled. I think our biggest strength was the communication we had with every person of the group, it helped to solidify the final performance.

Pogłos is a Polish noise art documentary that presented different noise concerts around Silesia. The concerts had no audience, it consisted of one or two noise artist performing with powerful loudspeakers in natural stages, such as a forrest or a snowy field. The artist interacted directly with the atmosphere surrounding them, playing with the natural reverb of the place. Mainly the artist worked with hardware processors such as effect pedals or modular synthesizers to create a thick layer of electronic noises. The great appeal of this documentary is the juxtaposition of the harsh noises with the calm and beautiful nature. The artists in the documentary seek to explore the concepts of territory and how mankind expands its territory towards atmospheres like the ones portrayed, finally destroying them.

I was deeply impressed when seeing the documentary, noise music is usually hard to listen and quite unpleasant, but I felt that the music in the documentary, when being mirrored with nature, was extremely hypnotic and satisfying. This video is a clear example of how visual content can make noise music or other sound styles that have not pleasurable aesthetics, more accessible. After watching Tokyo Noise and Pogłos, I feel more compelled to noise music, but I think that a reason for this is that both documentaries have excellent visual content.

My favorite part of Pogłos is the concert where a noise artist is playing in front of an old abandoned building, at the middle of his performance the building is demolished and it falls, crumbling into pieces. This creates a huge bang that molds with the noise music. I thought the idea was incredibly creative and I will love to experience a concert similar to this one in person.