Significant works for Instruments and Electronics
- James, S. (2020). Alluvial Gold for percussion and electronics (commissioned by Louise Devenish and Erin Coates).
- James, S. (2020). counterpoise for flute, bass clarinet, viola, cello, chaotic oscillator and circuit bent toy (commissioned by Decibel New Music Ensemble as part of their 2 Minutes from Home project).
- Devenish, L. & James, S. (2019). Percipience: After Kaul for 3 Overtone Triangles and electronics.
- James, S. (2016). Remembrance for piano, flute, clarinet, vibraphone, and live stereo electronics (commissioned by Decibel New Music Ensemble).
- James, S. (2015). Kinabuhi | Kamatayon for reyong and bonang gamelan and live electronics (Commissioned by Louise Devenish).
- James, S. (2015). Existence Éphémère for flute, clarinet, viola, cello, vibraphone, laptop, and 8.1 surround loudspeaker array.
- James, S. (2013). N-Dimension for flute, bass clarinet, viola, cello, percussion, and live electronics (8-channel).
- James, S. (2011). Particle I for Laptop and 2 Ruined Cymbals (4-channel).
Alluvial Gold (2020)
Commissioned by Louise Devenish and Erin Coates, and was funded through a Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries grant. The work premieres at the Perth Festival in 2021.
For Solo Mixed Percussion and Electronics
For Solo Mixed Percussion and Electronics
The work Alluvial Gold is a solo work for a mix of percussion, sculptures as instruments, installation, and electronics. The work explores the confluence of multiple narratives about the Swan River, from the phenomenological and structural aspects of river systems and water, the storytelling and histories before European colonisation, the devastating impact of industrialisation, the sonic ecology and chemistry of the larger river system, and a musical language derived from transcriptions of water and the sculptures used. In the work, the river forms a temporal narrative through a changing sound world and aesthetic, an expression of the composers' own sense of belonging to place, and the Sacred identity of Derbarl Yerrigan. The basis of this work is thanks to a longer term collaborative project with Melbourne-based percussionist Louise Devenish and Perth-based visual artist Erin Coates.
The work is comprised of nine movements, and whilst these movements were conceived to be presented as one continuous performance without a break totalling approximately 45 minutes, each movement was written in such a way that they could alternatively be presented individually.
The nine movements are as follows:
The work is comprised of nine movements, and whilst these movements were conceived to be presented as one continuous performance without a break totalling approximately 45 minutes, each movement was written in such a way that they could alternatively be presented individually.
The nine movements are as follows:
- Material - Source - Object (7'00")
- Confluence (4'30")
- The Cascades (approx. 3'00")
- Alluvial Fans and Meanders (4'30")
- Spiritual Water in the Mouth of the River (approx. 5'30")
- Crystalline Water in the Mouth of the River (approx. 4'00")
- Death in the Mouth of the River (8'44")
- The Place of the Eagle (approx. 4'00")
- Engulfment - Emancipation (approx. 3'30")
counterpoise (2020)
/ˈkaʊntəpɔɪz/
Commissioned by Decibel New Music Ensemble as part of the 2 Minute From Home project
For Flute, Bass Clarinet, Viola, Cello, Chaotic Oscillator and Circuit Bent Toy
Commissioned by Decibel New Music Ensemble as part of the 2 Minute From Home project
For Flute, Bass Clarinet, Viola, Cello, Chaotic Oscillator and Circuit Bent Toy
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The work isn’t intended to be a direct commentary on the Coronavirus pandemic, but is not intended to be ambivalent either. This work is concerned with the counterpoise that balances life on the planet as we know it, and human civilisation from engaging in civil or world war. The Global impact of COVID-19 has made it apparent the very tenuous balance that human mortality resides, between human vulnerability and resilience. Chaotic systems exhibit this kind of volatility, and like a tensile system, there is a boundary at which the system falls into catastrophe. Human kind is quick to respond worldwide to the deterioration of these systems, but never so much before has the world has been challenged by the “age of disinformation”.
The score is an animated graphic score using the Decibel Scoreplayer, and uses the apps canvas draw mode.
The score is an animated graphic score using the Decibel Scoreplayer, and uses the apps canvas draw mode.
Percipience: After Kaul (2019)
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Written in collaboration with Louise Devenish
For 3 Overtone Triangles and Electronics The overtone triangle is a design by Matthias Kaul. Instructions for making an overtone triangle can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZT0cejiVnI. In Percipience, three overtone triangles should be suspended from the ceiling (or from a tall gong rack). The largest and most resonant should be in the centre, with the remaining two triangles to the right and left of it. Mallets required include a single hard yarn mallet (e.g. a Balter green) and a pair of triangle beaters with rubber handles. The score should be read in the Decibel ScorePlayer application on an iPad, however it is also available as a hard copy paper score. The work was premiered at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 28 June 2019. |
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Noise in the Clouds (2017)
Commissioned by Decibel New Music Ensemble as part of the Electronic Concerto concert in 2017
For Laptop Soloist, Sextet (3 acoustic duos), Fixed Media and Live Electronics (stereo), and Live Generated Visuals
Noise in the Clouds is a laptop concerto written for laptop soloist, visual projection, sextet ensemble, and live electronics. Whilst the concerto form has been understood for hundreds of years as a work for soloist and ensemble, the writing of concertos specifically for laptop soloists has only emerged within the last few years, and therefore this combination is free of the constraints of other established instrumentations. The work explores chaotic phenomena of varying types: chaotic audio oscillators, chaotic phenomena as found in nature, and the process of iteration as a visual narrative. These expressions became a mechanism or structure for generating the sound universe, musical structure, the compositional process, the visualisation, and the notated score. The laptop soloist performs an instrument developed by the composer which derives all of its sounds from chaotic 'strange attractors' that are expressively controlled by the soloist by the 3D movements of the hands. This instrument expands on a 2D multi-node timbre morphology interface developed by the composer, applying this instead to modulating the generative parameters of chaotic audio oscillators.
For Laptop Soloist, Sextet (3 acoustic duos), Fixed Media and Live Electronics (stereo), and Live Generated Visuals
Noise in the Clouds is a laptop concerto written for laptop soloist, visual projection, sextet ensemble, and live electronics. Whilst the concerto form has been understood for hundreds of years as a work for soloist and ensemble, the writing of concertos specifically for laptop soloists has only emerged within the last few years, and therefore this combination is free of the constraints of other established instrumentations. The work explores chaotic phenomena of varying types: chaotic audio oscillators, chaotic phenomena as found in nature, and the process of iteration as a visual narrative. These expressions became a mechanism or structure for generating the sound universe, musical structure, the compositional process, the visualisation, and the notated score. The laptop soloist performs an instrument developed by the composer which derives all of its sounds from chaotic 'strange attractors' that are expressively controlled by the soloist by the 3D movements of the hands. This instrument expands on a 2D multi-node timbre morphology interface developed by the composer, applying this instead to modulating the generative parameters of chaotic audio oscillators.
Remembrance (2016)
Commissioned by Decibel New Music Ensemble
Piano, Flute, Clarinet, Vibraphone, and Live Electronics (stereo)
The work explores elements that are recalled through visual memory versus material that is learned through muscle memory and repetition. The score asks players to recall passages that explore the same geographical/physical shapes from memory before recalling passages performed previously within the work from memory with visual cues and clues. Some sections of the work explore new materials, whilst distracting other performers from remembering sections they had performed previously.
Piano, Flute, Clarinet, Vibraphone, and Live Electronics (stereo)
The work explores elements that are recalled through visual memory versus material that is learned through muscle memory and repetition. The score asks players to recall passages that explore the same geographical/physical shapes from memory before recalling passages performed previously within the work from memory with visual cues and clues. Some sections of the work explore new materials, whilst distracting other performers from remembering sections they had performed previously.
Kinabuhi | Kamatayon (2015)
Commissioned by Louise Devenish
For Reyong and Bonang Gamelan and Electronics (stereo)
For Reyong and Bonang Gamelan and Electronics (stereo)
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"Now these semi-abstract gestures are suddenly traded for a 4/4 emphasis and a tonal centre (it seems to be a minor key), see-sawing chimes forming a suspenseful ostinato that won’t let up. At this moment I discern traces of techno, of ambient electronica and Steve Reich, whether or not these evocations are intended or welcomed. ...Ultimately the piece consists of countless minimalist melodies rendered with a range of inflections, overlapping, repeating, jostling. The piece is said to reflect upon the sun, the moon, the tides, nature, breathing, life, death… but before I’ve been told this, I get some unarticulated sense of it. There’s something reverent and deep and pensive happening." Lyndon Blue (Cool Perth Nights, 2015)
The essence of energy consists of the cycles of life and death. The sun, the moon, the tides, the planets, the seasons, the oscillation of wings. The essence of human life is the breath, the compression and rarefaction of the lungs. The essence of sound is the compression and rarefaction of kinetic energy passing through air. The work Kinabuhi | Kamatayon is both a celebration of life and death, and is itself concerned with the compression and rarefaction of time. The work is divided into five movements, and progressively transitions from a compression and rarefaction across an entire movement to transitions between consecutive bars in movements 1 and 5 respectively. The work explores different time scales, sometimes in parallel or in series.
Ensuring the tempo ratio's are synchronised to the sample for Movement 4 of 'Kinabuhi | Kamatayon' for Reyong and Bonang Gamelan, and Electronics (commission from percussionist Louise Devenish). The nested tempo ratio's are supposed to reveal a fractal-like structure of different tempo specific materials by iterating the same metric modulation (tempo ratio). All rhythmic groups are odd causing consistently overlapping rhythms.
The essence of energy consists of the cycles of life and death. The sun, the moon, the tides, the planets, the seasons, the oscillation of wings. The essence of human life is the breath, the compression and rarefaction of the lungs. The essence of sound is the compression and rarefaction of kinetic energy passing through air. The work Kinabuhi | Kamatayon is both a celebration of life and death, and is itself concerned with the compression and rarefaction of time. The work is divided into five movements, and progressively transitions from a compression and rarefaction across an entire movement to transitions between consecutive bars in movements 1 and 5 respectively. The work explores different time scales, sometimes in parallel or in series.
Ensuring the tempo ratio's are synchronised to the sample for Movement 4 of 'Kinabuhi | Kamatayon' for Reyong and Bonang Gamelan, and Electronics (commission from percussionist Louise Devenish). The nested tempo ratio's are supposed to reveal a fractal-like structure of different tempo specific materials by iterating the same metric modulation (tempo ratio). All rhythmic groups are odd causing consistently overlapping rhythms.
Timbre shaping and multiple tempo canons in Movement 2 of 'Kinabuhi | Kamatayon' for Reyong and Bonang Gamelan, and Electronics (commission from percussionist Louise Devenish)
Existence Éphémère (2015)
Commissioned by Decibel New Music Ensemble
For Flute, Clarinet, Viola, Cello, Vibraphone and Electronics (4.1 surround sound)
For Flute, Clarinet, Viola, Cello, Vibraphone and Electronics (4.1 surround sound)
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"We can, if we so choose, wander aimlessly over the continent of the arbitrary. Rootless as some winged seed blown about on a serendipitous spring breeze. Nonetheless, we can in the same breath deny that there is any such thing as coincidence. What's done is done, what's yet to be is clearly yet to be. In other words, sandwiched as we are between the "everything" that is behind us and the "zero" beyond us, ours is an ephemeral existence in which there is neither coincidence nor possibility." ― Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase
An exploration of the psychoacoustic phenomenon known as stream fusion. The piece plays with the threshold of ones ability to discern separate streams as individual layers, or a fusion of layers that interact in a complex way. The piece explores unfolding note groups outlining a harmonic language derived around major 7ths. This is also explored in the sound synthesis resulting in accumulated timbres of stacked major 7ths. 
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n-dimension (2013)
For Flute, Bass Clarinet, Viola, Cello, Percussion and Live Electronics (8.1 surround sound)
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The scientific study of objects and spaces is often described in terms of an n-dimensional topological or topographical space, where n is a number representing the dimensionality. Standard Euclidean spaces and objects have whole number dimensions, and fractal dimensions are described as having
fractional dimensions. This composition began as an exploration in musical structures, from fractal and infinite pitch series, fractal rhythmic structure, tempo canon, chaotic controlled spatialisation and audio feedback. The work ‘elaborates’ on the dimensionality of a small collection of simple musical structures in order to arrive at a more complex and immersive listening experience. N-Dimension was a commission for the Decibel new music ensemble while I was involved in a week-long artist residency in the Perth Institute for Contemporary Arts. It is a work written for flute, bass clarinet, viola, cello, percussion and electronics. This is a chamber ensemble work that utilises multiple acoustic instruments processed in real time. Although it was performed and workshopped with eight speakers, it could be easily adapted for other speaker configurations. Other performances of this work were presented at the Audio Art Festival in Kraków, Poland, and the DIG Gallery in Košice, Slovakia, in 2013 and at ensemble Decibel’s Tuned Darker album launch at the Astor Theatre, Perth in 2015. The technical setup for this work involves the use of microphones, loudspeakers, headphones and projection. Each of the acoustic musicians on stage has a condenser microphone and a separate headphone send for a click track. |
n dimension from cat hope on Vimeo. |
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The processed sounds are reproduced through an eight-channel equidistant system, although this could be reconfigured for higher or lower channel counts if necessary. The wiring for this work, and the arrangement of the eight speakers are as follows:
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The issue of synchronising the performance meant that multiple click tracks for the performers were necessary. The click track reflects these time proportions precisely. The tempo ratio between the flute, bass clarinet and percussion v. the cello is 5:6 and the tempo ratio between the flute, bass clarinet and percussion v. the viola is 4:5. This means the ratio between the viola and cello is 25:24. The tempos are rounded in the parts as they did not need to be represented as exact for the performers. These are 60 bpm (beats per minute) for the delay line; 67 bpm for the flute, bass clarinet and percussion; 80.5 bpm for the cello; and 84 bpm for the viola. The first section of the piece, though it does not feature multiple tempos, does have sections with no click instructing some performers to play more freely and at times semi-improvisatory, whereas other performers have a click and are required to perform a notated part strictly with the temporal grid.
The addition of video projection for ensemble Decibel’s launch of their album Tuned Darker involved visual artist and musician Karl Ockelford, who made visuals for the work using video of fluid kinematics ranging from cymatics to the chaotic and turbulent movement of water.
The composition is structured in two parts. The first section of the piece features a dialogue between horizontal pitch-based material and vertical non-pitched material. The horizontal pitch-based materials are derived through Per Nørgård’s infinite pitch series: the flute features fragments of a quarter-tone infinite series, and the other instruments feature a semi-tone infinite pitch series, starting from the same original pitch A. The percussion parts are derived using rhythms generated by Lindenmayer systems fractals. The fractal MIDI note generator in Figure 153a is an adaptation and extension to some of the Jitter example patches provided with MaxMSP. I extended these to support MIDI note generation and ported to Max4Live. These processes enabled the generation of the parts for the musicians. For example the Lindenmayer systems as shown in Figure 153a are used to derive the percussion shapes noted in Figure 153b.
The use of a tempo canon was inspired by a desire to view higher-dimensional objects in a lower-dimensional space; as these higher-dimensional objects rotate, their structure appears to transform and shift outside of their original geometric alignment. This notion was inspired when viewing hyper-dimensional objects in 3D space such as the simplex and some other more complex hyper-geometric objects. We cannot see the entirety of a higher-dimensional object in three dimensions unless we see it projected onto three dimensions or a two-dimensional plane. We can nonetheless observe these higher-dimensional geometries passing through our visible 3D space (Manning, 1990). Jonathan Kramer (1988) refers to this as a ‘timepoint’, or “an instant, analogous to a geometrical point in space” (p. 454). A timepoint has no dimension, as explained by Kramer:
Whereas a timespan is a specific duration (whether of a note, chord, silence, motive, or whatever), a timepoint really has no duration. We hear events that start or stop at timepoints, but we cannot hear the timepoints themselves. A timepoint is thus analogous to a point in geometric space. By definition, a point has no size: It is not a dot on the page, although a dot may be used to represent a point. Similarly, a staccato note or the attack of a longer note necessarily falls on and thus may represent a timepoint, but a timepoint in music is as inaudible as a geometric point is invisible. (Kramer 1988, pp. 82–83)
The strands of musical canon function in a similar way, finally converging in the closing musical statement melodically and rhythmically, and ultimately creating a sense of cadential resolve. The effect of convergence in the context of tempo canon is evident in the work of Conlon Nancarrow. Nancarrow’s tempo canons are perceptually heightened because they involve not only temporal convergence, but convergence of canonic material (Nemire, 2012). Margaret Thomas (1996) describes a palpable sense of the voices being in different places at the same time, of gradually moving closer together, of a brief moment of coordination and then a departure. The most characteristic structural feature of Nancarrow’s tempo canons is the convergence point, or “the infinitesimal moment at which all lines have reached identical points in the material they are playing” (Gann, 1995, p. 21). Thomas (1996) in fact describes this form of tempo canon as a converging canon, where the one primary convergence point comes at the very end.
The second half features use of isorhythm in the bass clarinet, viola and cello. Each instrumentalist has strands of the same melody, each note repeating seven times before moving to the next note, but with a different length tala rhythm. This melody is occasionally interrupted by a contraction or expansion in the length of the pitch repetitions causing these overlapping strains to shift, appearing to accelerate or decelerate as shown in Figure 154.
Most of the performed material in the flute, bass clarinet, viola and cello is sampled during the first section of the work, and processed using granular techniques. This method is used for collecting timbral colours and building tone clusters, as the granular instruments I built read from several different buffers of sound sampled at different points in time. This allows for the tone clusters that are captured to gradually morph and shift into the next. These samples also become the basis of material that accompanies the tempo canon in the second section of the work.
The electronics are managed with a cue list of instructions that determine when certain actions are to take place with respect to the click. These are stored in a series of coll objects with a timestamp referring to when they are to take place. As I was responsible for performing the electronics, this automation simplified the role to controlling the timbre spatialisation and the mix levels throughout the performance.
The spatialisation uses swarm-based techniques, timbre spatialisation and multi- tap delay. The use of the delay line in this early section of the work was considered while writing the score, each tap repeating a note around the listener area through different speakers. At the beginning of the work the delay is only applied to the percussion’s vertical non-pitched material. Gradually the delay line encroaches on the horizontal pitch-based material suggesting the use of canonic entries, displaced spatially across the listening space. The ever-increasing use of the delay line as applied to the entire ensemble ultimately leads to the second section of the work, a tempo canon. The repeated delay tap even suggests the seven-note repeats that are seen in the instrumental parts in the second section. The multi-tap delay line is responsible for re-articulating the same material at different points in time, and at different spatial positions. These are arranged in a crisscross configuration over the eight-channel speaker configuration as shown in Figure 155a. The fact that the delay line also has a fixed tempo contributes to the in- and out-of-phase nature of the different canonic layers, enhancing the impression of synchronisation v. out-of-synchronisation.
The swarm-based spatialisation is used on the flute clusters throughout the first section of the work. This spatialisation eventually fades out of the texture, and by the second section of the work, timbre spatialisation is applied to samples of the bass clarinet creating breath-like sounds, as well as the revisiting of a chord from the viola and cello earlier in the piece. The timbre spatialisation uses only a circular trajectory that is occasionally disturbed at the discretion of the laptop performer to inject low- frequency spatial texture. The terrain is used specifically here to derive the spectromorphology and spatiomorphology. The use of Voronoi surfaces creates non- linear contours (see Figure 155b) that are translated and morphed to create these waves of energy that envelop the audience. They are generated randomly, so these sound shapes emerge differently in each performance.
The addition of video projection for ensemble Decibel’s launch of their album Tuned Darker involved visual artist and musician Karl Ockelford, who made visuals for the work using video of fluid kinematics ranging from cymatics to the chaotic and turbulent movement of water.
The composition is structured in two parts. The first section of the piece features a dialogue between horizontal pitch-based material and vertical non-pitched material. The horizontal pitch-based materials are derived through Per Nørgård’s infinite pitch series: the flute features fragments of a quarter-tone infinite series, and the other instruments feature a semi-tone infinite pitch series, starting from the same original pitch A. The percussion parts are derived using rhythms generated by Lindenmayer systems fractals. The fractal MIDI note generator in Figure 153a is an adaptation and extension to some of the Jitter example patches provided with MaxMSP. I extended these to support MIDI note generation and ported to Max4Live. These processes enabled the generation of the parts for the musicians. For example the Lindenmayer systems as shown in Figure 153a are used to derive the percussion shapes noted in Figure 153b.
The use of a tempo canon was inspired by a desire to view higher-dimensional objects in a lower-dimensional space; as these higher-dimensional objects rotate, their structure appears to transform and shift outside of their original geometric alignment. This notion was inspired when viewing hyper-dimensional objects in 3D space such as the simplex and some other more complex hyper-geometric objects. We cannot see the entirety of a higher-dimensional object in three dimensions unless we see it projected onto three dimensions or a two-dimensional plane. We can nonetheless observe these higher-dimensional geometries passing through our visible 3D space (Manning, 1990). Jonathan Kramer (1988) refers to this as a ‘timepoint’, or “an instant, analogous to a geometrical point in space” (p. 454). A timepoint has no dimension, as explained by Kramer:
Whereas a timespan is a specific duration (whether of a note, chord, silence, motive, or whatever), a timepoint really has no duration. We hear events that start or stop at timepoints, but we cannot hear the timepoints themselves. A timepoint is thus analogous to a point in geometric space. By definition, a point has no size: It is not a dot on the page, although a dot may be used to represent a point. Similarly, a staccato note or the attack of a longer note necessarily falls on and thus may represent a timepoint, but a timepoint in music is as inaudible as a geometric point is invisible. (Kramer 1988, pp. 82–83)
The strands of musical canon function in a similar way, finally converging in the closing musical statement melodically and rhythmically, and ultimately creating a sense of cadential resolve. The effect of convergence in the context of tempo canon is evident in the work of Conlon Nancarrow. Nancarrow’s tempo canons are perceptually heightened because they involve not only temporal convergence, but convergence of canonic material (Nemire, 2012). Margaret Thomas (1996) describes a palpable sense of the voices being in different places at the same time, of gradually moving closer together, of a brief moment of coordination and then a departure. The most characteristic structural feature of Nancarrow’s tempo canons is the convergence point, or “the infinitesimal moment at which all lines have reached identical points in the material they are playing” (Gann, 1995, p. 21). Thomas (1996) in fact describes this form of tempo canon as a converging canon, where the one primary convergence point comes at the very end.
The second half features use of isorhythm in the bass clarinet, viola and cello. Each instrumentalist has strands of the same melody, each note repeating seven times before moving to the next note, but with a different length tala rhythm. This melody is occasionally interrupted by a contraction or expansion in the length of the pitch repetitions causing these overlapping strains to shift, appearing to accelerate or decelerate as shown in Figure 154.
Most of the performed material in the flute, bass clarinet, viola and cello is sampled during the first section of the work, and processed using granular techniques. This method is used for collecting timbral colours and building tone clusters, as the granular instruments I built read from several different buffers of sound sampled at different points in time. This allows for the tone clusters that are captured to gradually morph and shift into the next. These samples also become the basis of material that accompanies the tempo canon in the second section of the work.
The electronics are managed with a cue list of instructions that determine when certain actions are to take place with respect to the click. These are stored in a series of coll objects with a timestamp referring to when they are to take place. As I was responsible for performing the electronics, this automation simplified the role to controlling the timbre spatialisation and the mix levels throughout the performance.
The spatialisation uses swarm-based techniques, timbre spatialisation and multi- tap delay. The use of the delay line in this early section of the work was considered while writing the score, each tap repeating a note around the listener area through different speakers. At the beginning of the work the delay is only applied to the percussion’s vertical non-pitched material. Gradually the delay line encroaches on the horizontal pitch-based material suggesting the use of canonic entries, displaced spatially across the listening space. The ever-increasing use of the delay line as applied to the entire ensemble ultimately leads to the second section of the work, a tempo canon. The repeated delay tap even suggests the seven-note repeats that are seen in the instrumental parts in the second section. The multi-tap delay line is responsible for re-articulating the same material at different points in time, and at different spatial positions. These are arranged in a crisscross configuration over the eight-channel speaker configuration as shown in Figure 155a. The fact that the delay line also has a fixed tempo contributes to the in- and out-of-phase nature of the different canonic layers, enhancing the impression of synchronisation v. out-of-synchronisation.
The swarm-based spatialisation is used on the flute clusters throughout the first section of the work. This spatialisation eventually fades out of the texture, and by the second section of the work, timbre spatialisation is applied to samples of the bass clarinet creating breath-like sounds, as well as the revisiting of a chord from the viola and cello earlier in the piece. The timbre spatialisation uses only a circular trajectory that is occasionally disturbed at the discretion of the laptop performer to inject low- frequency spatial texture. The terrain is used specifically here to derive the spectromorphology and spatiomorphology. The use of Voronoi surfaces creates non- linear contours (see Figure 155b) that are translated and morphed to create these waves of energy that envelop the audience. They are generated randomly, so these sound shapes emerge differently in each performance.
Particle I (2011)
For 2 ruined cymbals and live electronics (quadraphonic)
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This piece is the first in a series of my works that explore the use of WTS as a means of controlling timbre spatialisation. Particle 1 began as an electroacoustic experiment at home with a condenser microphone, a ruined cymbal and a KV2 active PA speaker. The work was premiered at The Velvet Lounge, Perth, and also featured in a concert by ensemble Decibel at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). The work was performed on tour in Europe with ensemble Decibel in January 2012 and was recorded and broadcast on Southwest German Radio.
The cymbal is an instrument rich in harmonics, and is often used for timbral and dramatic embellishment in musical works. This work features the ruined cymbals as sound sources for live laptop processing, ultimately aimed at creating an immersive spectral sound world. Certain on-and-off-axis microphone placements around the cymbals create a varied palette of sound colour, which the laptop processing further develops by granularisation, spectral modulations, and timbre spatialisation.
One of the main questions that arose from writing this piece was the role of sound diffusion in live performance. In many spatial music performances it is quite common for the laptop performer to be largely responsible only for diffusing the sounds, rather than creating, modifying and spatialising these simultaneously. In the case of this work, the priority was to control the sound sources and the way in which these sounds were manipulated, rather than controlling the intricacies of spatialisation, which was instead reliant on an automated system. This was a conscious choice based on what was logistically feasible given I was not only playing the cymbals with mallets, but was also performing the sound synthesis and processing of these sounds, and managing the live diffusion of these sounds. |
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The technical setup on stage involves two microphones and two ruined cymbals, as well as the live processing rig (laptop and audio interface), and a quadraphonic speaker configuration and subwoofer placed around the audience.
The technical setup involves a specific microphone of choice, the Earthworks TC25 condenser. There are a number of reasons for this. The first is the polar pattern. Omnidirectional microphones are often used for measurement and room analysis purposes due to their linear frequency response. The frequency response is also characteristically much more extended than other condenser microphones having a range of 9 Hz to 25 KHz meaning that the microphone is largely linear within the range of human auditory hearing. The dips in the frequency response only exist at the extremities of the microphone’s own frequency response below 20 Hz and towards 20 KHz.
The microphone is also physically quite compact, most particularly the capsule. It is characteristic of pencil condensers to have a smaller capsule size, but the Earthworks microphone has an uncharacteristically small diaphragm. This allowed the microphones to be placed very close to the source, and not suffer from the proximity effect, resulting in timbral differences due to close proximity with the source as is experienced with directional microphones.
One of the Earthworks TC25s is placed parallel to a ruined china cymbal. From this position an 18-inch ruined crash cymbal is situated so that its edge also meets perpendicular to the microphone’s capsule. This allows the one microphone to pick up the fundamental pitch of both cymbals. A second TC25 is used as an overhead situated perpendicular to the china cymbal. This second microphone is responsible for picking up detail of the various soft mallets and brushes used to strike the cymbals in the piece.
The starting point of this piece was to find a sound object that had a broad spectral content, as Barreiro (2010) claimed that these kinds of sounds were more suitable for spectral spatialisation and resulted in more diffused and enveloping sound shapes. The cymbal was amplified through the PA speaker in order to reproduce its fundamental frequency. The work evolved by initially working with the acoustic feedback and modulating the live microphone signal to control the nature of the way in which this feedback evolved. As the work progressed the processing shifted not only to sampling and spectrally processing the sound of the cymbals, but also focusing on the nature of the spatialisation applied.
This work depends on sound sources to initiate a chain of events. In this sense the work is reactive, and the sounds made on the cymbals, using either soft mallets or brushes, excite the system into feedback. In this way, the cymbals, the microphones, the loudspeakers and the room are all part of this instrument.
Acoustic feedback was tempered by consistently pitch shifting and ring modulating the sound source. The spatialisation also served to destabilise resulting feedback by introducing time delays and level differences in relation to the microphones. A significant level of granulation and spectral processing allowed for the sound source to be sufficiently ‘abstracted’ that there was no risk of further feedback.
This thorough testing process was critical for the software design. The first performance of this work was in a pub venue, The Velvet Lounge at Mt Lawley, with a ceiling-mounted PA system and a very small stage. Due to the close proximity of the PA system to the performance stage, the risk of unwanted feedback was considerable. This was perhaps the most volatile of conditions under which to test such a subtle and condition-dependent work; however the extensive testing proved to have aided in maintaining a controlled performance. The following performance with ensemble Decibel at PICA was considerably more polished, involving a quadraphonic speaker configuration instead of the two-speaker PA system at the Velvet Room.
The technical setup involves a specific microphone of choice, the Earthworks TC25 condenser. There are a number of reasons for this. The first is the polar pattern. Omnidirectional microphones are often used for measurement and room analysis purposes due to their linear frequency response. The frequency response is also characteristically much more extended than other condenser microphones having a range of 9 Hz to 25 KHz meaning that the microphone is largely linear within the range of human auditory hearing. The dips in the frequency response only exist at the extremities of the microphone’s own frequency response below 20 Hz and towards 20 KHz.
The microphone is also physically quite compact, most particularly the capsule. It is characteristic of pencil condensers to have a smaller capsule size, but the Earthworks microphone has an uncharacteristically small diaphragm. This allowed the microphones to be placed very close to the source, and not suffer from the proximity effect, resulting in timbral differences due to close proximity with the source as is experienced with directional microphones.
One of the Earthworks TC25s is placed parallel to a ruined china cymbal. From this position an 18-inch ruined crash cymbal is situated so that its edge also meets perpendicular to the microphone’s capsule. This allows the one microphone to pick up the fundamental pitch of both cymbals. A second TC25 is used as an overhead situated perpendicular to the china cymbal. This second microphone is responsible for picking up detail of the various soft mallets and brushes used to strike the cymbals in the piece.
The starting point of this piece was to find a sound object that had a broad spectral content, as Barreiro (2010) claimed that these kinds of sounds were more suitable for spectral spatialisation and resulted in more diffused and enveloping sound shapes. The cymbal was amplified through the PA speaker in order to reproduce its fundamental frequency. The work evolved by initially working with the acoustic feedback and modulating the live microphone signal to control the nature of the way in which this feedback evolved. As the work progressed the processing shifted not only to sampling and spectrally processing the sound of the cymbals, but also focusing on the nature of the spatialisation applied.
This work depends on sound sources to initiate a chain of events. In this sense the work is reactive, and the sounds made on the cymbals, using either soft mallets or brushes, excite the system into feedback. In this way, the cymbals, the microphones, the loudspeakers and the room are all part of this instrument.
Acoustic feedback was tempered by consistently pitch shifting and ring modulating the sound source. The spatialisation also served to destabilise resulting feedback by introducing time delays and level differences in relation to the microphones. A significant level of granulation and spectral processing allowed for the sound source to be sufficiently ‘abstracted’ that there was no risk of further feedback.
This thorough testing process was critical for the software design. The first performance of this work was in a pub venue, The Velvet Lounge at Mt Lawley, with a ceiling-mounted PA system and a very small stage. Due to the close proximity of the PA system to the performance stage, the risk of unwanted feedback was considerable. This was perhaps the most volatile of conditions under which to test such a subtle and condition-dependent work; however the extensive testing proved to have aided in maintaining a controlled performance. The following performance with ensemble Decibel at PICA was considerably more polished, involving a quadraphonic speaker configuration instead of the two-speaker PA system at the Velvet Room.
The sound synthesis in this work explores a number of treatments of the cymbal sound source from live sampling and granulation, to ring modulation, pitch shifting, sine tone resynthesis and a vocoder-like spectral processing that is also used to excite the acoustical space, invoking momentary feedback through the system. A schematic of the signal process and flow is shown in the diagram above.
In this early timbre spatialisation experiment there was as much curiosity about the possible resulting sound shapes that could be generated as there was about the implementation itself. This was due to the early and experimental nature of the mapping strategy used.
The work itself did not explore any means of physically performing the diffusion in real time, relying instead on an automated system that was driven by LFO. This allowed the electronics performer to focus on the timbral qualities of the sounds themselves and the sound-generating means, rather than specifically controlling the nature of the way in which the diffusion evolves.
The trajectory used was linear, passing over a stochastically generated polar terrain surface. The trajectory sweeps in one direction, as dictated by the low-frequency oscillator (LFO), before swinging back in the opposite direction et cetera. The only control by the performer is the speed of this LFO. In the work this oscillation starts at 0.02 Hz. This can be heard in Section A of the work with the processed sound of the brushes over the china cymbal creating low-frequency spatial texture as the sounds shift slowly over the quadraphonic speaker array. The speed of this LFO is increased to over 10 Hz in Section B when the crash cymbal triggers off a bank of sine tones. These sine tones are processed with timbre spatialisation creating a movement that is between low- and high-frequency spatial texture. It is on the cusp of being perceived as a fused image but the micro-morphologies are still evident, creating a fast, shimmering effect across the listener area. This faster movement tended to coalesce in a more immersive and enveloping spatial distribution.
In this early timbre spatialisation experiment there was as much curiosity about the possible resulting sound shapes that could be generated as there was about the implementation itself. This was due to the early and experimental nature of the mapping strategy used.
The work itself did not explore any means of physically performing the diffusion in real time, relying instead on an automated system that was driven by LFO. This allowed the electronics performer to focus on the timbral qualities of the sounds themselves and the sound-generating means, rather than specifically controlling the nature of the way in which the diffusion evolves.
The trajectory used was linear, passing over a stochastically generated polar terrain surface. The trajectory sweeps in one direction, as dictated by the low-frequency oscillator (LFO), before swinging back in the opposite direction et cetera. The only control by the performer is the speed of this LFO. In the work this oscillation starts at 0.02 Hz. This can be heard in Section A of the work with the processed sound of the brushes over the china cymbal creating low-frequency spatial texture as the sounds shift slowly over the quadraphonic speaker array. The speed of this LFO is increased to over 10 Hz in Section B when the crash cymbal triggers off a bank of sine tones. These sine tones are processed with timbre spatialisation creating a movement that is between low- and high-frequency spatial texture. It is on the cusp of being perceived as a fused image but the micro-morphologies are still evident, creating a fast, shimmering effect across the listener area. This faster movement tended to coalesce in a more immersive and enveloping spatial distribution.
