An important example
for me referring to a physical and energetic experience of sound in space is
techno music. In techno, physical sense is present due to extreme
volumes and frequencies that fill the space and make the listener lose
orientation. One does not listen to music, but is positioned physically inside
the music itself. A techno party is a thrilling atmosphere of sounds, lights and
bodies that the listener is part of. It is not possible to escape the movements
of energy that take place in the music. One does not listen to techno, but
feels it.
In techno,
all musical actions are supportive of an energetic process. To charge, conduct,
explode and disperse energies inside the body of the listeners. The
compositional models of techno music resemble in a way the spatial processes of
4D Sound. It is about transformations of dimensions and intensities. A play of
constant shifts in spectrum and phase of the sounds that make the listener lose
orientation and transcend the actuality of the space one is in.
In a recent
interview, techno artist Richie Hawtin referred to the energetic process of a
techno party as 'radical contingency'. A state where things are as yet undefined, which makes
all decisions contingent and forces the imagination into action. Being
constantly at the edge of creating a moment which everybody is waiting for, a
moment that everybody is wishing to become clear and become defined, but as
soon as it is, looking beyond it again.
I have always imagined
that a spatial sound system should be performed in such way. Like a DJ behind
his decks, buttons and slides one should be able to perform space. Spatial experience as a reciprocal relation between
musician and listener. The musician is controlling a sounding environment
influencing the listener’s physical movement. Yet at the same time being
influenced by and reacting to the listener’s movement behaviour. The listener
is seduced to explore the sonic surrounding. Dependent on ears and body, the listener has to discover space and
becomes part of an encompassing experience that can only be discovered step by
step, and never overviewed in totality.
From a listeners point of view, it is
essential that such reciprocality with the sounding space is restored. One of
my intentions behind the development of 4D Sound has been to let the audience
move freely and react spontaneously to the spatial experience they are in. And therefore
restoring play and interaction as a vital dimension of a lifelike spatiality.
In daily life, we are exposed to continuous movement in the environment around,
above and beneath us. And in this environment we move ourselves in complex
patterns, sometimes fast and straight, then slow and hesitant, turning back and
forth, possibly laying, standing, bending or sitting. All
these movements have a grave effect on our listening experience. We
are continuously affected by changes of movement surrounding us, but equally,
by our patterns of behaviour we influence our perception of this environment
and stimulate the movement in the environment itself.
The appearance of sound as perceived by
the listener are inseparable from their spatiality. Rhythmic and pitched
intervals are determined by direction and speed of movement, timbres of sounds
are gravely influences by distance, elevation and angle of their spatial
position, volume and intensity of sounds depend entirely on the degree of
distance towards the perceiver. All spatial actions have a dramatic impact on
the perceived sounding result. Sound can be transformed entirely by the speed,
distance, elevation and direction they are moving in.
Our attention has been focused on
translating such spatiality into a musical creative process. With the
instrumental design of 4D Sound we have focused on making every aspect of
spatiality and spatial movement controllable to the smallest detail, but also
take a step aside from a too naturalistic or scientific approach on reproducing
spatiality.
From a musical point of view, it is
entirely dependent on the musical context whether and which approach to
spatiality makes sense. In the first place, it is a musical question to whether
spatial attributes should be enlarged, diminished or even bypassed to be
convincing, not a technological one. It is also doubtful whether a ‘correct’
natural appearance of spatial sound can be captured in any fixed virtual
setting, as a bird flying in the sky demands very different properties of distance,
spectrum and elevation than if an airplane flies over. In most cases, it is
better to dispose of a broad set of techniques and use the hearing to make a
setting that truly works musically.
Continue reading:
No comments:
Post a Comment