Racines tordues : Ambisonic acousmatic composition
- Submitting institution
-
The University of Birmingham
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 59164288
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- March
- Year
- 2019
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- At 13 minutes in length, Racines tordues is already a substantial acousmatic piece. The compositional process followed the composer’s established methodology in terms of recording and treatment of sound, to which a hybridised approach to spatialisation added a significant layer of complexity. Spatialisation of individual sounds followed two methods: (1) Stereo sources were encoded into the ambisonic domain and spatialised using widely available ambisonic plugins; (2) Stereo sources were processed using multichannel processing methods, into 8-channel files which were then encoded into ambisonics and further spatialised in this virtual domain.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Racines tordues is an acousmatic work composed using studio-based recordings of musical instruments. As can be seen from the programme notes, the artistic exploration of this work is deeply embedded in personal experience and reflected in the quoted poem by Rumi. On a technical level, this work is the composers first compositional investigation in to the use of ambisonic spatialization techniques. The source material for the work was instrumental recordings and toys initially recorded for the sound design project for the 2017 production of Baby Daddy. The composition methodology of Racines Tordues aimed to investigate the following objectives: 1. To explore and utilise available ambisonic spatialization techniques and incorporate them into the compositional process: All source materials were stereo and these were then encoded to the ambisonic domain and spatialised using widely available ambisonic plugins including those developed by Blue Ripple, IEM and the Ambisonic Toolkit. The piece was composed in third order ambisonics. 2. To devise and understand an appropriate workflow for working with ambisonics: Through the exploratory process of composing, a workflow was gradually devised for working in the virtual spatial domain, a significantly different approach to more standard panning techniques based on loudspeaker location. 3. To consider approaches to performance when working in the ambisonic domain: The B-format output has the advantage that it allows for the final work to be decoded into any specified space set up for ambisonic performance. In the performance of this work, explorations into hybridised approaches to allow for performance on large-scale diffusion systems has also been explored. Racines tordues is the third in a series of large scale multichannel pieces composed in the electroacoustic studios at the University of Birmingham and premiered at BEAST FEaST 2019, Birmingham UK. Racines tordues is published on Racines, the 2019 empreinte DIGITALes release.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
