Spectrum Sounds: a lockdown audio composition in seven colours
Posted by ±«Óãtv Research and Development on , last updated
Spectrum Sounds is a collection of seven short pieces of music in the colours of the spectrum. The ±«Óãtv commissioned it as part of the Culture in Quarantine programme.
In this blog post, composer Andrew Hugill explains how the piece arises out of lockdown but also from his hearing and listening, both as an autistic man and as someone with severe unbalanced hearing loss. Andrew worked on this composition remotely with several musicians, many of whom are also autistic or have hearing differences or both.
To create Spectrum Sounds, I used three approaches:
- A conventional linear audio composition that combined processed instrumental and digital sound, resulting in a stereo file that could be broadcast on radio;
- An "evocative transcription" video of each piece, designed for those who do not listen primarily with their cochlea. Each piece of visual music can be experienced with or without audio;
- A version for ±«Óãtv Research & Development's Audio Orchestrator environment that would allow listeners to set up and control their own listening situation by disseminating sounds (and images) across at least three linked devices.
The Audio Orchestrator opened up new possibilities. I was attracted to it because it enabled the listener to control the listening environment. So, for example, since my right ear is so much worse than my left ear, I cannot detect spatial effects across a stereo field. However, if I position my auxiliary devices all on the left, I can get a sense of how the sound moves across audio space.
Also, I could re-conceptualise the pieces to encourage even stronger communication of synaesthesia. is a phenomenon whereby the senses become confused or blended in the brain. In my case, this means that certain colours are associated with certain sounds (and taste gets in the mix too sometimes). For example, when I hear a trumpet, especially playing the note F sharp, I experience the colour blue.
Each of the very different pieces in the Spectrum Sounds set contains a collection of such colour/sound associations. The advantage of the Audio Orchestrator is that it enables me to bring out those relationships in ways that are not available via stereo alone.
A Robin in the Snow
The red piece tells a little story on solo violin. I was walking in the snow during the lockdown. All the sounds were even more muffled than usual. A melody began to form in my mind. Suddenly, a robin's singing cut through into my serviceable hearing range. This is conveyed by having the muted violin play through the central device at the star, then the robin calls (there are, in fact, two robins) answer one another via the left and right auxiliaries. My inner melody is then transformed as I continue my walk and reaches the reddest moment as it hits the open E string on the violin, becoming flowing and encompassing the full range of the instrument. This effect works wonderfully well on the Audio Orchestrator.
Fluted Orange Turbulence
The flute is coloured with orange sounds. I was able to deploy these sounds (e.g. wind chimes, drone harmonics, calm chords, synthetic waves, music boxes, etc.) in a dynamic way across the devices. I also used images to identify each sound so the listener can follow what is happening in this highly active piece.
A World in Yellow
Metal and glass sounds are layered to create a unique sound world that is bound together by a drone and topped off with a spinning bicycle wheel. Here the Audio Orchestrator enabled me to bring out the textures of the layers in ways that are impossible in stereo alone.
Ice Hole Trumpet
The sound of wind blowing through ice holes in the Antarctic is combined with unpitched trumpet breath sounds, which then form into a melody that is full of shards of echo. Here the idea is to convey the spatial expanse of the ice, positioning the trumpet like a lone animal calling in a cold desert. The distribution of the three devices is very effective for this.
Verdigrade
The spatialisation is also effective in conveying the degradation of my hearing that is depicted in this piece. Verdigris is the green patina that appears on certain metals when they are exposed to the air. In the piece, a normal piano plays a rigorous sequence. Gradually a different piano takes over with a reciprocal sequence. This piano digitally recreates diplacusis, the phenomenon by which I hear two different pitches when one is played. This left-right degradation is powerfully conveyed by the distribution of linked devices.
What is violet?
In the violet piece, a lutenist plays an unmeasured prelude at dusk, surrounded by the call of Noctule bats. I can create a good sense of 'surround' with the spatial distribution of the soundscape while the lute remains fixed in the centre. The result has the hazy violet vagueness evoked by clouds at dusk. The lute music begins lazily but follows some twists and turns, tightening up as if seeking temporary destinations, just like the flight of a bat across the space.
Rook+Cello
The combination of cello (playing minor 6ths in the Phrygian mode) with rook sounds is irrepressibly purple to me. Once again, the Audio Orchestrator enables a spatial treatment in which the listener is situated in a rookery, then in a recital room with solo cello, then back to the rookery and ultimately to a single rook. There is something about the slow nobility of this piece that is conveyed especially well by this treatment.
One thing that has struck me while working with Audio Orchestrator is that it is conceived as a dissemination platform. Since creativity often involves using technology in ways that the makers did not intend, my next plan is to use Audio Orchestrator to make some digital scores. These will enable creative collaborations with various artists to make work that is conceived from the outset in terms of this technology.
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±«Óãtv Taster - Try Spectrum Sounds
±«Óãtv MakerBox - Audio Orchestrator
±«Óãtv R&D - Vostok K Incident - Immersive Spatial Sound Using Personal Audio Devices
±«Óãtv R&D - Vostok-K Incident: Immersive Audio Drama on Personal Devices
This post is part of the Immersive and Interactive Content section