Spatial Music 003 — 25th January 2025

Information

We are running a series of spatial music concerts and workshops. You may have seen our open call for new spatial music, the submissions from this open call will make up a series of concerts and performances in Unit 44 presenting these new works.

In conjunction with this we will also be running a series of workshops, led by Sebastian Adams, about creating spatialised audio. These workshops are aimed at composers or musicians interested in spatialised music. No prior experience is required for attendance at the workshops which will be pitched to being beginner-friendly. The workshops will run from December to March and are free to attend. Interested artists can also develop their own new spatial works during these workshops which will be presented at the final concert on 22nd February 2025. The workshops will include an introduction to spatial music, binaural, and 3D recording and cover topics such as stereo diffusion, live spatial improvisation (with live musicians), using spat (Max MSP), as well as alternative methods for spatialisation (phones/radios).

Running on Saturdays, spread out between December to March. Each of the 5 concerts is preceded by a workshop in the afternoon. There will then be 2 additional workshops in March, with the possibility of further concerts depending on the amount of participants making new work at the workshops.

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EVENING CONCERTS:
All concerts start at 8pm, doors 7:30pm

001 - 14th December 2024
002 - 11th January 2025
003 - 25th January 2025
004 - 8th February 2025
005 - 22nd February 2025
006 - 22nd March 2025

003 - 25th January 2025: The third session of a series of spatial music concerts.

Performances of music by:
Sofia FériaSarah DesmondConor BourgalFran HegartyIan Veenman

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AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS:

001 - 14th December 2024
Introduction to spatial music, binaural, 3D recording
In this workshop, participants will help to set up an octophonic array of 8 loudspeakers, and hear and see some of the software and hardware configurations used for multi-speaker playback. Simple methods of making 3D recordings will be discussed and demonstrated. Some basic theory and terms will be introduced (with sources provided for further reading).

002 - 11th January 2025
Introduction to stereo diffusion
Diffusion is the practice of spreading a stereo signal around multiple speakers live: a kind of spatial performance of a fixed track. In contrast with most “spatial music”, in diffusion the creative aspect of spatialisation is normally performed live by the composer or an engineer. We will talk a bit about the history of stereo diffusion, and will be introduced to acousmoniums (loudspeaker orchestras). We’ll also discuss and demonstrate the creative possibilities of non-standard loudspeaker placement, and participants will have the opportunity to try things out themselves using our mixer.

003 - 25th January 2025
Further work on stereo diffusion, introduction to source-based spatialisation

004 - 8th February 2025
Spat (Max MSP)

005 - 22nd February 2025
Final workshop for pieces developed over the last 3 months

006 - 8th March 2025
Workshop with live spatial improvisation (with some musicians provided); culminating in group improvisation

007 - 22nd March 2025
Workshop on distributed spatialisation (e.g. sounds across multiple phones/radios/other alternative ways of spatialising)

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23 pieces have so far been selected from our open call for performance in this series