FLYING SONICS! a tale of immersive audio and diverse instruments PRE-CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES immersive audio demonstration Ping Pong - The ping pong sequence originated from the first stereo LP released in 1959. It was used in that recording to show that a ping pong ball can move from left to right with stereo. We took that original recording and processed it so that it can be rendered over the 10.2 channel immersive audio system. Now the ball can move all around the listener. Carnaval - Based on the rhythms and instruments of traditional samba schools, this places the listener in the center of the Carnaval, Brazil's spectacular annual celebration. While neither words nor synthesizers can fully convey the deep spirit and rhythmic tension that drive Brazilian music, this sequence attempts to simulate the sound and excitement of a samba school percussion section on parade. Carnaval's instrumentation consists of authentic percussion instruments that remain stationary most of the time. However, a few "enter" the room at one end and "march" around until they reach their destination. The leader dances about wildly with his drum and whistle, playing rhythmic calls from every corner of the building. The Butterfly - Herbie Hancock provided us with 48 original tracks for "The Butterfly" that we then processed and mixed for presentation over the 10.2 immersive audio system. Instruments were spatialized so that they produce an aesthetically pleasing experience that, in this case, is not trying to reproduce what a real band would sound like on stage. The butterfly, as represented by the flute solo in the end, can now flutter around the audience. Downtime - This is an arrangement for big band and MIDI sequencer of a tune that I composed in 2001. Downtime is about the period of mental and physical decompression that I experience after a busy day, or after a stressful time period. The cascading trombones heard in conjunction with atmospheric electronic sounds throughout the piece are meant to offer a sonic representation of this gradual relaxation. This piece is written in 3/4 time, but the rhythm section repeatedly returns to a two feel, leaving the listener slightly disoriented Ü which is exactly how I feel during my Downtime. At times the trials of the day creep back into the piece as the trumpets bounce off of each other, and the saxophones mockingly reflect the comic nature of being stressed out with circus-like descending lines. By the time the piece is over, however, relaxation is complete, my scattered thoughts from the day have subsided, and the instruments are unified in a Db major chord. I would like to thank Audio Technica Corp. for the use of several wonderful microphones which I employed in the production of this recording. Also, my fullest gratitude goes out to the following wonderful musicians who played on this recording: Chris Steele, Mark Balling, Kari Harris, Pete DeSiena, Laura Porter, and Dave Heman. Globalisation - Inspired by both the experimental percussion composition of Edgar Varese and the rhythms of taiko, this piece combines Eastern sonorities with Western abstraction to create a new synthesis. Varese's Ionisation adapted the new concept of Klangfarbenmelodie, or tone-color melody, to the multiple percussion ensemble, applying melodic lines across instruments, timbres, and space. Globalisation also incorporates East Asian polyrhythms and sounds into this aural collage, and the three-dimensional environment of Flying Sonics highlights the unique characteristics of each genre. As a pointillistic percussion piece, the idea was to spread the different instruments evenly around the room in order to accentuate the movement of the melody from one part to the next. After the initial placement, however, most of the instruments remain relatively stable, as they would in an actual classical percussion ensemble concert, and it's the music itself that dances around the listener. Wet Church (an arrangement of Claude Debussy's La Cathˇdrale Engloutie) - Switched on Claude! Nearly a century after Debussy composed the classic piano prelude, modern technology transforms it into a swirling electronic fantasy orchestra, exploring the textures he might have envisioned today. Instruments with concrete sounds such as chimes and gongs were pinned down to specific spatial locations, for example above, in front, and to the left of the listener, whereas sweeping synths were moved around the room, in circles or other patterns and often with different tracks "crossing" each other's paths. This helps create the illusion of movement from one corner to the other, or in some cases of a sound or large force slowly enveloping the room. Originally, Debussy captured the impressionistic mood of Monet's painting of the Rouen cathedral. Wet Church literally sinks the audience underwater with the cathedral, as ethereal voices and church bells float all around. Hallelujah -- The piece was recorded in a large hall with excellent acoustics. The challenge here was to capture both the envelopment of sound that the hall provides and the discrete placement of the instruments and the soloists on the stage. This was achieved by using 16 microphones whose signals were then processed using our immersive audio rendering algorithms to play back over the 10.2 system. The acoustics of the large hall are preserved even when played back in much smaller rooms. |
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