Barry Truax

Real-Time Granular Synthesis with a Digital Signal Processor

Following earlier models by Gabor (1947) and Xenakis (1971), Curtis Roads (1978, 1985) has proposed granular synthesis as a unique method of achieving complex sounds by the generation of high densities of small grains on the order of magnitude of 10-20 msec duration. He has also used the technique in his composition prototype (1975) and as a component of several other tape pieces. The complexity of calculation involved has in the past necessitated a non-real-time approach involving a general-purpose computer music system. As a result, few composers have worked with the technique or heard the range of sounds it produces. Current digital signal processing (DSP) hardware offers the potential for real-time implementation of this technique by dividing the responsibility for calculation between the DSP and various levels of

Genres and techniques of soundscape composition as developed at Simon Fraser University

The soundscape composition, as pioneered at Simon Fraser University since the early 1970s, has evolved rapidly to explore a full range of approaches from the ‘found sound’ representation of acoustic environments through to the incorporation of highly abstracted sonic transformations. The structural approaches similarly range from being analogues of real-world experience, such as listening from a fixed spatial perspective or moving through a connected series of acoustic spaces, to those that mirror both nonlinear mental experiences of memory recall, dreams, and free association, as well as artificial sonic constructs made familiar and possible by modern ‘schizophonic’ audio techniques of sonic layering and embedding. The octophonic surround-sound playback format as used in contemporary soundscape presentations has achieved a remarkable sense of immersion in a recreated or imaginary sonic environment. Specific works realised at SFU are analysed that illustrate each of these approaches.

Soundscape, Acoustic Communication and Environmental Sound Composition

Abstract The problems of introducing environmental sound into the compositional process are discussed, including its acoustic character, syntactic organization, contextually based meaning, and resultant listening patterns.Gaps in traditional disciplinary approaches in dealing with environmental sound are identified, and an acoustic communicational model is proposed as an interdisciplinary alternative. The research activities at Simon Fraser University in this area, including soundscape studies, acoustic communication, soundscape composition, and the granulation of sampled sound, are summarized, along with examples drawn from the authors compositions, and the work of R. Murray Schafer, Hildegard Westerkamp and the World Soundscape Project.

Composition and diffusion: space in sound in space

Composition and diffusion can be understood as two complementary and related processes: bringing sounds together, and spreading them out again in an organised fashion. In the Western tradition, these two processes are frequently carried out by different people at different times, each drawing on specialised knowledge. The electroacoustic tradition, even if much briefer, offers the possibility of the composer designing and implementing both aspects of the music, and interrelating them in highly specific ways. Computer control offers the greatest precision in dealing with the complexities of these processes, even though, at present, separate programs are usually required.

Soundscape in a context of acoustic and landscape ecology

Soundscape ecology is being proposed as a new synthesis that leverages two important fields of study: landscape ecology and acoustic ecology. These fields have had a rich history. Running “in parallel” for over three decades now, soundscape ecology has the potential to unite these two (among other) fields in ways that provide new perspectives on the acoustics of landscapes. Each of us was involved in the “birth” of these two fields. We each reflect here on the rich history of landscape ecology and acoustic ecology and provide some thoughts on the future of soundscape ecology as a new perspective.

Soundscape composition as global music: Electroacoustic music as soundscape*

The author covers the background of soundscape composition, as initiated by the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University, and soundscape documentation as an activity that is being increasingly practised worldwide. Today there are two striking manifestations of this work: the increasing globalisation of the electroacoustic community, and the increasing sophistication of digital techniques applied to soundscape composition. In addition, the tradition of listening to environmental soundscapes as if they were music is inverted to suggest listening to electroacoustic music as if it were soundscape. What analytical tools and insights would result? The theoretical concepts introduced in soundscape studies and acoustic communication are summarised and applied first to media and digital gaming environments, noting the extensions of both their sound worlds and the related listening attitudes they provoke in terms of analytical and distracted listening. Traditional approaches to acousmatic and soundscape analysis are compared for their commonalities and differences, the latter being mainly their relative balance of attention towards inner and outer complexity. The types of electroacoustic music most amenable to a soundscape based analysis are suggested, along with brief examples of pieces to which such analysis might be directed.

Composing with Time-Shifted Environmental Sound

The author describes the compositional process involved in using sampled environmental sounds as the sole source material for his works Pacific (1990) and Dominion (1991). All sounds are heard at their original pitch but are processed using a time-stretching technique implemented in his software for real-time granular synthesis. In terms of timbral composition, the technique increases the perceived volume or magnitude of the sound. Such magnification allows the inner ‘voices’ of such sounds to be explored and their imagery and symbolism to be brought into the compositional process.

Sound, listening and place: The aesthetic dilemma

A purely aesthetic approach may be problematic when artists wish to deal with the external world as part of their work. The work of R. Murray Schafer in formulating soundscape studies is described, as well as the authors extension of that work within a communicational framework. Soundscape composition is situated within a continuum of possibilities, each with its own practice of mapping or representing the world. Current technological possibilities as well as ethical issues involved in the production process are discussed, along with the authors work in creating a multi-channel imaginary soundscape. The evolving nature of the listeners relationship to acoustic space over the last century is discussed in comparison to developments in soundscape composition.

Musical Creativity and Complexity at the Threshold of the 21st Century

Abstract The author describes a paradigm shift in which current models of sound and music are replaced by models of complexity. In terms of sound, the shift moves away from linear (e.g. Fourier) models in acoustics and parameter response models in psychoacoustics towards multi‐dimensional concepts of timbre, volume and temporal dynamic shape. In terms of composition, the shift is away from its literate and deterministic aspects, as well as the notion of art as abstract and context free. The result is a concept of music where sound and structure are integrated as well as music and context. Examples are drawn from the composers work with granular synthesis and environmental sound composition.

The aesthetics of computer music: a questionable concept reconsidered

In some informal remarks I made at a conference in 1979, I expressed a reluctance to deal with the subject of aesthetics, which historically is a product of European philosophy and which remains a troublesome concept for contemporary music where an aesthetic term such as ‘beauty’ seems to be studiously ignored (Truax 1980). In a recent, also informal article (Truax 1999) addressed as a ‘letter to a twenty-five-year old electroacoustic composer’, I predicted that the term ‘computer music’ would probably disappear since in an age where the computer is involved in nearly all electroacoustic music production, this term, which once distinguished a type of music from that made with analogue, electronic equipment, seemed today to be impossible to define rigorously. Therefore, the concept of the ‘aesthetics of computer music’, proposed as a panel discussion topic, initially seemed to me to be doubly suspect as to its meaning.