On the Sensations of Tone IX: The Descent

(IX: The Descent is featured at the June 8 exhibition.)

On the Sensations of Tone is a series of works that explore the physicality of sound and spatial depth through the application of original empirical research in psychoacoustics and the biomechanics of hearing. The compositions and installations create a unique layer of spatial depth by provoking the ears to generate sounds of their own. Difference tones are sounds produced by hair cells in the inner ear in response to specific acoustic frequency combinations. Absent from the physical space, the “ear tones” are perceived as localized inside the head. Once elicited, the phenomenon produces an expanded sonic depth of field between the external sounds in the room and the internal sounds generated in the ear. The effect can be enhanced by cupping hands around one’s ears. 

On the Sensations of Tone IX: The Descent was built from field recordings made in the Paris catacombs using in-ear binaural microphones. Careful listening during the first of the two difference tone sections will reveal ear tones at frequencies below the threshold of human hearing. While initially designed for stereo presentation, this version is the first exhibition of a new multichannel rendering of the work.

On the Sensations of Tone VIII

(VIII is featured at the June 9 concert.)

On the Sensations of Tone is a series of works that explore the physicality of sound and spatial depth through the application of original empirical research in psychoacoustics and the biomechanics of hearing. The compositions and installations create a unique layer of spatial depth by provoking the ears to generate sounds of their own. Difference tones are sounds produced by hair cells in the inner ear in response to specific acoustic frequency combinations. Absent from the physical space, the “ear tones” are perceived as localized inside the head. Once elicited, the phenomenon produces an expanded sonic depth of field between the external sounds in the room and the internal sounds generated in the ear. The effect can be enhanced by cupping hands around one’s ears. 

On the Sensations of Tone VIII evokes ear tones by acoustic and electronic means. During the development of the piece, a spectral analysis of the crotales revealed single notes that contained frequencies in the proper amplitude and ratio for eliciting difference tones. In performance, the crotales are amplified and mixed with electronic tones to create a dense difference tone spectrum. Using multichannel speakers, the physical space is transformed into an immersive environment where head movement causes difference tones to appear, disappear, and change character. Microscopic and macroscopic listening is possible by shifting attention between the acoustic tones, the ear tones, and all audible sound. 

On the Sensations of Tone VIII was performed by Loren Mach (percussion) and Alex Chechile (electronics), and recorded live at the Bing Concert Hall, Stanford, CA.

Alex Chechile

Alex Chechile is a sound artist, composer, and electronic artist whose work develops in parallel with research in neuroscience and psychoacoustics. With a particular interest in the relationship between sound and the body, his immersive compositions, installations, and performances aim to bring transparency to otherwise invisible processes in biological and technological systems. Questions that arise in his artistic work lead to formalized studies, and the results cyclically inform his sonic practice.  

As a performer, Chechile was a founding member of Pauline Oliveros’ Tintinnabulate ensemble, collaborated with Mercury Rev, and performed a solo opening act for Primus. His projects have been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Harvestworks, Issue Project Room, the Experimental Television Center, the Deep Listening Institute, and the American Embassy, among others. His work has been presented at festivals and venues including IRCAM, MoMA, ICMC, Electronic Music Midwest, EMPAC, the New York Electronic Arts Festival, and Cité Internationale des Arts. Chechile holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), and is currently a Research Fellow at the RISD Studio for Research in Sound and Technology (SRST).

http://alexchechile.com

Sifting

(Featured at the June 8 exhibition.)

In 2018, I was awarded a Polar Lab Residency supported by the Anchorage Museum. My project was titled Edges in the Alaskan Soundscape. Over the course of three weeks in April / May 2018, I concentrated on spatial audio field recording in areas of the Kenai Peninsula and Denali National Park. During this timeframe, alongside field work, I met with National Park Service scientists to learn about acoustic monitoring and soundscape ecology from their perspective as researchers. The aim of my project was to conduct ambisonic field recording in areas with low human population density in order to observe and document “edges” while creating source material for new compositions and sound installations. Sifting is an outcome of this work. It debuted as a sound installation for the Listen Up exhibition at the Anchorage Museum (April - October 2021).  It was composed in third order ambisonics.

Outwash

(Featured at the June 9 concert.)

Outwash was composed in 2019 for high density loudspeaker arrays (HDLA). Development of the piece began during a residency at Virginia Tech’s Cube in March 2019 and it was later completed at RISD’s Studio for Research in Sound and Technology (SRST). In this work, twenty independent voices reliant upon the same underlying erratic synthesis procedure move throughout the room in varied spatial formations. Audible contours and modulations are produced by parametric deviation and distance fluctuations between the voices of this ensemble. While the piece is set in its duration and sequence, real-time processes afford unique outcomes in each performance. The piece was created in MaxMSP and runs autonomously. Outwash premiered at the Cube Fest (2019 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg) and was also included in the International Computer Music Conference (2021 Santiago).

Shawn Greenlee

Shawn Greenlee is a composer, sound artist, and Professor at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where he leads the Studio for Research in Sound & Technology (SRST).  His recent work explores spatial audio, high density loudspeaker arrays, and erratic sound synthesis techniques. Greenlee has been active as a solo electronic / electroacoustic improvisor since 1997 and has toured extensively across the US and Europe. Conference and festival performances include New Interfaces for Musical Expression (2018 Blacksburg, 2015 Baton Rouge, 2014 London, 2013 Daejeon), International Computer Music Conference (2021 Santiago, 2018 Daegu, 2011 Huddersfield, 2005 Barcelona), BEAST FEaST (2017 Birmingham), PdCon16 (2016 New York), Cube Fest (2019, 2016 Blacksburg), Re-new (2013 Copenhagen), IN TRANSIT (2008 Berlin), and Elevate (2007 Graz), among others. Greenlee holds a Ph.D. in Computer Music and New Media from Brown University. 

Oscillator Pond

An ambient generative audio installation. (Featured at June 8 exhibition.)

Creature-like sound characters populate Oscillator Pond creating a surreal and unpredictable soundscape. The ‘critter’ sounds were made on an Arp 2500 synthesizer—a rare instrument from the1970’s. Organic sounding rhythms and creature-like tones were generated on the Arp and then captured and edited digitally. The current version includes a layer of chiming harmonics made on an electric guitar. The sounds are triggered with custom software (a MAX/MSP patch) using probability and random processes to create constant variation. The installation is scalable and immersive. It has been presented with multichannel sound in lobby spaces, a public greenhouse, as a pre-concert ‘walk-in’ work, and as a stereo recording. The excerpt presented at Lindemann today is a 16 minute capture of the generative process mapped to the high density speaker array using ambisonic spatial encoding.

Westminster Street

(Featured at the June 9 concert.)

Westminster Street is a soundscape composition that reflects on the sound world of urban spaces and the pace and tempo of modern life. The work primarily uses environmental recordings of Westminster Street in downtown Providence (traffic, the Grace Church bell tower, bicycles, conversation...). There are also a few fragmented samples from jazz records imitating city noise woven into the texture (mostly from the Charles Mingus recording of A Foggy Day from the 1956 album Pithecanthropus Erectus). The samples are not clearly recognized but create juxtapositions of old sounds against a modern soundscape and of 'media-sound' against naturalistic recordings. A variety of cross-synthesis and re-synthesis techniques, and tempo manipulations are used to create an original soundscape.

Jim Moses

Jim is an audio producer, composer, sound designer, engineer, and educator. He has worked extensively in electro-acoustic music, radio broadcasting, theatrical sound design, and live and studio music production. Compositions and sound designs include work presented by the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the Acoustical Society of America, and The New Jersey Opera Festival. Music production credits include work with Musicmasters/BMG, Bridge records, Composers Recordings Inc., National Public Radio and New Focus Recordings. He is a senior lecturer and technical director at the Brown University Music Department.

Liriodendron

Multi-channel sound installation. (Featured at June 8 exhibition.)

The Liriodendron Tulipifera, or “Tulip Tree,” is a species known for its long straight trunk, distinctive foliage, and flowering canopy. The tree is not only beautiful but also functional, having been favored by shipbuilders in the 18th and 19th centuries for its use in the making of ships’ masts.

I have lived on the Connecticut College campus for the last decade in a house that adjoins the campus arboretum. There is a stand of ancient Liriodendron trees in the arboretum, astonishing for both their height and their graceful elegance. Wandering in the shade of that grove, I have been struck by its sound – full of dark and subtle resonances. I made this piece, based on recordings taken in the arboretum, to emulate the experience.

Correspondences 

(Featured at the June 9 concert.)

Correspondences is a multi-channel computer music composition that acts as a translation of Charles Baudelaire's famous sonnet "Correspondances” from Les Fleurs du mal. My reading follows the poem’s structure and overall gesture, pivoting around certain formal elements, especially the white spaces separating the strophes and the expressive dash punctuating the first tercet. But form encloses meaning. The sonnet as a whole serves as the basis for a more extended meditation on time, memory, and the materiality of poetry itself: something both written and spoken, though often half-remembered, like a dream.

The acousmatic sound score for Correspondences is based on recordings of the elements suggested by the poem, including the sounds of writing, paper, and several different readings of the poem. The sounds were processed using various custom-made software tools.