On the Rim of Consciousness (8-channel fixed media)
I loosely based On the Rim of Consciousness on the following question: What would it sound like if we were able to place a microphone in your mind, capturing the sounds of dreams, fragmented memories, conflicting emotions, even the synapses firing in your brain?
Strahlung (stereo fixed media/audiovisual)
Strahlung explores humanity's negative impact on the Earth and our eventual extinction as a result. The piece presents a vision of an Earth transformed—alien and devoid of human life. The video depicts the calm, stark, and desolate landscapes of this changed world in the aftermath of human influence and nuclear fallout. Stark, synthetic soundscapes created with modular synthesizers and electromagnetic field recordings are juxtaposed with desolate environmental sound recordings.
Iodine (stereo fixed media)
Iodine explores the use of modular synthesis to process recorded audio within the context of electroacoustic and acousmatic composition. Multiple recordings of flute performances were processed through the modular synthesizer to evoke smooth, dreamlike gestures and phrases.
Ripples of Nono (stereo improvisation)
modular synthesis improvisation & generative audio
This piece is an exploration of field recordings and live modular synthesis performance. It builds upon a recently completed research project, Immersive Sonic Snapshots: Exploring Cultural, Religious, and Natural Diversity Through Sound, a two-month international field recording trip across Iceland, Germany, Greece, and Italy, examining culture through sound.
In Ripples of Nono, I improvise over an unedited recording of downtown Matera, Italy, at night, creating an augmented sonic reality. This reflects how our memories of a place or moment often transform over time, becoming idealized, distorted, or imbued with a dreamlike quality that may not align with the reality of what actually occurred.
This piece is an exploration of field recordings and live modular synthesis performance. It builds upon a recently completed research project, Immersive Sonic Snapshots: Exploring Cultural, Religious, and Natural Diversity Through Sound, a two-month international field recording trip across Iceland, Germany, Greece, and Italy, examining culture through sound.
In Ripples of Nono, I improvise over an unedited recording of downtown Matera, Italy, at night, creating an augmented sonic reality. This reflects how our memories of a place or moment often transform over time, becoming idealized, distorted, or imbued with a dreamlike quality that may not align with the reality of what actually occurred.
Emunah (stereo fixed media)
The title Emunah comes from the Hebrew word for "faith." This piece is based on the Book of Job, found in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. Considered to be the oldest book in the Bible, the Book of Job tells the story of Job’s extreme suffering at the hands of God. Satan urges God to test his most faithful and devoted disciple through a series of painful trials, including the death of all his children. Despite these hardships, Job miraculously retains his faith and, ultimately, God's favor.
Emunah is my sonic interpretation of this story and the many theological questions it raises. The piece aims to illustrate the emotions Job must have experienced during his trials—suffering, horror, sadness, and even the love and security he felt from God. To evoke these themes, I have combined traditional prayers in Latin and Hebrew, along with readings from the Book of Job in both Dutch and English, to emphasize the universality of the spiritual issues presented. By weaving these elements into an electroacoustic setting, I seek to explore how this ancient story of enduring faith resonates in the modern world.
Emunah is my sonic interpretation of this story and the many theological questions it raises. The piece aims to illustrate the emotions Job must have experienced during his trials—suffering, horror, sadness, and even the love and security he felt from God. To evoke these themes, I have combined traditional prayers in Latin and Hebrew, along with readings from the Book of Job in both Dutch and English, to emphasize the universality of the spiritual issues presented. By weaving these elements into an electroacoustic setting, I seek to explore how this ancient story of enduring faith resonates in the modern world.
Namaste (stereo fixed media)
Nearly all of the source material used to create Namaste was taken from field recordings that I made while traveling through Myanmar (Burma) and Nepal. My primary interest in composing the piece was to explore the culture and my own experiences through the recordings captured during my time in these two countries. Naturally, the most interesting and important recordings where those of the people. The material was separated and organized into fragmented rhythmic patterns and phrases. These rhythms, derived from the vocal phrases, were then used as the fundamental building blocks to create each gesture. All other material was then “hung” around this rhythmic framework. With this piece I want to convey the contradictions, juxtapositions, and complexity of emotions I felt when visiting these places. At one moment, there is a complete bombardment of the senses, in which a chaos of unfamiliar sounds, sights, and smells almost completely overwhelms you, whereas immediately afterwards, you find yourself in the serene quiet of an ancient temple or in a local back alley.
Exteriores Spatium (stereo fixed media)
Exteriores Spatium explores the concepts of heaven and hell, the soul, the origins of the Earth, and space travel as seen through the eyes of children. I integrated abstract sounds created using modular synthesis, natural field recordings, and archived interviews where children were asked deep questions regarding their concepts of heaven and hell, space, the origin of the Earth, and the soul. These interviews were originally broadcast in the 1960s on the BBC program Children Talking.
Plasticine (8-channel fixed media)
Plasticine explores the organic and gestural performative aspects as well as the semi-chaotic and generative possibilities possible with modular synthesis, specifically the Eurorack format, in the context of multi-channel electroacoustic composition. The plasticity and malleability of sound, space and motion is a central theme to the composition. The piece focuses also focuses on the juxtaposition of abstract synthesized sounds and natural sound-textures.
This piece was composed in 2021 during a month-long artistic residency at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and presented at the 2021 Klingt Gut Symposium on Sonic Art and Spatial Audio. The majority of the raw sound materials were generated using the large modular synthesizer at HAW and the smaller modular system at the University of Kentucky. These materials were arranged and spatialized using the 33-channel and 16-channel ambisonics studios at HAW during the residency.
This piece was composed in 2021 during a month-long artistic residency at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and presented at the 2021 Klingt Gut Symposium on Sonic Art and Spatial Audio. The majority of the raw sound materials were generated using the large modular synthesizer at HAW and the smaller modular system at the University of Kentucky. These materials were arranged and spatialized using the 33-channel and 16-channel ambisonics studios at HAW during the residency.
Polystyrene (stereo fixed media/audiovisual)
Polystyrene is an exploration of the juxtaposition of abstract audio and image. Audio has the power to change and affect our emotional response to the imagery it is presented with, just as the visual components can affect and change our relationship to the sonic material. Our focus can be attuned to different aspects of the audio, depending on the synchronization or lack of synchronicity with the visual events. It is my intention, through utilizing visual components within this piece, to guide the listener through the dense and chaotic musical passages which are so intrinsic to the work and to bring the dense rhythmic and compositional details into greater focus and clarity.
Strompspannung (stereo improvisation/audiovisual)
Stromspannung is a live performance piece that integrates modular synthesizers, field recordings, video processing, custom software developed in Max/MSP/Jitter, and AM radio.
Tourmaline (modular synthesis, tuba, electronics, dance performance)
This piece explores multidisciplinary collaboration through live performance integrating modular synthesis, tuba, electronics, and dance.
Coagulate (8-channel fixed media)
Coagulate is part I of the Rotten Milk Trilogy, a series of three pieces which refer to the various states milk can take as it goes “off". These pieces have the shared common factor of using aspects of recognizable popular culture to access memories and feelings within the listener. The naming of these pieces illustrates the relatively lighthearted and comical nature of the work. Coagulate utilizes sounds from the original 1940s era Warner Bros. Cartoons. As with all of the pieces in the trilogy, nostalgia and evoking memories (both good and bad) of one’s past are central themes of the piece.
The movements and trajectories of the sounds are extremely chaotic and over-exaggerated. This extreme energy and absurdity within the spatialization of the sounds represents these traits found within the sound materials themselves. The original qualities and “age” of the sounds have been preserved. The lack of fidelity and the fact that the sounds are all mono places the piece in a specific point in time.
The movements and trajectories of the sounds are extremely chaotic and over-exaggerated. This extreme energy and absurdity within the spatialization of the sounds represents these traits found within the sound materials themselves. The original qualities and “age” of the sounds have been preserved. The lack of fidelity and the fact that the sounds are all mono places the piece in a specific point in time.
Curdle (stereo fixed media/audiovisual)
Curdle is part II of the Rotten Milk Trilogy, a series of three pieces which refer to the various states milk can take as it goes “off”. These pieces have the shared common factor of using aspects of recognizable popular culture to access memories and feelings within the listener. The naming of these pieces illustrates the relatively lighthearted and comical nature of the work.
Curdle is an audiovisual piece created to reference aspects of popular culture, both modern and old. I did this by using heavily beat-based material to create most of the gestural events in the work. As in other pieces, I have used sounds found in everyday life to trigger memories within the listener. These sounds are juxtaposed within the piece with very quick cuts and transitions. I added a synchronized visual component to enhance and emphasize the abruptness and sharp nature of these transitions.
Curdle is an audiovisual piece created to reference aspects of popular culture, both modern and old. I did this by using heavily beat-based material to create most of the gestural events in the work. As in other pieces, I have used sounds found in everyday life to trigger memories within the listener. These sounds are juxtaposed within the piece with very quick cuts and transitions. I added a synchronized visual component to enhance and emphasize the abruptness and sharp nature of these transitions.
Congeal (8-channel fixed media)
Congeal is part III of the Rotten Milk Trilogy, a series of three pieces which refer to the various states milk can take as it goes “off”. These pieces have the shared common factor of using aspects of recognizable popular culture to access memories and feelings within the listener. The naming of these pieces illustrates the relatively lighthearted and comical nature of the work.
Congeal explores and views jazz recordings through the lens of an electroacoustic composer.
Congeal explores and views jazz recordings through the lens of an electroacoustic composer.
Apricot (stereo fixed media)
An acousmatic composition primarily focusing on the kalimba as source material.
Recycled Linoleum (stereo fixed media/audiovisual)
The sonic material for Recycled Linoleum was generated using a data sonification method which converts image, text, and video into sonic material. In this case, much of the raw audio was the result of the sonification of a PDF of document of an old Pro-Tools manual. This unconventional use of and conversion of media resulted in extremely harsh, digital, yet surprisingly rhythmic results. Hours of material was generated by this process. The majority of the material resulted in unusable white noise. Sporadically distributed within this vast amount of sonic information were short moments of incredibly rhythmically and timbrally interesting sonic events. These events were used as the motivic figures to create the piece. The aesthetic goal of the piece is to create a stark, harsh, sterile, sonic experience. The visual component was created to reflect and emphasize this aesthetic. The 3D material for the video was procedurally generated using custom software developed in Houdini and assembled using Premier Pro. Similar to the techniques used in Golden Cuttlefish, organic motion was juxtaposed with synthetic mechanical imagery.
Golden Cuttlefish (stereo fixed media/audiovisual) - long version
Golden Cuttlefish explores the relationship between the organic and the abstract. A digital ecosystem is created exploring this juxtaposition in both the sonic and visual worlds. Abstract imagery is controlled by organic motion. Organic sound environments coexist with abstract sonic events. The organic flow of musical form and time is complimented by the fluid motion of the video.
The 3D material for the video was procedurally generated using custom software developed in Houdini and assembled using Premier Pro. The video utilizes particle synthesis and organic motion to mimic an abstract underwater environment. Each visual element is made up of simple spheres moving in unison to create the illusion of a living organism.
Aspects of the visual component also utilized a method of data conversation where entire films were distilled down to their main component colors and represented by simple spheres. A 2-hour film would then be simplified into a 30 second clip of abstract color and shape. The piece was designed to be either presented in a concert using a projector or as an installation featuring video,
audio, and still images presented on metal sheets.
The 3D material for the video was procedurally generated using custom software developed in Houdini and assembled using Premier Pro. The video utilizes particle synthesis and organic motion to mimic an abstract underwater environment. Each visual element is made up of simple spheres moving in unison to create the illusion of a living organism.
Aspects of the visual component also utilized a method of data conversation where entire films were distilled down to their main component colors and represented by simple spheres. A 2-hour film would then be simplified into a 30 second clip of abstract color and shape. The piece was designed to be either presented in a concert using a projector or as an installation featuring video,
audio, and still images presented on metal sheets.
Iridium (stereo fixed media/audiovisual)
Iridium is a live audiovisual performance using custom Max/MSP/Jitter software using data visualization & sonification techniques.
Performers: Timothy Moyers & Michael Olson
Performers: Timothy Moyers & Michael Olson