Greg Wilder

Tag: spatialization

  • Music in the Constellation at National Sawdust

    Music in the Constellation at National Sawdust

    An Evening of Immersive Audio…

    Composer Greg Wilder curates an evening of contemporary music from 1 to the 102 speakers that make up the Meyer Sound Constellation at National Sawdust. Featuring seminal works by Frank Zappa and Karlheinz Stockhausen in their original format, the evening explores immersive audio and the creative opportunities it affords in a way that can only experienced first hand in the space itself.

    In the past music was created to fit the instruments and spaces at hand. Intimate rooms with low ceilings could be filled with the sound of a single bard celebrating the achievements of warriors while large chapels required groups of voices to slow down and draw out pious praises, holding on to open vowel sounds so the long reverberation times could transform simple melodies into sacred harmonies. Today we can shape our own acoustic spaces and create our own instruments – virtually.

    Join us in Brooklyn on June 11th for an experience like no other. Contact National Sawdust for tickets.

  • 2 Channels Deep

    2 Channels Deep

    Last March I reconfigured the studio to accommodate a wide 4 channel stereo speaker setup.

    I began developing several projects for this front-facing semi-circle, but found they translated horribly when condensed to stereo. Ironically, this was a sign that they were conceived well, but I found it frustrating that they weren’t portable.

    Happily, this March brought with it several studio upgrades along with a return to stereo monitoring.

    Doepfer LMK4+

    In anticipation of future live performances, I upgraded my master controller from the Roland RD-700GX to the Doepfer LMK4+ (TP/40GH).

    Happy fingers. But by far the biggest studio upgrade involved the bits that make the air move — the speakers.

    Adam S2V

    Great googily moogily.

    When I first powered on these Adam S2Vs I couldn’t pull away for hours. They are a miracle of engineering and a revelation for any willing pair of ears.

  • 4 Channels Wide

    4 Channels Wide

    I spent the last three weeks in Florida working with a 10-speaker dome configuration. But for reasons both musical and practical, I won’t be adopting the dome in my current workflow. At least not today…

    Some of my requirements that prohibit use of the dome include:

    • ease in travel and setup
    • flexibility in performance
    • sharing and distribution (i.e. web playback)

    But most of all, the dome seems best suited to aesthetically-focused acousmatic music. By contrast, the music I create relies heavily on creating the illusion of real acoustic instruments and is otherwise deeply rooted in our vast musical heritage.

    That said, the dome has inspired a few important changes to my studio. Specifically, I’ve expanded the available stereo image with two additional speakers placed roughly at three and nine o’clock.

    I suspect that a more detailed multi-channel image originating from the concert stage can overcome the aforementioned obstacles while providing the desired benefits. So far, my studio experiments have been very promising, but I’ll need to develop some repertoire and try it out in real performance spaces to know for sure…