Output details

BEASTory (2010) : n-channel acousmatic music

BEASTory grew out of a 2007-08 AHRC-funded Research Project into the control of large loudspeaker arrays (like BEAST). The BEASTmulch software that was developed as part of this research incorporated many features primarily imagined and designed for performance, and I began to wonder about whether the line between composition and performance in acousmatic music was becoming blurred. BEASTory was my first exploration of the possibility that a work might not actually be spatially finalised when it left the studio, but remain in ‘spatial stems’ (groups of tracks to be spatialised afresh for each performance venue). The problem with this approach, of course, is the same one encountered in the performance of much electroacoustic music – namely that an extensive period of time is required in the actual performance venue to fine-tune the spatial behaviour, and this is precisely what is so difficult, largely because of cost.

The work was composed in multiple stereo stems which, at the first performance in Berlin, were spatialised by the software in real-time over approximately 64 channels of the 96-channel BEAST system installed for the Inventionen Festival. Also intended as a kind of ‘portrait’ of BEAST, the sound sources were recordings of the various components of the system (metalwork, flight cases, rubber matting, speaker grilles, etc) during assembly and disassembly, being loaded into trucks, and in storage; BEAST personnel also make some guest appearances!

The work is based on sounds made by the BEAST system when it is not actually performing. The source recordings were made during the installation and removal of the system for BEAST concerts and also, with the assistance of Julien Guillamat, in the ‘BEAST store’ (hence the title).

Note that as the work is electroacoustic, no score has been submitted.