Output details

BEASTiary : n-channel acousmatic music (premiered in 71-channel version)

This work continues research into different ways of composing for a large multi-loudspeaker sound system such as BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre). It starts from the same source material as BEASTory (Item 4), but rather than utilising the real-time spatial routines offered by the BEASTmulch software (as in BEASTory), it was composed as multiple 8-channel stems that can be scaled and combined as required for different installations. Each stem exploits the specific character and location of an array of loudspeakers.

I had already designed the system for BEAST’s 30th anniversary weekend in December 2012, so I knew that there would be loudspeakers of appropriate character in appropriate locations to deliver the sonic images of the work: a ‘main’ 8-channel array; a ‘diffuse’ array, pointing away from the audience and bouncing the sound off reflective surfaces; sub-woofers; ‘mid-height’ speakers on the first balcony; ‘high’ speakers on the technical gallery; ‘close’ speakers, set at ear height; and ‘truss’ speakers, immediately overhead (all 8-channel arrays). There were two further groups of 8 loudspeakers – one comprising two 4-channel stems: ‘desk’, on the floor at the diffusion position, and ‘keystone’, above the ‘truss’ speakers, forming the top layer of a virtual dome of loudspeakers that also included the ‘close’ and ‘truss’ arrays; and a group of four ‘special effects’ stereo arrays: in the reverberation chambers, on the upstage choir seating, very high above the audience on the wire mesh, and on top of the control box at the back of the hall.

This original 72-channel version was composed using 16 channels of monitoring (plus my experience of how the BEAST system sounds!). Subsequent performances have taken place in 60-channel and 8-channel versions. The 8-channel version was awarded Second Prize in the 2013 Destellos Competition, Argentina.

As the work is electroacoustic, no score has been submitted.