Output details

Adagio No.8

Audio-visual synchronisation is generally discussed merely as a device for emphasising or punctuating visual events. This work takes the notion further by investigating synchronisation as an effective device for structuring audio-visual material.

This strategy becomes particularly relevant when dealing with images replete with irregularly pulsating micro-events. Such an overabundance of visual peaks makes locating points of synchronisation particularly problematic, since virtually any of the myriad micro-events could be selected as one. It is therefore necessary to identify and resolve larger structural units.

This principle can be seen at work in the soundtrack to Adagio No.8. At the lower structural level synch points are “softened” by displacement, i.e. anticipated or delayed with respect to the visual micro-events; resulting in a musical rhythm that complements – but does not duplicate – the visual rhythm. Meanwhile, at the higher structural level the musical material is organised as a long continuous gesture that bridges the first 7 sections, apparently oblivious of the abrupt changes between sections. It is only at 6’06 that a hard synch point occurs, acknowledging for the first time the abrupt change in the visual with an equally abrupt sonic event. A second long gesture is then launched, and once again any section change in the visuals remains unacknowledged by the soundtrack: even as the film ends abruptly, the musical gesture continues, reaching its climax 10 seconds after the frame has gone to black. By this strategy, the soundtrack divides the film into 2 main sections of roughly 6 + 3 minutes, lending continuity and narrative shape to an otherwise abstract image sequence.

By shifting the focus from the local to the macro level of the composition, this strategy points to a broader understanding of synchronisation, showing how it can be used as an effective device to define precise structural entities.