Output details

Am I a Particle or a Wave?

Am I a Particle or a Wave? is a piece that I composed in tandem with the development of a new piece of software for synthesizing musical gestures, a collaborative effort that I undertook while composer in residence at IRCAM in Paris from 2010 and 2012. There I led a team of researchers in creating AudioGuide, a program which assists in the composition of electronic gestures containing many superimposed sonic components. The musical aim was to create a tool which permits the composer to specify gesture in an abstract and intuitive manner while simultaneously retaining exacting control over sonic evolution.

AudioGuide temporally organizes sonic elements from a user-supplied sound database to follow the sonic contour of a gesture from a user-supplied soundfile. The program's output is essentially a transcription of the sonic evolution contained in the gesture sound into the world of sonic variability found in the database. Such a tool is useful in the sense that it permits the composer to focus more intimately on temporal and morphological relationships without having to confront the totality of details of sonic realization. AudioGuide is available from IRCAM and currently has a user base of around 100 people.

Am I a Particle or a Wave? is a trio for two percussionists and an electronic 'imaginary pianist.' The imaginary piano part is played back through two loudspeakers on stage and is comprised entirely of prerecorded sounds made at the piano. The compositional strategy for the electronic part is somewhat different that the traditional electro-acoustic approach: rather than using technology to process piano recordings and alter their sonic quality, compositional intervention is focused almost entirely on the way in which individual piano notes are superimposed to create larger experiential structures.