DAS SCHWELLENSTÜCK / THRESHOLDS OF DECENTERING

The festival Espacios Resonantes took place at the site of an abandoned underground cistern and water tower in Recoleta, Santiago de Chile. Daniel Neumann developed a soundfield composition for the peculiar architectural and acoustic space of the cistern, infusing its internal space with artificial tonalities.




Surface, away from body.

He was using his Room Tone Generator (RTG) software synthesizer to create 56 tri-phonic (3-ch) tones. Each of the 3-channel tones were placed in 3 of the 8 speakers. There are 56 different triangles in an octagon. This gave the basic spatial form. For the concert Neumann was mixing the 56 tri-phonic tones live, shaping them into an expansive dialog with the unique acoustic space of the cistern, 17 meters in diameter, 5 meters tall, made out of concrete, round, with parallel surfaces of floor and ceiling.

Yet, beyond these physical..



Frecuencia fundamental de la sala, 34.334 Hz

For Neumann Soundfield is the name for the multi-dimensional (depth, width, height, time) composed plus found listening space. In soundfield composition sounds are projected into the architectural three-dimensional space using idiosyncratic multichannel loudspeaker setups. Through resonance and reverberation various characteristics of the physical space are being emphasized, articulated, transformed, fluidified, fictionalized and then experienced from within by the listeners. The physicality and materiality of sound itself is foregrounded and varied over time. Sound becomes the sculptural gestalt.

Daniel Neumann - talk/presentation

Besides the work in the cistern Neumann presented his concept of Non-representational Spatial Sound Composition. 

The concept of Non-representational Spatial Sound Composition is meant to provide a distinct framework for analyzing and discussing site-specific or site-sensitive spatial sound works. These works have a different focus than surround sound studio composition, which usually attempts to represent a certain studio-made spatiality and aims for spatial transferability into other media or spaces, like the concert hall. So, as De La Motte-Haber frames it, there are two different artistic intentions: on the one hand, sound is represented in space, and on the other, space is presented in sound.