PORTFOLIO OF ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS
A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities
2020
GUILLAUME DUJAT DES ALLIMES
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
Table of Contents
List of Figures......................................................................................................................................5 List of Tables.......................................................................................................................................6 Abstract ...............................................................................................................................................7 Declaration ..........................................................................................................................................8 Copyright statement............................................................................................................................8 Portfolio of musical works ...................................................................................................................9 Musical appendix ................................................................................................................................9 Folder content ...................................................................................................................................10
File layout.....................................................................................................................................10
Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................................12 About the author................................................................................................................................13 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................14
1.1 Portfolio contents ...................................................................................................................14 1.2 Research inquiry ....................................................................................................................14 1.3 Context...................................................................................................................................15 1.4 Space and Place....................................................................................................................16 1.5 Chapter outline.......................................................................................................................17
2. Gōngàn (2017, 10:56) [8 channel] ................................................................................................18
2.1 Wat Khao Noi.........................................................................................................................19 2.2 Salies de Béarn orchard (Pyr-at France)...............................................................................20 2.3 Tram line (Manchester, UK)...................................................................................................21 2.4 Computerspiele Museum (Berlin, Germany) .........................................................................21
3. Après moi la pluie (2017, 9:33) [1st order ambisonics]..................................................................23
3.1 Section A................................................................................................................................26 3.2 Section B................................................................................................................................26 3.3 Section C................................................................................................................................27 3.4 Hordijk modular system (control) ...........................................................................................27 3.5 Spatial distortion ....................................................................................................................28
4. Noisy Library (2018, 01:00:26) [7.1 channel]................................................................................30
4.1 Loudspeaker arrangement.....................................................................................................32 4.2 Recordings.............................................................................................................................33 4.3 Room acoustics simulation. ...................................................................................................34 4.4 Structure.................................................................................................................................35 4.5 Composition ...........................................................................................................................36
5. Divine Cut (2018, 11:19) [6 channel / binaural] ...........................................................................39
5.1 Performance...........................................................................................................................41 5.3 Illusion of liveness and the audio-visual contract. .................................................................43
6. Tune of Crackle (2019, 20:58) [3rd order ambisonics]...................................................................44
6.2 Locations and recording.........................................................................................................45
6.2.1 Southbank Undercroft [ca. 6:44 – 14:20].......................................................................46 6.2.2 GrayStone Action Sports [ca. 0:00 – 6:44] ....................................................................47
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6.2.3 Street [ca. 11:16 – 20:44] ..............................................................................................49
6.3 Compositional approaches ....................................................................................................50 6.4 Mediated perspectives...........................................................................................................51
7. Resonating Spaces (2019) [multiformat].......................................................................................53
7.1 Bottle Kiln (1:00:00) [5.1 channel].........................................................................................54 7.2 Clay rehydration.....................................................................................................................55 7.3 Presentation...........................................................................................................................57 7.4 Green State: Rehydrate (11:06) [5.1 channel].......................................................................58 7.5 Sound sources .......................................................................................................................58 7.6 Structure.................................................................................................................................59
8. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................61
8.1 Methodologies........................................................................................................................61 8.2 Abstraction .............................................................................................................................61 8.3 Reduction...............................................................................................................................61 8.4 Microphone colouration..........................................................................................................62 8.5 Speaker colouration...............................................................................................................62 8.6 Presentation mode.................................................................................................................63 8.7 Space and Place....................................................................................................................63 8.8 Composition-bound................................................................................................................65 8.9 Continuation & future works...................................................................................................65
9 Bibliography (APA 7th edition GB)..................................................................................................66 10 Appendices ..................................................................................................................................71
10.1 Multimodal relevance...........................................................................................................71 10.2 Gōngàn spatialization techniques........................................................................................72
10.2.1 Gōngàn section A ........................................................................................................73 10.2.2 Gōngàn section B ........................................................................................................76 10.2.3 Gōngàn section C ........................................................................................................77 10.2.4 Gōngàn section D ........................................................................................................77
10.3 Noisy Library additional information.....................................................................................78
10.3.1 Noisy Library Virtual representation ............................................................................78 10.3.2 Noisy Library Visitor Engagement ...............................................................................79
10.4 Divine Cut – Performance Material......................................................................................80
10.4.1 Divine Cut Performance Instructions ...........................................................................80 10.4.2 Divine Cut Score..........................................................................................................81 10.4.3 Divine Cut Tech Rider..................................................................................................84
10.5 Divine Cut Instrumentation...................................................................................................86
10.5.1 Fixed ............................................................................................................................86 10.5.2 Live Instrumentation ....................................................................................................87
10.6 Tune of Crackle - Interviews ................................................................................................90 10.7 VX1000 (Tune of Crackle) ...................................................................................................91 10.8 Green State : Rehydrate - Performance [13.1 channel] ......................................................93 10.9 Ceramic Loudspeaker slabs - Lean-To................................................................................94
10.9.1 Approach......................................................................................................................94
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10.9.2 Speaker build...............................................................................................................95 10.9.3 Resonant Frequencies.................................................................................................96 10.9.4 Physical layout and spatial approach ..........................................................................98 10.9.5 Composition & Structure..............................................................................................99
10.10 Wharf................................................................................................................................101 10.11 Portfolio program notes....................................................................................................102
10.11.1 Gōngàn ....................................................................................................................102 10.11.2 Après Moi La plue....................................................................................................102 10.11.3 Noisy Library............................................................................................................102 10.11.4 Divine Cut ................................................................................................................103 10.11.5 Tune of Crackle........................................................................................................103 10.11.6 Green State: Rehydrate...........................................................................................103
10.12 List of performances..............................................................................................................104
Word Count: 17,821
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List of Figures
Figure 1: MANTIS 2019 calibration [photo by Alexander Maschke]. ................................................13 Figure 2: Salies de Béarn orchard [photo by Nadine Oliver]. ...........................................................20 Figure 3: Ambisonic recording in the Manchester Victoria baths females pool................................23 Figure 4: FOA to Hordijk signal chain ...............................................................................................29 Figure 5: Light Bulb with bayonnet fitting photographed from above on a white background. Science Museum Group Collection. CC licence. ..............................................................................30
Figure 6: Edison Swan Electric Co Ltd half blacked light bulb. Photographed from above on a white background. Science Museum Group Collection. CC licence. .........................................................30
Figure 7: John Rylands Reading Room floor & and loudspeaker plan.............................................31 Figure 8: John Rylands Library reading room - balcony speakers (Noisy Library)...........................32 Figure 9: Studio monitoring signal chain for Noisy Library. ..............................................................35 Figure 10: Divine Cut - still image from video. ..................................................................................39 Figure 11: Studio Haircut - Polski Fritzer. .........................................................................................40 Figure 12: Divine Cut - 6 channel live configuration. ........................................................................42 Figure 13: Southbank undercroft ambisonic recording [photo by Nadine Oliver]. ............................46 Figure 15: Graystone Action Sports coping recording (Figure 16 position 1)...................................47 Figure 14: Graystone Action Sports launch ramp recording (Figure 16 position 4)..........................47 Figure 16: Graystone Action Sports floor to microphone placement plan. .......................................49 Figure 17: Bottle Kiln inner chamber view [photo by Jenny Harper].................................................54 Figure 18: Bottle Kiln vessel interaction............................................................................................54 Figure 19: Bottle Kiln - dissolvable sonic process. ...........................................................................56 Figure 20: Bottle Kiln dissolvables ....................................................................................................57 Figure 21: Bottle Kiln vessel..............................................................................................................57 Figure 22: GreenState: Rehydrate - Spectrogram and Structure. ....................................................60 Figure 23: place/space work weighting.............................................................................................64 Figure 24: Gradually processed stereo pairs....................................................................................73 Figure 25: Quadrophonic diamond from stereo recordings. .............................................................73 Figure 26: Four-channel mirror. ........................................................................................................74 Figure 27: Double quadrophonic off-axis arrangement. ...................................................................75 Figure 28: Three channel parabola setup.........................................................................................76 Figure 29: Four channel tram recording to speaker arrangement. ...................................................77 Figure 30: John Rylands reading room LIDAR scan render.............................................................78 Figure 31: VX1000 camera microphone spectrogram. .....................................................................92 Figure 32: Rode NTG-5 microphone spectrogram. ..........................................................................92 Figure 33: Green State : Rehydrate soundcheck at MANTIS19 [photo by: Alexander Maschke]. ...93 Figure 34: Initial design of ceramic loudspeakers proposed to the group. .......................................94 Figure 35: Ceramic slab tech routing & order. ..................................................................................96 Figure 36: Original sketch of panel arrangement..............................................................................98 Figure 37: Final arrangement of slabs in space................................................................................99 Figure 38: VCV-rack, slabs chord patch. ........................................................................................100