Author: Cameron Tanaka

I have attached below two diagrams translating the two most commonly occurring and discernible directional patterns in my movement from the video I recorded. I intend to use these two patterns and their gradual decay into chaos and disorder as the basis for my composition. The first pattern involves simple unified movements into each cardinal direction in the octopohnic ring. The second involves many repeated movements that sometimes rebound between the sides of the octophonic ring and circle it. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that the opportunities provided by spatial audio change the idea of a “drum pattern” to a “direction pattern” where, as opposed to the linear layering of elements, the composition of the piece is also informed by the placement of a sound in a space that goes beyond the linear nature of “lanes” in Ableton working on an x and y-axis. I intend to use these repeating patterns as a foundation for the composition and have much of the changes, like the movement, reflected in disruptive panning and sound design that informs failure to express the exhaustion and disorganization of the body over time.

For the initial stage of my piece, I recorded myself moving to the last track I used for my performance in Vienna. I created a circle with eight markers to represent the speakers in the octophonic ring. Additionally, I set up a strobe light to immerse myself further in the space and get closer to the mindset and atmosphere in which I usually perform. I tend to be quite disassociated while performing and moving to music; it feels very subconscious. However, I have recognized consistent patterns that I am sure will inform the composition of my piece. Generally, due to exhaustion, I lose control of my limbs, and movement becomes more disorderly as I keep dancing. My body begins to lose a sense of unified movement as the adrenaline spikes, and I become more tired. I also tend to move to the floor and lie down, grind, and use slow, more comprehensive movements with my upper body when I hit peak levels of exhaustion and, notably, when my music has moments with really wide pads and drawn-out bass notes. These are all elements that I am sure will inform the writing process, and abstracting these physical and emotional states is an element to consider with the sound design I use in this piece. I will continue to examine this video and transcribe and generalize the patterns of movement displayed to write the piece as choreography and directionally in the context of spatial audio. The thing I desperately wish to avoid is for it to feel static and for the spacial context to feel forced; it is essential I create a presence within the octophonic ring that moves dynamically, similar to my own movement.

My one-on-one session with Gareth gave me two interesting angles on this project. In explaining my idea, I was shown two pieces of work. One was a video of a woman dancing with contact microphones that produced some very tactile body movement sounds. Potential avenues for exploring this idea in my work could include using contact microphones to record the sounds of skin, breath, and clothing and playing with the placement and movement of these elements within the octophonic space to create the sensation of a presence dancing within it. The second piece of work was a sculpture of a shed exploding. I felt that this interplay between stasis and entropy and destruction and cohesion were very interesting ideas to bring to an audio piece about dance and movement, especially when it is multichannel. If there are ways to potentially express both the inner and outer sensations of my dance style and movement and almost split the atoms of the physical sonic presence dancing in the octophonic space, it could reflect internal emotional and abstract physical states that occur with dance. My general takeaway is that my piece will focus largely on physical presence, the body, and deconstruction. I want to be able to align the development of my practice with the technical skills I have acquired through its evolution to explore these ideas.

While I have taken many of my pre-established skills and techniques into my work at school, I have tried to make much of it something that feels distinctly separate from my primary practice to expand creatively and get the most out of each assessment. However, the pressure brought on by my primary practice has begun to take a toll on me, and it is becoming more challenging to balance my schoolwork and satisfyingly work as an artist. I would like to use this spatialization assessment to bridge the gap between the two and create a model for expanding my art within the context of school in a manner that serves both environments. My initial idea is to somehow reflect my presence as a performer within the space of the octophonic ring without using my actual body. When hearing a lot of the multi-channel work, I felt that it included a lot of immersive sound with fluid spatial panning that was very subtle and delicate in nature. With my already somewhat brutal and chaotic sound design techniques and aggressive performance style, I would like to explore using spatial audio in a similarly violent and dynamic way. While I don’t have a full concept, imagining the sonic phenomena produced by using the system this way is very exciting, and if it can open up a possibility to merge my practice with this assessment, I feel I will be able to create something meaningful and compelling.