Background

The Panspermia Hypothesis proposes that life on earth may have come from bacteria distributed through interstellar space. In the early 2000s I found it a fitting metaphor for a performance/installation project I conceived of. I would beam the sounds of my Endangered Guitar performance through a radio transmitter to various radios in the space, all set to the same frequency.

It would have been the same sound; however, large radios would provide the lower end of the spectrum, smaller radios the higher parts. The audience would carry around hand-held radios to project sounds in different directions, making it a moving loudspeaker orchestra.

Audio Orchestrator

Using BBC R&D’s Audio Orchestrator, one can make this today into a multichannel performance over the internet. Each voice is different and plays through its own device: desktop or laptop computer, smartphone, or tablet.

One can experience the works on this site at home as a spatialized environment. So far, I have rearranged pieces for the Audio Orchestrator, created entirely new works, and used it in educational settings (not every college gives you a mutlichannel sound system). So far my works use between 3 and 16 voices, but as the voices are repeated over numerous devices, each piece can be performed with as many players as the internet allows.

Loudspeaker Orchestra vs. Sound Objects

For many of the works the speaker's position is indicated at the bottom (e.g. Front Left, Front Right, Rear Right, Rear Left), so you could place the devices accordingly. That said, most works follow the loudspeaker orchestra idea, in that sounds reside in just one device and are not panning between speakers. In that case, it does not matter where your device is situated.

However, I had good results with the sound object concept, too. If one wants to have sounds moving between speakers, one would need to hear all channels at precisely the right position. For the works on this site I focused less on immersive environments (such as ambisonics), but single sound objects moving between individual speakers. It still worked nicely using the Audio Orchestrator. Examples: Between the Earth and Sky, Conflict of Interest and the Hendrix Hotel.

Link to the Audio Orchestrator is here, the tool was developed by the BBC Research & Development Audio Team. Check out the other tools on Connected Studio MakerBox. There’s a list of pilot productions on the BBC Taster and on GitHub. For more discussions about the Audio Orchestrator see their forums.