Aaron Einbond - Corpus-Based Spatial Sound Synthesis on the IKO Compact Spherical Loudspeaker Array
Abstract :
How can rich spatial data from acoustic instruments be applied to situate synthesized sound spatially with dynamic three-dimensional forms? How can machine learning be used to re-embody the spatial presence of live instruments and performers virtually? Using the IKO compact spherical loudspeaker array we demonstrate an approach to corpus-based synthesis (CBS) leveraging natural acoustic data from two sources: a database of 3D instrumental radiation patterns measured at Technische Universität Berlin, and 3D recordings made with mh acoustics’ Eigenmike 32-channel microphone array. We build on the composition and research project Cosmologies for piano and 3D electronics, which in 2020 was the first to connect approaches to audio descriptor analysis and CBS with machine learning (ML) and sound spatialization using higher-order ambisonics (HOA). While Cosmologies was diffused through an ambisonic loudspeaker dome, with its restricted sweet spot and complex installation, we now turn the situation “inside-out” by using the IKO situated in the midst of the performance space. Extending the software tools developed for Cosmologies with IRCAM packages Spat5, MuBu for Max, and CataRT, we develop an ML algorithm based on the cross-correlation of HOA models applied to novel samples in response to their audio descriptors. A further ML approach to computer improvisation organizes the resulting spatial synthesis temporally according to an Audio Oracle model. We share our work-in-progress through a presentation and live demo with the IKO.
Bio :
Aaron Einbond’s work explores the intersection of instrumental music, field recording, sound installation, and interactive technology. Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente released his portrait album Without Words on Carrier Records and he collaborated with Yarn/Wire and Matilde Meireles on the album Cities released on multi.modal. Alvise Sinivia premiered Cosmologies for piano and three-dimensional electronics produced by IRCAM at Centre Georges Pompidou, SWR Experimentalstudio produced Cartographies for piano with two performers and electronics for the Kubus at ZKM in Karlsruhe, and the Académie du Festival d’Aix and Opera Lab Berlin co-produced his site-specific ambient chamber opera Hidden in Plain Sight in the streets of Aix-en-Provence. Other recent projects include collaborations with the Riot Ensemble, soundinitiative, Lucilin, loadbang, Samuel Stoll, and Marco Fusi. He teaches at City, University of London and is Co-Artistic Director of Qubit New Music in New York. He has received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a Giga-Hertz Förderpreis, and Artistic Research Residencies at Ircam and ZKM. He has taught at Columbia University, the University of Huddersfield, and Harvard University and studied at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, the University of California Berkeley, and IRCAM with teachers including Mario Davidovsky, Julian Anderson, Edmund Campion, and Philippe Leroux.
