web audio
Web Audio Project
The starting point of this project was the wish to present music online in a way that actually fits the digital medium, rather than compromising established forms of music making. We have been looking for creative and uncompromising ways to deal with new technologies, where musicians are not reduced to digital avatars on the internet and digital technologies are not used to simulate the complexity of human culture.
Project Participants
Hilary Jeffery
trombone, sound engineer, project leader
Elena Kakaliagou
french horn
Robin Hayward
microtonal tuba, composer
Zinc & Copper regularly collaborate with guest musicians. For this project we expanded the ensemble to a quintet with two guests, working exclusively in the digital space:
Benjamin Jefferys
software engineer, musician
Duane Pitre
composer, web designer
Works
The original project focused on creating a new generative version of the composition "Pons" by Duane Pitre using the latest web audio technology. As the project progressed, we discovered many possibilities offered by this new medium, so we decided to record a second composition based on a piece from our repertoire - "Words of Paradise" by Robin Hayward. The two works/websites created as part of the project are:
Duane Pitre
"Pons - Generative Version" (2021)
Robin Hayward
"From Words of Paradise" (2021)
Project Goals
The main aim of this project was to create a generative-algorithmic version of Duane Pitre's composition "Pons" (2021) in the form of an online web audio app.
Other important goals and activities that we pursued durng the project were:
- to investigate creative solutions for the presentation of music on the internet, adapted to the digital environment
- creation of new ways to present music online
- innovative use of the latest web audio technology
- exploration of algorithmic composition and generative music
- studio-based ensemble work
- learning about web design and how to present our work online
- practical exploration into the effective use of social media
Social Media
In addition to recording sessions, composition work, software engineering and website creation, we also explored and discussed how to effectively work with and navigate the complex world of social media, websites and other forms of online publishing as creative musicians. To really engage and work in this medium, one inevitably has to become somewhat 'tech-savvy', to understand the technology being used and to dicsover one's own methods for using it. Since November, information about this project has been posted on various social media channels, from mainstream channels to lesser known paths.
Studio Photos
Results
This project has opened up a new field of activity for presenting music online in a unique way - a new model for online presentations of music that builds new bridges between the "virtual" and the "real" world. Each medium effectively uses its own strengths, without compromise. The musicians have not been reduced to digital avatars on a screen, and digital technologies have not been used to simulate the complexity of the human world. This project is a pilot for future work in this field by Berlintune Studio.
Berlintune Studio
In parallel to this project Hilary Jeffery has founded a new studio called "Berlintune" set-up for: music production and education, web design, online music publishing and distribution. The recording sessions took place in this studio and as the project progressed it became clear that the results should be presented as a production of Berlintune Studio.
Credits
This project was supported by a Musikfonds FEB Stipendium
Thanks to all involved!
texts - thoughts - ideas
Robin Hayward
Labyrinths Online
The tuba looks a bit like a labyrinth, and I have sometimes felt trapped in a labyrinth while playing it. In retrospect I can see most of my inventions - the noise-valve, microtonal tuba, and Hayward Tuning Vine - as being attempts to trace paths through and find orientation within this labyrinth.
The internet is also a sort of labyrinth, each of us tracing paths when we upload or following ready-made paths as we navigate through it. Paths connect points with each other, yet on the internet the feeling of connection often feels illusory. The sense of isolation only increases as we discover how we are secretly tracked by surveillance systems, encouraging search engines to manipulate us into following only those paths that confirm those we have already taken. And much of what we upload and find online are mere echoes of our activities, shadows that we can so easily mistake for reality itself.
Hilary’s idea of uploading a project dealing directly with the medium of the internet therefore had great appeal to me. ‘From Words of Paradise’ seems an appropriate contribution to this project, inhabiting as it does an ambiguous space between language and music, linguistics and poetry. The hocketing single-syllable words may be heard as a failed attempt to communicate, and the internet itself seen as an apple in Paradise, continually thwarting the promise of interconnectedness that the new technology at first seemed to offer.
Hilary Jeffery
Generative music
Brian Eno defined generative music as "any music that is constantly changing and generated by a system". This algorithmic approach lends itself well to the online presentation of music and differs to typical consumer-based services that mostly play pre-recorded sound files, often in curated streams. We explored ways of presenting music online that are more playful and suitable for browsing through multiple pieces of online content. There are obvious links to Eric Satie's 'furniture music', to the aleatoric approaches of John Cage and to the ambient music genre in general. This approach also sheds light on current listening habits. How often does someone really sit down and listen to music while doing nothing else? There is great value in taking the time and space to do this, but at the same time there is equal value in allowing for some less focused/more drifting modalities. As I write this text I am listening to the latest iteration of our prototype web audio site, featuring music by Duane Pitre. I find it helps me to concentrate on writing while keeping other parts of my mind engaged, making it a liberating and very musical experience!
Brian Eno + Generative Music
inmotionmagazine.com
algorithmic composition
ccrma.stanford.edu
Benjamin Jefferys
Web Audio
Web Audio and Javascript offer powerful tools for interactive audio online. Recent developments such as WebAssembly brings the power of desktop DSP to the web, allowing applications to function in the browser. While conventional streaming struggles to emulate the live music experience, using these new techniques truly play to the strengths of the medium. While conventional streaming struggles to simulate the live music experience, the use of these new techniques brings the strengths of the medium to the fore.
a demonstration of the Web Audio API
Duane Pitre
Composing for Berlintunes
I started working with generative systems in 2010 and since then they have been very important to my work. Having the chance to create a new work within the Berlintunes framework, and aid in its early development, has been a rewarding experience. And that I can create a piece, publish it, and seconds later somebody halfway across the world can experience your creation.