Stereo Reduction 

A Day of A Life is a sonic project done point source in 5 channels. It explores the acoustic environment through the transformation of acoustic events recorded using the Doepfer A-100 Series analog modules. Through careful editing, recording, and manipulation of the material, the artist can recreate what he envisions as the passing of the average life of a Canadian in Montreal since the COVID-19 Pandemic. It explores extremes of pitch and tempo to capture the quick digestion of media and instability of the artist’s state of mind. The project is presented in an mp3 stereo format as well as accompanied by supporting documentation, patch diagrams and sonographs.

A Day of A Life is an exploration of a day in the post-modern life. Beginning at the moment before awakening, the piece moves rapidly from sleep, wakefulness, to over sensitized materials of animal noise and sonic events. The piece calms down again before a slow melodic build-up which climatizes with a chaotic array of sounds in multiple locations. It is meant as a recording of the artist’s state of mind since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a daily process of gluttonous consumption of media and information, until the brain fizzles out in a mess.

205C3 - A Day In A Life.mp3

Hu (ḥw), in ancient Egypt, was the deification of the first word, the word of creation, that Atum was said to have exclaimed upon ejaculating or, alternatively, his circumcision, in his masturbatory act of creating the Ennead

Hu is a composition which addresses the Anthropocene and man’s role of transforming the world through mythological associations. Using modular synthesis, field recordings from the BBC archive, and the composer’s own voice, the artist attempts to address the decay of natural life to the transformation of a mechanical reality by associations. Splicing together tiny fragments pulled from field recordings of animals, utterances of the artist’s own voice and samples of modular synthesis, the artist creates a chimera which is neither fully beast nor fully machine. What results from these unholy experiments is a new language which attempts to provide a mythological foundation for the creature which now dominates the Anthropocene, something all too human. This short sonic art piece is an attempt at providing the mythology of modern man.

Hu is an auditory frame tale composed through various techniques of synthesising the human voice (syllables recorded by the artist) with animal recordings (taken from the BBC archive) and modular synths (designed on the Doepfer A-100 series). The artist creates a new language which provides the mythological foundations of modern man. The piece is structured in three parts:

 1) Biomimicry (0:00-1:00) is a call and response between animal recordings and their replicas designed with modular synthesis. Through spectral analysis of the sonic qualia of the animal recordings, the artist was able to create patches using modular synthesis, then use Ableton/Audacity to create waveshapes which resemble the organic recordings. 

2) Fusion (1:00-2:00) is realized by fusing together the three source materials through the methods of splicing (granular synthesis), recording and overlaying (additive synthesis), and time-based manipulations (based on Stockhausen’s unified time structuring). The first method works on the micro-time scale, using grains of sonic samples and splicing them together. The second method involves multitrack recording and additive synthesis to combine several samples into one audio file. The third method involves rhythmic composition of sound samples which are then sped up to create frequencies. 

3) Soundscape (2:00-3:00) takes the previous two sections as its source material to compose an anthropomorphised soundscape of the hybrid voices. The artist attempts to create an anti-soundscape where previously composed material is used as the source material to explore an ecological disequilibrium through the creation of new hybrid voices. 

The result is a frame tale of mythological associations, where sounds are understood not as a linear progression but in relation to one another. The voices which emerge from the piece express the Age of the Anthropocene.

205C4 - hu

*Composed while studying acoustic ecology and granular synthesis under Barry Truax in the summer of 2021*

Nucleosynthesis is the cosmic formation of atoms more complex than hydrogen. This piece is an acousmatic composition which explores this theory on the micro level of granular synthesis, where sound events undergo fission or fusion to create new sonic materials. On the macro level these new sound events are affected by multilayering, convolution reverb, and resonance, creating new sonic particles which then undergo similar processes. The result is a cerebral and ethereal exploration of sounds forged in cataclysmic events, imaging the composition of new elements on the microlevel, and the formation of suns such as neuron stars, white dwarfs, and super novae on the macrolevel.  The tapestry of our universe is woven across the dimensions of space and time and complexity, and the piece attempts to undertake these dimensions acoustically, by exploring the sonic space through panning, intense pitch and time changes to manipulate frequencies, and different timbres and complexities of dynamic behavior.

Breakdown of Sectiosn
0:00-2:05	Higgs Boson	Section begins with the firing of a proton in the Hydron Collider, discovering the Higgs Field. Usage of panning (surround panner) to make the sound swirl around the listener. Development of higher and lower frequencies to create tension. Ring modulation applied to the master channel to cause the frequencies to rise then lower again. Low and high pass filters as well as reverbs are used, ending the section with a large explosion. 	Establishment of the Higgs field in which mass can exist and where time can operate

2:05-3:30	White Dwarf	Section opens onto an enriched pad created from granular synthesis, enriched by the Tree Tone resonator plugin. The development of a randomized arpeggiator using the Bouncy Notes plugin, with some remnants of the Hydron Collider still audible in the higher range frequencies. 	A stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. An immensely dense star state.

3:30-5:15	Neutron Star	Mainly composed through various separate granulated samples, which were record then combined. This sample was then run through the vector grain, which shot out particle samples at a predetermined pace, speeding up and slowing down all over the spectrum of the sound. It ends highly convoluted with a lot of echo and high-pass filtering	Created in the final collapse of a very massive stellar core after it has exhausted all possible fusion fuel supplies. Protons and neutrons are fused together, hitting an absolute limit of density. 

5:15-8:00	Supernova	The section opens onto an ambient scene as if a star has just exploded into space. The ambience is created through several different granular synths auto convolved with each other, creating one lush and dynamically enriched sample. The Hydron sample is reintroduced as well as other elements from the previous three sections. It ends with two ring modulators on the master channel, one causing the frequencies to rise while the other causes them to lower. They meet at a point of 256Hz (the key to the track), whence the whole track is heard again at 16 times the pace and reversed. An explosion ends the track. 	Occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion, creating a luminous stellar explosion.

205C5 - Nucleosynthesis

305C1 (stereo reduction) is an etude composed in the fall of 2021 by electroacoustic composer Michael Zajner. It was designed as a study of the compositional methods of those artists who influenced him at the time, such as Alva Noto, Iannis Xenakis, William Basinski, and many more. The piece is a 5.1 acousmatic composition which explores the ranges of dynamics, spectrum, and spatial organization through contraction, continuation, and expansion. 

The piece was composed with (semi)modular analog synthesis (Doepfer A-100 series, Moog Grandmother and Mother 32) and sonic events were enhanced with virtual VST effects from Ableton Live. Relying heavily on granular synthesis, the artist heavily saturates the sound with convolution reverbs and resonators to enhance and expand the spectromorphology of the sound events. 

Written in 5 sections, the piece consistently moves from gesture-focused to texture-carried. The artist accomplishes this by constantly changing from compressed to transparent spectral density, shifting sounds from foreground to background, enhancing sonic materials with dramatic changes in dynamic energy throughout. By manipulating the parameters of sound events in terms of their spatialization, spectromorphology, and dynamic register, the artist undertakes to explore the sonic potentials latent in raw, modular, analog sound sources.

1.	Intro (0:00-0:19)
2.	Glitch (0:20-1:15)
3.	Ambience (1:16-2:12)
4.	Elaboration (2:12-2:45)
5.	Conclusion (2:45-3:05)

305C1 - Etude

305C2 is etude (stereo reduction) composed in the fall and winter of 2021 by electroacoustic composer Michael Zajner. It was designed as a study of the compositional methods of those artists who influenced him at the time, such as Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp) and Iannis Xenakis, and the Northern Lights Chord. The piece is a 5.1 acousmatic composition which explores the ranges of dynamics, spectrum, and spatial organization through contraction, continuation, and expansion. It experiments with the sonic concepts introduced by Denis Smalley’s spectromorphology analysis and Iannis Xenakis conception of sound mass.

The piece was composed entirely with virtual studio technology (VST) and effects from Ableton Live. The piece explores an internal relationship of notes based on glissandi and arpeggiators, shifting from mass sonic events to melancholic whole tones. The artist saturates the sound with convolution reverbs and resonators to enhance and expand the spectromorphology of the sonic events.

The initial draft exists in 4 sections, as the piece consistently moves from gesture-focused to texture-carried. The artist accomplishes this by constantly changing from compressed to transparent spectral density, shifting sounds from foreground to background, enhancing sonic materials with dramatic changes in dynamic energy throughout. By manipulating the parameters of sonic events in terms of their spatialization, spectromorphology, and dynamic register, the artist undertakes to explore the sonic potentials of acousmatic composition, bringing them into the realm of pop-music.

1. Introduction (0:00-1:25)
2. Elaboration (1:25-3:20)
3. Ending (3:20-4:20)
4. Encore (4:20-5:20)

305C2 - Etude

Theater of Madness is an acousmatic composition which explores the multiplicity of being through auditory allusions. Inspired by the section Theater for Madmen Only in Herman Hesse’s 1927 novel Steppenwolf, the artists Michael Zajner and Debbie Sleiman have attempted to create a partial, non-literal auditory adaptation of Hesse’s work. A fantastical auditory journey created from resampled, granulated, and spatialized material, the piece follows the protagonist Harry Haller as he experiences a schismogenesis; a breaking apart of his identity into multiple ‘selves’, followed by the rebirth of his soul.

Theater of Madness is a 5.1 acousmatic composition of about 4 minutes in length. It is an auditory narrative and a loose adaptation of Harry Haller’s experiences in the Magic Theater from Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf.  Told from multiple perspectives, the audience is asked to "leave your highly esteemed personality in the cloakroom"  as they embark on a fantastical acoustic journey. The artists Debbie Doe and Michael Zajner capture a surreal atmosphere through a series of acoustic effects which include spatialization, granular synthesis, and modular resampling.

The vocal utterances of Harry (performed by Fadi Malo) are exposed to the several ages and multiplicities of his being in a variety of surreal and existentialist scenarios. As Harry moves from gallery to gallery in the theater, the spatialization and granulation of the sonic materials are deconstructed, and the audience watches as Harry attempts to piece them back together.

Theater of Madness asks the viewer to join Harry, then become him. The viewer shifts from witnessing the events to hearing the stories unfold from the character's own point of view. The theater, using multichannel spatialization, becomes deconstructed, reassembled, and absorbed into the protagonist. The acoustic spaces reflect a mystical ambiance, the tragedy of rebirth is captured through the protagonist's metamorphosis.

Each sonic detail of the fixed media is created to form a coherent setting for the galleries which Harry visits, while the transformational continuity occurs through his schismogenesis. The real-time resampling through Debbie Sleiman’s modular system, with Michael Zajner’s live granular synthesis reproductions, create new copies of the sonic materials, the pieces of which form the multiple souls of Harry’s being.

305C4 - Theatre of Madness - Part 1

*Stereo reduction of 8-channel generative composition, a sample of 3 minutes and 3 seconds is shown here*

The piece I present, a generative multichannel composition, is  a proof-of-concept designed in vertical time and in generative form. In this piece, there is meant to be a complete and indefinite stasis of time that is captured in a completely contrasting method, by having the piece continuously evolving and metamorphizing. This is accomplished through the generative form with a focus on microsounds, sound objects, and a lack of sections. Indeed, it would be quite impossible to identify any specific section in the piece; instead the focus is on the structure which formulates it. Because the piece is generative and the changes happen in small degrees over long times on the micro level, it may appear as though the piece is never changing. Yet if played for hours on end, it would be statistically improbable that the listener would ever hear an exact repetition of what was heard before. 

I developed this piece from a previous etude, specifically from  300C2 - Etude - Segregation, whereby the track moves from a fused state to a segregated one. It involves 5 marimbas playing different melodies. - The melodies are constructed in a way which allow them to initially crossover each other in both X and V shaped ways. Eventually, they are segregated by pitch (per octave and detune) and through timbral quality. The separate melodies become more distinct as the octave range expands. Furthermore, they separate when the timbral qualities of the instruments change towards the end (40s-55s)
I used this etude as a jumping off point and it is indeed very difficult to tell Generative Experiments 300 is based on the same piece. I changed some of the marimba instruments to synthesizers (VSTs), reduced the tempo to 1/10th the original, then used a series of arpeggiators, echo delays and LFOs to change triggering and modulation functions. The whole essence of the Assignment 2, Segregation is lost in the Generative Experiments 300 etude as both the goal directed linear time is disassembled and the symmetrical form is used as a trigger rather than tonally.

300C6 is meant to be understood from its outside time, as the musical materials are organized independently of their temporal succession within the work. This can be thought of as evaluating the system (the parametric changes or series of algorithms) which produce the sonic events as being responsible for shaping the relationships that are formed. The rhythmical form is constantly changing thus propelling time infinitely along in an unstable fashion, with no directed goal.

This is further accentuated by the multichannel nature of the piece. Time and space are the same fundamental apperception (according to philosophers such as Kant) or phenomena (according to physicists such as Einstein), and I have tried to deal with them as such in this Etude. I attempted to use a slow, continuous motion of the melodies as they either spun in a circle around the listener or created an 8-shape motion through the sonic space. Both act at very slow paces and are thus imperceptible, but with focused listening for several minutes one may be able to detect this motion. It is this focus mindset, the deep listening, which this piece tries to evoke and what formulates the perception of time and the form of the piece

Michael DeZajner