I've been messing around with some crushing/downsampling techniques - this is a raw example. Starts with 2-bit/500Hz, ends up 8-bit/500kHz..

Bit-O-Noise

An exploration into the addition of rhythms, creating textures and varying densities

Density

My MA portfolio of composition

MA Sonic Arts, The University of Sheffield

flux

shift

invia

Part of your five-a-day, and a bass trombone.
This piece is inspired by some of the foley practices in sound design for films, 
in particular a fixation with fruit and vegetables. Taking the results of these physical practices and exploring them using algorithmic and live-coding techniques exposed a delicate, highly detailed and beautiful soundworld that needed to be investigated further. The piece ebbs and flows from streams of sound that explore both the resultant noise-pitch continuum, and the changeable nature of the source materials.

Premiered at Sound Junction Satellite, DINA Venue (Sheffield), October 2016.

Twist and Turn​ was awarded first prize at Musica Nova 2016, Category A (Autonomous Electroacoustic Music).

Twist and Turn

Inspired by George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree
(Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four)

Premiered at Sound Junction, Firth Hall (Sheffield), 3 November 2017.

Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree

Ex nihilo. Out of nothing. For me, one instrument embodies this idea. The instrument that I have played for the majority of my life but that has been sitting in the corner of a room for far too long. From silence, through breath, to pitch - ​Something from Nothing​ explores the relationships between my experiences as an improviser and an electroacoustic composer.

Premiered at Sound Junction, Firth Hall (Sheffield), 26 April 2019.

Something from Nothing

Terra Forma investigates the connections between an area’s past, present and future. It was created as part of a project based around Kelham Island, Steal: Away: Home, where a group of composers working in Sheffield wrote pieces exploring the transformations of space and place. In much the same way as we might imagine the transformation of the spaces of heavy industry, such as Brooklyn Works becoming residential accommodation, the composers transformed the sounds of Kelham Island, giving them a new home.

Terra Forma explores the use of wavetable synthesis - taking the sounds of the River Don Engine and using them to create a sonic terrain. The piece ebbs and flows naturally from within this terrain; taking a part of an area’s industrial history, and morphing it through the lens of current trends and technologies.

Premiered at Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield, 17 July 2019

Terra Forma

Completed in May 2013, Pa55word explores rhythms of my everyday tasks (mainly typing at a computer) which are gradually emphasised and extracted over the course of the piece.

Pa55word

Northern Irish electroacoustic composer, currently based in Sheffield.

James Surgenor

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