Granite - Ross Davidson (MA CompositionStudent)

Orange microcrush, Yamaha MSR250, microphone, laptop running Max/MSP/Jitter. 2018. 
Overflowing Room Tones is a work that can function as both a sound performance or installation. The piece is for multiple loudspeakers, a single microphone, and a room. 

Multiple acoustic feedback loops are set up in the room between a microphone and speaker outputs. The way each loop activates the properties of the room differs due to the size of the speaker and its relationship with the microphone and overall space. 

Each speaker plays all of the sound captured by the microphone and so plays back every feedback loop. While every sound produced ‘rings’ the room as it is a resonant frequency of the room, only particular sounds resonate powerfully for each speaker. 

Energy levels move from one feedback stream over into others as they gather momentum and volume before dropping off again.

Overflowing Room Tones - Rees Archibald (PhD candidate)

Twist And Turn - James Surgenor (PhD candidate

"Helen in Boston" (2018) by J Diaz. More sounds at" https://diazsounds.bandcamp.com/

Helen In Boston

Paternoster (2003) by Mark Horrocks

Sheffield 17 - Alejandro Albornoz (PhD candidate)

Con Sfiato - Lorenzo Prati (MA student)

Steel And Ivory - Chris Bevan (PhD candidate)

Escapade was composed using tiny fragments of sound. At the start of the piece, the individual fragments are not perceived. Instead, they are so densely packed that they (perceptually) fuse into much larger structures; one hears the source recordings, which are largely, but not entirely, orchestral. As the piece progresses, the individual fragments become increasingly prominent; they no longer fuse into larger structures and are subsequently perceived as discrete units or entities. In this respect, Escapade was inspired by pointillistic painting – a technique in which small, distinct points of colour are used to form a larger image. 

Escapade received First Prize in the Third International Competition of Electroacoustic Composition and Visual Music, Destellos Foundation, Argentina, 2010 and was a finalist Finalist in the VIII International Competition for Composers “Città di Udine”, Italy 2010. 

For more information, visit: www.adamstansbie.com 

Escapade - Adam Stansbie

Superstrings was recorded and composed entirely at The University of Sheffield in 1998/1999. It uses natural string sounds: those made from the piano and harpsichord, predominantly harmonics and gestures made by scraping the strings with the hands and other objects. There are also passages where these instruments perform in the manner in which they were originally conceived with single notes, clusters, strings of pseudo-random walks and harmonic passages being played either by hand or with the help of a MIDI Disklavier. Superstrings resides in a world of pitched and pulsed sections and drifts from the real into the unreal. The sectional nature of the work is highlighted by two similar but contrasting pulsed passages 'coloured' and articulated with other sounds. Repetition of other material leads to further understanding of the hierarchies of sound that made up the work.

Superstrings as a word relates to the scientific theory of matter. All matter is made up of superstrings that are multi-dimensional and wave-like in nature. Imagine a nebula where energy and matter collide in a sea of light and heat. The soundworld of Superstrings pulses with this raw energy. Superstrings was premiered at the SEAMUS conference 2000 at the University of North Texas in March 2000 and is available on SEAMUS CD 10

Superstrings - Adrian Moore (USSS Staff)

Praedormitium - Martin Curtis-Powell (PhD Composition Student)

Works from Sound Junction Live.
Rick Nance – Tearing up (2020, Stereo) – WP - (complete)
Julia Schauerman –  MetalWorks (14:17, 2020, stereo) – WP (complete)
Louise Rossiter – The Iris-Key (8:45, 2020, stereo) – WP (excerpt from opening: visit http://louiserossiter.com/ for more and purchase) 
Mario Cáceres – Muddle (9:44, 2020, stereo) – WP (complete)
Dale Jonathan Perkins & Michael Brown – Equipoise (parts 1- 3, 18:14, 2020, AudioVisual) – WP (excerpt sampler: visit https://dalejonathanperkins.bandcamp.com/ for more and purchase)

The Iris Key Opening Excerpt Louise Rossiter

Tearing Up Rick Nance

MetalWorks Julia Schauerman

Equipoise Excerpt Sampler Dale Perkins

USSS (University of Sheffield Sound Studios) is the centre for a diverse range of activity, including various flavours of electroacoustic composition, software and hardware development, audio-visual art and interactive instrumental work. USSS is committed to the performance of new music and theoretical research into the aesthetics and analysis of electroacoustic music. 

This site showcases the music of staff and students (from the MA Sonic Art and PhD in Electroacoustic Composition). 

Please contact either Adam Stanovic a.j.stanovic@sheffield.ac.uk or Adrian Moore a.j.moore@sheffield.ac.uk if you have any comments/questions about USSS.

USSS

Popular tracks