Guest lecture: Nils Peters (McGill): Spatial Audio
On the Development of an Auditory Virtual Environment for Musical Applications
In the last few decades, the development of audio reproduction and spatialization techniques greatly benefits from composers whose pioneering work still inspires researchers to refine spatial audio systems (e.g. Stockhausen, Chowning, Boulez). However, novel spatialization tools developed by engineers and researchers hardly find their way from the developers' labs into the composition studios. To make future developments more applicable, researchers have to understand this current lack of coherence between development and artistic use.
In this talk, first, results of a quantitative study are presented and shows how composers use spatialization, what spatial aspects are essential and what functionalities spatial audio systems should strive to include or improve. Secondly, ViMiC (Virtual Microphone Control), a novel spatial rendering software is presented. ViMiC provides a computer-generated virtual environment for the purpose of creating spatial sounds scenes. Apart from positioning sound sources, other spatial aspects, such as source width, distance, and room impression, can be created in real-time, particularly for concert situations and site-specific immersive installations.
Time and place: – ,
fourMs
BIO
Nils Peters is a PhD Researcher in Music Technology at McGill University and affiliated with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) in Montreal, Canada. His work focuses on the perception and modeling of spatialized sounds. He studied electrical and audio engineering at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts and the University of Technology (Graz, Austria). He has worked as an audio engineer in the fields of recording, post-production and live electronics in Germany, Austria, France and Canada. He is also a co-developer of Jamoma, an open-source project that facilitates art-based research and performance practice within Cycling’74’s Max5.