Back in 2005, composer Lewis Spratlan and I began work on an opera inspired by Louis Kahn. Kahn, who excelled in music and once considered becoming a composer, was especially cognizant of how sound works in a physical space. “Space has tonality,” he often said. Kallick, a professor of music at Amherst College, made recordings of the “acoustic envelope” at several Kahn buildings, which were employed in composing the work’s prelude and interludes.
Composer Jenny Kallick
Key elements from Spratlan’s music were integrated into this electro-acoustic music, creating a seamless connection between the narrative world of the characters and the sounding spaces that filled their dreams. Opening in the ruins of Rome and ending with the healing waters at Kahn’s Salk Institute, ARCHITECT: A Chamber Opera narrates the dramatic arc of Kahn’s journey from dreamer to master builder.
Click the link below to read about Spratlan discussing the project with Frederick Peters, board chairman of New Music USA, which supports composers, performers, and audiences of new American music. For the Silo, Jenny Kallick- Amherst College.
Zylia, the Poland-based manufacturer of audio recording technologies, will host a workshop on 3D/360 music production and sound design during GameSoundCon 2018, today and tomorrow at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Zylia co-founder and CTO Tomasz Żernicki will lead the workshop, focusing on the use of third-order Ambisonics spherical microphone arrays, such as that in the innovative new ZYLIA ZM-1, to capture a 3D full-sphere audio scene for gaming or ambient sound production.
“Use of a spherical microphone array to enable single-device capture of a full sound scene with high spatial resolution is a recent and significant advance in audio recording technology — and one that opens the door to 3D audio production opportunities for both professionals and amateurs,” said Żernicki. “We’re excited to be sharing this technology with GameSoundCon 2018 attendees and to be providing them with useful techniques for capturing 3D sound in Ambisonics format and for working with live sound in VR applications.”
During the Zylia GameSoundCon workshop, Żernicki will demonstrate how just one spherical microphone array can record an entire 3D sound scene and then separate the recording’s individual sound sources for multitrack editing in post production. The numerous physical microphone capsules within the spherical array effectively enable users to work with software-controlled virtual microphones with adjustable direction and spatial characteristics. By isolating particular sounds, cutting out interesting areas of the sound space, and zooming in on particular sound objects, this kind of sound representation allows for soundscape modification in post production and simplifies ambient or Foley sound preparation.
Żernicki will explain how sound recorded by third-order Ambisonics spherical microphone array can be converted into the Ambisonics format and used in 360-degree movies — particularly virtual reality content on Facebook 360, YouTube 360, or game engines — in which listeners can rotate the whole sound scene. He also will discuss usage of 360 sound with the combination of binaural or surround loudspeaker reproduction.
As an audio expert, Żernicki focuses his professional interest on 360/VR music production, spatial sound processing, and recording. He holds doctorates in electrical and electronic engineering, and he takes an active role in the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standardization committee. He also has made significant contributions to audio compression standards such as MPEG-D USAC and MPEG-H 3D Audio.
GameSoundCon is dedicated to game music, sound design, and virtual reality audio. Throughout the conference, Żernicki and other Zylia experts will be on hand to discuss 3D/360 sound applications, as well as the company’s ZYLIA ZM-1 spherical microphone array, ZYLIA Studio PRO VST/AU plugin, and ZYLIA Ambisonics Converter.
