Space Base: A Database for Spatial Music Recordings
Friedemann Sallis
Division of Music
School of Creative and Performing Arts
Jeffrey E. Boyd
Department of Computer Science
University of Calgary
Introduction
Contemporary music composers and performers are constantly seeking to
expand the creative affordances available to them by incorporating new
electronic technologies into their work. Among these technologies,
multi-channel audio systems present opportunities for spatialized
sound in which composers create two- or three-dimensional sound fields
that are a salient element of their music.
Beam forming, ambisonics, and wave-field synthesis are
among the techniques used to create and manipulate a sound field.
At the time writing, we are seeing a rapid expansion of spatial techniques
used in music. Nevertheless, the resources to capture and analyze this music
remain expensive and out of reach to many that are interested.
This document describes Space Base, a database
for spatial music recordings at the University of Calgary.
The goal of the repository is to give researchers
in music, musicology, science, and engineering access to high-quality
recordings of spatial music, in a format that facilitates the spatial
analysis of the music. Space Base also serves to
maintain the cultural capital inherent in the recordings.
While the initial contributions to the repository
use ambisonic technology (see Section on Initial Content),
the repository is open to recordings that use other methods to record
a sound field. The authors and creators of the repository recognize
that the recording techniques and data formats are evolving and that
the repository must keep pace with that evolution. Given this evolutionary
state of the art, users of Space Base require expertise in
spatialized sound to use the recordings.
The following describes recommended usage of the repository and
the initial contributions.
Usage and Citation
Copyright
The contributors of data to the repository control the copyright of
their contributed material. While the copyrights on the individual
contributions may vary, the content may be used for personal
and academic purposes only. For other uses, including commercial use,
users of the repository must seek the permission of the copyright holder.
How to Obtain Recordings from the Repository
At the time of writing, Space Base is hosted on the
NextCloud storage
server of the Department of Computer Science at the University of
Calgary. Space Base resides within the
the collection of one of the authors (Boyd), and is not normally visible
to the public. The procedure to obtain recordings from Space Base
follow these steps.
- Contact Dr. Jeffrey E. Boyd to request access to Space Base. The request should indicate who you are, and how you intend to use the recordings so that we can be sure usage will fall within the copyright holders' wishes.
- Dr. Boyd will respond with email containing a link to the relevant part of Space Base.
- Using the web browser of your choice, follow the provided link and download the relevant files.
The link will be active for a limited period of time. If the link expires
before you have completed your downloads, contact Dr. Boyd for a new link.
How to Contribute to the Repository
Other researchers may contribute to Space Base. To do this,
contact Dr. Boyd. Include a
description of what you wish to contribute. If the contribution is
appropriate for Space Base, Dr. Boyd will arrange for the transfer
of the data to the University of Calgary NextCloud servers.
How to Cite the Repository
Researchers who use the repository and publish their results should
cite this web page.
In addition, they should cite the individual works that they use from the repository.
Initial Content
Luigi Nono, A Pierre, dell'azzurro silenzio, inquietum for contrabass flute, contrabass clarinet and live electronics (1985).
Performed by Marieke Franssen (contrabass flute), Carlos Noain Maura (contrabass clarinet), and Juan Parra Cancino (live electronics), at the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada, February 2009.
This contribution was the subject of research
conducted by Zattra et al. (2011) and details may be found
in their published work. The spatial recording was done with a Soundfield MKV
first-order ambisonic microphone. Notably, this contribution also contains
recordings from various points in the electronic apparatus used in the
performance in addition to the ambisonic microphone.
Keith Hammel, Touch for piano and interactive electronics (2012).
Performed by Megumi Masaki (piano) and Keith Hammel (live electronics), at the Rosza Centre, Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, and the National Music Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, December 2017.
These recordings are the subject of research conducted by Sallis and Boyd. They
feature recordings at two separate venues:
- the Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall (a 384-seat music hall on the University of Calgary Campus), and
- the National Music Centre in downtown Calgary.
The recordings from these venues provide a juxtaposition of two performance
venues of different size and acoustic characteristics.
The recordings used an MH Acoustics em32, 32-element microphone array on
an 84mm sphere.
Hans Tutschku, Zellen-Linien for piano and live electronics (2007).
Performed by Xenia Pestova (piano) and Hans Tutschku (live electronics), at the Rosza Centre, Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, May 2018.
As with the previous contribution, these recordings are the subject
of research conducted by the authors, and use the MH Acoustics em32
microphone.
Conclusion
The authors hope that the Space Base repository will become a valued resource
for researchers in a variety of fields and encourage those with the appropriate
resources to contribute.
Acknowledgements
The authors also wish to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council (SSHRC) of Canada for supporting the research that lead to the creation
of the repository.
References
Laura Zattra, Ian Burleigh and Friedemann Sallis (2011), Studying Luigi Nono’s A Pierre. Dell’azzurro silenzio, inquietum (1985) as a performance event, Contemporary Music Review, Vol 30, No 5, p 411-439.