Selected Electroacoustic Works
This page contains a curated selection of electroacoustic pieces composed and performed in recent years. These diverse works, many of which utilize the Kyma system from Symbolic Sound for realtime sonic transformation, with several of the compositions then assembled for multichannel ambisonic playback (Higher Order Ambisonics) combine acoustic instruments and live or triggered electronic elements.
Excerpts of Surface Texture, performed by Professor Thomas Landschoot (Cello) with the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble
Glistening Edge was composed for Simone Mancuso and is for piccolo snare and bass drum and live processing in Kyma. It was premiered at the Prisms Contemporary Music Festival at ASU.
Resonant Textures was composed for resonating cymbals (played from a Max Patch, resonating the cymbals at specific resonant frequencies of the cymbal) and vibraphone, performed with soft mallets so that the attack is hardly heard.
Sonic Ecosystems by Garth Paine is for Cello, Percussion, and audience cellphones. Performers include Michael Compitello (Percussion), Hannah Collins (Cello), and Garth Paine on Electronics. The cellphone system, created at IRCAM, lets the performer trigger sounds, granulate sound, and spatialize it across all phones. Garth Paine performs the phone elements live.
Soft Steps is a journey through dusty memories, exploring fleeting experiences and forgotten photos that evoke joy, wonder, sadness, and excitement. It reflects on being in space, blending sound to create an auditory film that starts with an old projector's noise and ends in silence. Combining identifiable sounds like pigeons with human voices and abstract textures, it centers around a simple piano melody. Composed in 2008 as a 5.1 surround sound piece it was later remixed for high order ambisonic performance.
Fue Sho was commissioned for the 2008 Aurora Festival in Sydney, Australia. It utilizes the Japanese Gagaku tradition, particularly the Manzairaku, known for its rich timbral qualities and complex yet simple tones, merging ancient and post-modern music. Written for flute (Fue) and live electronic processing (in Kyma), Fue Sho uses a specific scale as its harmonic foundation, revealing nuanced multiphonic progressions for Concert flute (in C) and live electronics, designed for surround spatialization.
Electroacoustic manipulation of live Tibeten Singing Bowls and small hand bells. I wrote the software in Kyma and use sensors to tell Kyma when to listen to the Bowls - what it does then is slightly random, so it becomes a kind of improvisational ensemble between me and the computer.
This is a recording of the San Diego New Music Ensemble performing the world premier of new work No Stone Unturned on November 15, 2016 in the Experimental Theatre space at UCSD