Performers-in-Residence Update – Nov 6

A few days ago, Sebastien asked whether it would be possible to trigger voices instead of sounds through the system that places sound possibilities in space, so we decided to do an experiment to see how that might feel and what creative possibilities that might open up.

First we sat down and came up with a range of words and phrases that were somewhat ambiguous. and could be presented in different orders. Then Sebastien and Maev recorded these phrases, doing multiple versions of each with different expression.

Then, each utterance was converted into a sound file and loaded into the sample player.

We then created a space of triggers in space using voxel-tracking software and the Azure Kinect. The Azure Kinect produces an image that tells us how far away each part of the image is. This allows us to construct a 3 dimensional sense of whatever is in the frame. In this example, the triggers are arrayed within a 2 meter x 2 meter x 2 meter cube of space in the middle of the performance space. The most occupied of the voxels trigger sounds.

The sounds cannot be retriggered for 3 seconds to prevent complete overwhelm, but this also sets up a kind of varying loop of vocal fragments.

Here Sebastien and Maev explore this space and turn it into a sort of ‘breakdown of a marriage’ ballet. All of the voices you here are triggered, rather than spoken by the performers.

Kudos to the performers who did an amazing job on what was a very VERY rough technical sketch. Based on this experience, we can now think more about what kinds of words and phrases work best, how best to locate them in space, trigger them, and then how to perform within and around the space.

To Be Continued…