TANYA ST-PIERRE & PHILIPPE-AUBERT GAUTHIER
"MOTIFS ET MOIRÉS"
Sound Installation and Live Performance
2012 - 2013
Philippe-Aubert Gauthier
"Motifs et moirés" is a sound installation inspired by a malfunctioning realization of digital loudspeaker array (DLA) technology. The initial idea stems from various themes: spatial sound pattern, spatial sound fragmentation, privatized sound, acoustic arenas and acoustic communities. For DLA technology, each loudspeaker broadcasts one of the bits from a binary representation of sound signal. Here, a voice is transformed in 6-bit digital representation and each loudspeaker presents one of the bits. The playback alternates between the original voice recording and the DLA realization where digital bits create a spatial pattern. The farthest loudspeaker radiates the original voice recording of the "SpeechDat" database while being interrupted by digital sparks of noise from the other loudspeakers. Depending on listener position, the noise fills in the silence and, as a consequence of psycho-acoustic masking, reveals, in the listener brain, part of missing voice message. As a continuation of previous work, this is a play with idea of spatial sound fragmentation using array technology. Residency at OBORO, Montréal, Canada, 2012.
On April 26th 2013, the first night of "Exceptions" curated by Eric Mattson was presented at La Sala Rossa in Montreal. Philippe-Aubert Gauthier played after Alexandre St-Onge and Raymond Gervais. It was based on a live experiment with his sound installation "Motifs et moirés'' that relies on digital loudspeakers and spatially-dependent psycho-acoustics masking. Listeners must move around the loudspeakers to hear the missing voice.
Thanks to Eric Mattson, Christian Lapointe, Alexandre St-Onge, Raymond Gervais, La Sala Rossa, Tanya St-Pierre, and OBORO. This piece was supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Video documentation: