Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Kristina Wolfe discusses Virtual Reality and Archaeoacoustic Analysis as a way to study and exhibit Presence as part of Ambient@40, a two-day conference appraising ambient music in relation to Eno’s milestone release
"Music Beyond Airports", edited by Monty Adkins and Simon Cummings, available now in hardcopy and free PDF download via Huddersfield University Press: unipress.hud.ac.uk/plugins/books/19
kristinawolfemusic.wordpress.com
vraasp.wordpress.com
ambientat40.wordpress.com
archives.electricspring.co.uk/Seasons/2017-2018/Electric-Spring-2018
This presentation took place as part of the Ambient@40 conference, conveyed by Monty Adkins, Simon Cummings, Rupert Till, and Kristina Wolfe.
In the forty years since the release of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports the concept and aesthetics of ambient music have proliferated, influencing artists as diverse as Taylor Deupree, Steven Wilson, David Lynch and The Orb, infusing drone, microsound, minimalism and experimental electronic music as well as aspects of contemporary instrumental music. The aim of this two-day conference was to appraise ambient music in relation to Eno’s milestone release.
The conference took place at the University of Huddersfield from Friday 23 to Saturday 24 February 2018, running alongside the Electric Spring Festival (www.electricspring.co.uk).
/// CREDITS
Video camera operator: Andie Brown, Pablo Galaz Salamanca, Sam Gillies
Video edited by Sam Gillies
Title music: Music for Airports (1/1), Brian Eno. Performed by Decibel New Music Ensemble. decibelnewmusic.com
/// ABSTRACT
For the performance, I propose to create a VR representation of an acoustically modelled archaeological space and perform the characteristics of this ambient space as an instrument. The audience will be taken on a compositional ambient sound ‘walk’ to explore the acoustic properties of the space as heard through the perspective of the ‘player.’ Musical material will be derived from ambient acoustic parameters of the VR space such as early and late reflections, occlusion, and the absorption qualities of the virtual physical materials. I will implement this piece using the Unity game engine and the interactive virtual acoustic simulation and sound propagation capabilities built into the gameaudio middleware Wwise.
This performance and presentation will serve as the first public workshop and presentation of my MSCA funded research project presently being undertaken at the University of Huddersfield. It will satisfy two work packages for the second quarter of the research period:
To compose a VR space and ambisonic sound-based work using the outputs from the previous quarter’s field work and training
To present a work-in-progress demonstration and presentation of the VRAASP project for dissemination and feedback
The paper will 1) provide an overview of the VRAASP project (using Virtual Reality and Archaeoacoustic Analysis to Study and exhibit Presence), 2) describe listening strategies to frame performance reception of the audio presentation, 3) outline compositional strategies using space as material, and 4) present techniques for the preservation, re-creation, and dissemination of ephemeral cultural heritage such as archaeological ambient space. During the discussion portion of the presentation, the audience will be given an opportunity to explore the archaeoacoustic ‘game world’ and will also be provided links to download the ‘game’ on their phone or computer to explore and compose on their own. I also propose that computer and controller be made available for individual use at convenient times during the conference.
/// BIOGRAPHY
Kristina Wolfe is an MSCA Senior Researcher/Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Huddersfield. Her research project VRAASP (using Virtual Reality and Archaeoacoustic Analysis to Study and exhibit Presence) seeks to preserve, study, and re-present using new media technologies the sense of ambient place in archaeological sites. She is a composer, wanderer, electronic musician, maker, and multi-instrumentalist. She is of Danish and American heritage, and spent many of her formative years wandering through the forests listening to the sounds of space and place. This environment cultivated her imagination and creative focus on the spirits of the past, and has inspired her work and listening practices up to the present day. She has a BA in Music Technology from Florida International University, an MA in Digital Musics from Dartmouth College, and a PhD in Computer Music and Multimedia from Brown University.
Kristina Wolfe discusses Virtual Reality and Archaeoacoustic Analysis as a way to study and exhibit Presence as part of Ambient@40, a two-day conference appraising ambient music in relation to Eno’s milestone release
"Music Beyond Airports", edited by Monty Adkins and Simon Cummings, available now in hardcopy and free PDF download via Huddersfield University Press: unipress.hud.ac.uk/plugins/books/19
kristinawolfemusic.wordpress.com
vraasp.wordpress.com
ambientat40.wordpress.com
archives.electricspring.co.uk/Seasons/2017-2018/Electric-Spring-2018
This presentation took place as part of the Ambient@40 conference, conveyed by Monty Adkins, Simon Cummings, Rupert Till, and Kristina Wolfe.
In the forty years since the release of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports the concept and aesthetics of ambient music have proliferated, influencing artists as diverse as Taylor Deupree, Steven Wilson, David Lynch and The Orb, infusing drone, microsound, minimalism and experimental electronic music as well as aspects of contemporary instrumental music. The aim of this two-day conference was to appraise ambient music in relation to Eno’s milestone release.
The conference took place at the University of Huddersfield from Friday 23 to Saturday 24 February 2018, running alongside the Electric Spring Festival (www.electricspring.co.uk).
/// CREDITS
Video camera operator: Andie Brown, Pablo Galaz Salamanca, Sam Gillies
Video edited by Sam Gillies
Title music: Music for Airports (1/1), Brian Eno. Performed by Decibel New Music Ensemble. decibelnewmusic.com
/// ABSTRACT
For the performance, I propose to create a VR representation of an acoustically modelled archaeological space and perform the characteristics of this ambient space as an instrument. The audience will be taken on a compositional ambient sound ‘walk’ to explore the acoustic properties of the space as heard through the perspective of the ‘player.’ Musical material will be derived from ambient acoustic parameters of the VR space such as early and late reflections, occlusion, and the absorption qualities of the virtual physical materials. I will implement this piece using the Unity game engine and the interactive virtual acoustic simulation and sound propagation capabilities built into the gameaudio middleware Wwise.
This performance and presentation will serve as the first public workshop and presentation of my MSCA funded research project presently being undertaken at the University of Huddersfield. It will satisfy two work packages for the second quarter of the research period:
To compose a VR space and ambisonic sound-based work using the outputs from the previous quarter’s field work and training
To present a work-in-progress demonstration and presentation of the VRAASP project for dissemination and feedback
The paper will 1) provide an overview of the VRAASP project (using Virtual Reality and Archaeoacoustic Analysis to Study and exhibit Presence), 2) describe listening strategies to frame performance reception of the audio presentation, 3) outline compositional strategies using space as material, and 4) present techniques for the preservation, re-creation, and dissemination of ephemeral cultural heritage such as archaeological ambient space. During the discussion portion of the presentation, the audience will be given an opportunity to explore the archaeoacoustic ‘game world’ and will also be provided links to download the ‘game’ on their phone or computer to explore and compose on their own. I also propose that computer and controller be made available for individual use at convenient times during the conference.
/// BIOGRAPHY
Kristina Wolfe is an MSCA Senior Researcher/Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Huddersfield. Her research project VRAASP (using Virtual Reality and Archaeoacoustic Analysis to Study and exhibit Presence) seeks to preserve, study, and re-present using new media technologies the sense of ambient place in archaeological sites. She is a composer, wanderer, electronic musician, maker, and multi-instrumentalist. She is of Danish and American heritage, and spent many of her formative years wandering through the forests listening to the sounds of space and place. This environment cultivated her imagination and creative focus on the spirits of the past, and has inspired her work and listening practices up to the present day. She has a BA in Music Technology from Florida International University, an MA in Digital Musics from Dartmouth College, and a PhD in Computer Music and Multimedia from Brown University.
![Frederic Dufeu: Max/MSP as a tool for the study of creative coding [14.12.2017]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oCqckG-Xnd8/mqdefault.jpg "Frederic Dufeu: Max/MSP as a tool for the study of creative coding [14.12.2017]
Dr Frederic Dufeu discusses the use of Max/MSP as a tool for analysing creative coding and electroacoustic music in the Technology and Creativity in Electroacoustic Music (TaCEM) project
https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/persons/frederic-dufeu
https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/tacem/
http://www.cerenem.org/")
