Pape, Gerard and Ferguson, Paul (2007) Machenbach IV. [Performance]

Abstract/Description

This research output is a recording and subsequent world premiere of a piece for solo trombone and tape using eight loudspeakers in a rectangular configuration. After two days of rehearsals with Pape, trombonist Kenny was recorded by Ferguson over a two day period to build up eight tracks without reference to previous takes to create deliberate microtuning variations and tempo deviation. The piece uses complex combinations of trombone tone and breath techniques and placed considerable demand on the musician’s stamina, the first section of the piece is purely breath based. To spatialise the eight performances, Pape investigated the spatialisation toolset developed by Ferguson and after experimentation, Pape spatialised the eight tracks of trombone in the breath section using the toolset and the resulting audio was printed to disk in preparation for performance.

The premiere of the piece took place in Craiglockhart Chapel in Edinburgh, approximately 400m2 floor area with a long reverberation time. After experimentation, Pape and Ferguson placed the eight speaker array around the audience seating approximately 1m above head height. For the performance, trombonist Kenny sat in the centre of the seating with the audience around him and played a ninth trombone part as Pro Tools played the pre-recorded 8 loudspeaker spatialised ‘tape’. The performance was recorded back into the Pro Tools session using a left, centre, right, rear surround, right surround array of microphones.

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