and rather sterile “objects” when considered individually, but that acquire meanings and “size” when combined.
spaces and structures.” Still, your debut release K-frame seems to be subverting these rules and algorithms for generating sound by introducing field recordings into a predetermined digital context. How strictly did you try and control the texture of the resulting tracks, which unravel discreetly without ever losing their composure? A: Zbeen could be seen as an algorithmic project since we can control both the macro and the microstructures of sound by programming our digital instruments, even if our objective goes paradoxically in the opposite direction. Our intention is in fact to free ourselves from any compositional straightjacket in order to follow a more improvisational approach within the man-machine paradigm, which, in our case, is represented by our interaction with the digital instruments we have created. So, yes, being able to control the sound is important to us in order to create our tracks, but at the same time, we try and free up the outcome of the music. Q: Stillheten is a software for electroacoustic live improvisation you have developed using Max/MSP. What does it allow you to achieve which you couldn’t have achieved otherwise? A: Stillheten is a software that I developed specifically for the project Zbeen. The idea behind the software takes form from a rather simple concept: the possibility of managing different independent audio streams, obtained with several techniques of synthesis and audio processing, and using their combinations to get new “sound spaces”. The result vaguely resembles the mathematical concept of vector space, a geometric entity generated by a linear combination of linearly independent vectors, which can be thought of as simple
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Generally speaking, I have been often asked why I waste my time programming and creating my own softwares when there are so many softwares readily available with which one can already achieve great results. To be honest, the final result is just one side of the story. I’ll try and elaborate on this. Developing digital instruments, which enable me to create my music and to play a live set, allows me to be creative on two different fronts. Firstly, to programme a software means to implement a set of algorithms and rules, which introduces a series of constraints and limitations. This is something I find stimulating and creative since it implies having to create spaces where the sound is made to acquire specific characteristics. The second level of creativity comes into play when I utilise my instruments to compose a track or to achieve a particular sound as the presence of limitations and constraints, which I set during the programming phase, represents an incentive to explore in finer detail the different sound capabilities of the instrument I have created. So, to sum up, what I find interesting about working this way, is not just what I can achieve with my own software, but also, and more importantly the process that allows me to select and define a particular type of sound. Q: K-frame was mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, which to me seems like a natural choice for an album like this. How important is it to have the the choice of the right person to do the mastering? A: Giuseppe has done a wonderful job an we are really happy with the end product. I consider the choice of the person doing the mastering as fundamental. This is an album very much built around overlapping and finer details and Giuseppe has been excellent in bringing out the
different layers of sound and the complex alternation of sonic structures. There will be a follow up to K-frame, which will be once again mastered by Giuseppe. The album, a coproduction between Entr’acte and Ripples, will be entitled Stasis and will be coming out in a few month’s time. Q: The are mainly two strands in your work, field recordings and electronic audio. You seem to have combined the two with striking results up until Azure Allochiria, which is your first solely electronic audio work. Did you abandon organic sounds in favour of strictly digital for this album, simply to explore new avenues, or in order to prove something to yourself? A: I didn’t really conceive the project in order to make an album. At the time I was using Pure Data as a software, making short and simple patches. At first, I was mainly interested in exploring the higher end of the sound spectrum, very high frequencies, which I alternated creating beats and interesting rhythmic structures. I then started to incorporate low sounds and to fill the remaining frequencies. I was modifying and modulating parameters recording brief fragments of audio. After a few months, I realised that the material I had recorded did have a certain coherence, so I attempted to compose a few tracks that eventually became Azure Allochira. Q: The sound on Azure Allochiria appears to be extremely layered and it reminds me at times of Tiziano Milani’s work. I also get the impression you have taken a more “compositional approach” with this album, is that the case? A: Thanks for drawing a parallel with Tiziano Milani’s work. I am really pleased by this. I have probably learnt more from