The Composition of Visual Music (Rebellious Research Seminar Series 4.4)

The composition of Visual Music. Moving images can be a source of information for the sound scientist and creative inspiration for the musician. Sound can be used to sonify the content of images through a data mapping process. The artist might attempt a more personal interpretation of what they see and how they compose music to express this. These varied approaches to working with multiple media and the transition between them have been evident in my own creative practice. Beginning with quantitative value driven methods to enhance auditory display, a technique for making data audible, towards a more intuitive expression based on personal aesthetics, each has proven to be a valid arena for academic research. Various projects will be discussed in this presentation including a technical approach of mapping visual colour to sound timbre, the composition of ‘visual music’ where music informs image and vice versa and a live ensemble performance in the Heatwork project premiered at Middleport Potteries and later performed in Zurich. These projects will illustrate the variety of methods possible in audio-visual media. Predominantly involving a practice-based approach this journey has been punctuated with a series of reflective written articles, that will also be discussed, that have helped crystallise and further inform the ongoing creative process.