STRUCTURES FOR WAVEFIELD SYNTHESIS
This work was written and recorded during a residency in The Game of Life Foundation’s Wave Field Synthesis System, The Hague (The Netherlands). All the material is based on algorithmic synthetic sound.
Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) is a sound production technology designed specifically for spatial audio rendering. The WFS system consists of 192 speakers, which are arranged in a square formation of 10 by 10 meters. Unlike conventional audio procedures (e.g stereo / surround) the perception of these wave fields is not dependent on psychoacoustic “phantom” sound perception. The WFS sound field is actually reconstructed physically*

We decided to elude as much as possible the more recursive features of WFS, like trajectory- based spatialisation. Due to the technical and spatial characteristics of the system and its powerful possibilities, we built a collection of different discrete synthetic sound bodies with unique peculiarities.

Although Wave Field Synthesis system is assembled in a 192x8 loudspeakers array, our work is approached towards a sort of unitary object-located perspective, so this fact makes irrelevant the number of channels of the composition from a traditional ‘multichannel point of view’. We’ve used the speakers as a kind of ‘building agents’ rather than signal points to move the sound through. These building agents work directly in the materiality, density or sound texture... in other words, we have focused on the sound plasticity as a compositional tool in order to generate a materialisation, mutation and dematerialisation of the sound in space; concluding in a vivid sound bodies rather than trajectory-based events subjected to a loudspeaker positions.
Alongside the sonic pieces, we have developed a free-reading oriented graphic imaginary of the sound. We have designed a collection of multi-layered spatial models which relationship among the layers is ‘inter-independent’ (relationship among the visual objects with no holistic meaning, in this way each visual layer is independent itself from the global object, but being still related).

The data of the trajectories and space coordinates within the loudspeaker square was used to generate the different architecture of these (non) representations. This collection of 3D objects are conceived for a potential printed booklet accompanying the music release.
This is not about: ‘imaginary sound environments’,‘spatial music’, ‘storytelling’, ‘phenomena’, ‘trendy pseudo-science theories applied to the arts’, ‘abstractness’, ‘me or you’, ’reinterpretation of anything else’...and this is not about ‘music’.
We would like to thank to The Game of Life Foundation, Acción Cultural Española, the free wine of the Institute of Sonology, and Jorge Vicario for their kind support.
Private link to the premastered work in two formats: binaural sound recording of the space + rendered pieces straight from the Wavefield synthesis computer system:
soundcloud.com/eliasmerino/sets/structures-for-wave-field-synthesis/s-fla8L


Elías Merino (b. 1985) is a Spanish-U.K based sonic artist, researcher, and multidisciplinary practitioner. His recent and ongoing projects are included in a certain range of different aesthetics within installation, composition and exploratory digital sound, that Elías develops under different monikers. From algorithmic abstract computer music, to contemporary unusual electronics or instrumental music.
He is interested in different approaches related with sound, digital culture and new media art, such post-digital materiality, object- oriented composition, time exploration, and posthumanities. Combining his personal activity, Elías is involved in collaborative projects.
His work has been exhibited, performed and diffused in festivals, art galleries or museums across the US, UK, Spain, South America, Romania, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Finland or The Netherlands. His recorded albums have been released in different labels including leerraum or Room40 among others. Elías is part of ENCAC (European Network for Contemporary AV Creation) artist roster, and his work is supported by Arcadi Île-de-France.
Nowadays Elías Merino is a PhD researcher in Computer Music at CeReNeM (Centre for Research in New Music).
www.eliasmerino.com

Daniel del Río (b. 1989), works in sound and installation. Based on actual computer languages, he has been developing sound installations and sound diffusions in a range of noise and multifocal electroacoustic / computer-generated compositions. His work have been exhibited in Spain, the UK, Japan, South America, US and Germany.
He ran Reductive for few years, an international platform dedicated to sonic arts, releasing works in digital and physical format of artists such as EVOL, Francisco López, Kevin Drumm or Yann Novak just to name a few.
Daniel was co-editor of Reductive Journal.