Iron Age

A big clockwork is turning, metal is robbing against metal, stone against stone, some sort of big evil machinery is working, breathing and alive, perpetuating infinitely in a non-defined fictional location.

The machine's complex movements create a variety of dramatic sounds around the visitor, in the distance, or quite near. Sometimes parts come very close, even closer than the speakers who produce the sound. And sometimes the sounds traverse right through the heads of the listeners, a magical and disturbing experience.

The magic is the result of projecting the sound in the listening space using a so called wave field synthesis system. The composition is not only concerned with time and timbres but also with movements in space and these movements are the central elements that defines the overall shape of the piece.

Iron Age is a linear composition with a fixed duration but also a temporal arrangement in space, where every listening position has its own qualities and perspectives. Iron Age rewards and encourages the listener to walk around and experience its spacial qualities from different positions and perspectives.

Since the spatial movements are an integral part of the composition, a stereo recording cannot provide a good impression. The 'recording' here is a stereo recording made at the rehearsal location in Leiden, in the center of the room: IronAgeRough.mp3

Iron Age
duration: 7:05min
32 virtual audio channels / 192 speakers

commissioned work for the 'Game of Life' portable wave field synthesis system in Leiden/Holland.

2010 November 20 20:45 STRP festival Einhoven Holland
2012 June 14 21:00 MACBA Sonar Festival Barcelona Spain
2012 June 15 15:30 MACBA Sonar Festival Barcelona Spain
2012 June 16 17:00 MACBA Sonar Festival Barcelona Spain
2012 June 20 OFF Sonar Festival Barcelona Spain