Luc Döbereiner

Theories of sonification distinguish between information source or data source and the translation of this data into an acoustic signal, a process which makes relations, properties and structures in the data sets audible. Fluctuations and patterns in the initial data which exceed perceivable temporal and spatial orders of magnitude, as well as data which is coded into non-audible media are thus rendered audible and thus perceivable. With Auflösung, I am less interested in the audible presentation or transfer of non-musical or scientific data and structures, but rather in the interpretation of the instrumental sound itself as a source of data. Sonification often focuses on the idea of sound as a carrier of meaning – something through which data can be rendered audible or sensually perceivable. In the composition Auflösung, for cello and live electronics, I focus on the “sonification of sound itself”. What interests me the most about this is the exploration of how different temporal layers affect each other and how structures can be transferred between them and are thus rendered perceivable. Spectral properties such as noisiness, fluctuation, focus of spectral energy, bandwidth and density of sonic events amongst other analyzable information form the basic data which is used to control the sound synthesis process. The resulting sound is played back via a transducer attached to the cello. Sonification occurs through the transfer from one medium to another. I understand this process as a form of “transduction”, a concept developed by Gilbert Simondon that refers to a process of form generation that involves transference and expansion: “This term [transduction] denotes a process – be it physical, biological, mental or social – in which an activity gradually sets itself in motion, propagating within a given area, by basing this propagation on a structuration carried out in different zones of the domain: each region of the constituted structure serves as a constituting principle for the following one, so much so that a modification progressively extends itself at the same time as this structuring operation. […] The transductive operation is an individuation in progress.” (Gilbert Simondon, “The genesis of the individual” [1964], reprinted in: Jonathan Crary, Sanford Kwinter (eds.): Incorporations, New York: Zone Books, 1992.) It is thus the tension between the different domains that produces the dynamic of the process. In Auflösung, sonification is understood as an operation within an open feedback network, functioning as a transductive individuation of sound by means of a transfer. What I find interesting is the transition between meaning and material and the tension generating difference that emerges through the process of sonification. The cellist, analysis and synthesis are together understood as a heterogeneous system with inner boundaries. A system which is characterized through the non-linear mapping of parameters from the actions of the instrument, its analysis and the synthesis of sound. In Auflösung sound pervades various media as data streams, voltage and mechanical vibrations and goes through material transformations, measurements, parameter-mapping, synthesis and analyses. The range of data streams connects various temporal layers. What will be sonified and made audible are aspects of the sound, which develop over long or very short periods of time and are not graspable in the ephemeral instrumental sound event. Other aspects include patterns and relationships, which only become apparent after a certain analytical breakdown of the sound. The re-sonified properties, which are projected back onto the cello, create on the one hand new temporal layers in the form of a “resonance” – consisting of micro and macro temporal changes in the sound. And, on the other hand a feedback that occurs, within which, the sonic properties of the sonification itself become the subject of analysis. Concretely, what can be heard are simultaneously the analysed properties of the sound and its development through the feedback, as well as the operation of the system and the analytical-parametric dissection of the sound itself. “Auflösung”, i. e. dissolution, simultaneously refers to a technical measurement, of the breaking down of a phenomenon in the context of analysis, as well as its disappearance. While sonification usually renders perceivable a form of meaning in the initial data, this piece is rather based on multiple layers of meaning in the instrumental sound which is transferred into data. The instrumental sound produces the control data for the sound synthesis. The cellist interacts with this system and plays the instrument together with the sonified sounds. The meaning of the instrumental musical material exceeds what is directly audible. Through its sound, the cello becomes a controller for the live electronics. In this context, sonification is understood as a compositional perspective for the development of a performative form of interaction between the musician and technology.