Exposition

Embodied/Encoded: A Study of Presence in Digital Music (2024)

Robert Seaback
open exposition

About this exposition

Presence in Embodied/Encoded is concerned with the physical and embodied dimensions of musicking in relation to digital-informational representations of such phenomena. I explore presence through practices of recording, creative coding, audio production, and spatial electronic music composition. Of particular interest is the link between presence and the sensual/corporeal aspects of sound production and listening. Research in embodied music cognition and extended reality provide a foundation for this type of meaning formation. In the context of immersive electronic music, I suggest that physical presence – a sense of ‘being somewhere’—emerges not just from images/representations of place, but from peripheral aspects of the (embodied) acoustic experience such as spatial proximity and distance, diffuseness, resonance and reverberation, noise floor, etc. Consequently, musical meaning in “Embodied/Encoded” moves away from the symbolic dimension of electronic sounds toward meaning as an outcome of embodied interaction with the environment. The concept of presence can also apply to ‘mixed’ music, or combinations of acoustic and electronic sources, in which virtual presence is complicated by real bodies and spaces. Digital technology renders sound a flexible, malleable entity—a ‘flickering’ signifier to borrow from Hayles—capable of reconfiguring presence in creative ways. The dance between encoded and embodied dimensions inspires and informs this artistic research. Through a body of immersive music and multimedia documentation, I unpack connections between presence and its digital abstractions.
typeresearch exposition
keywordspresence, acousmatic music, electroacoustic music, electronic music, ambisonics, electroacoustic composition, embodied cognition, virtual reality
date17/11/2023
published24/09/2024
last modified24/09/2024
statuspublished
share statusshared with registered RC users
affiliationNorwegian Academy of Music
copyright2023
licenseAll rights reserved
languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1397388/2382218
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/nmh-ar.1397388
published inNorwegian Academy of Music
portal issue9. Publications 2024


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id name copyright license
1549462 Ingar_ImprovExcerpt Robert Seaback 2022 All rights reserved
2371152 Field Recording - Oslo City Hall Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372210 HarpexVST Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372219 Reaper Template Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372338 Example1.1_drums_Source Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372339 Example1.2_drums_ReOrdered.1 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372340 Example1.3_drums_ReOrdered.2 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372341 Example2_algoDrumCross_Tests Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372343 Example3.1_drums_GrainStretch.1 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372344 Example3.2_GlissonExample.01 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372427 GrainBufUgen Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372490 Example4.1rainDrops_Source Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372492 Example4.2rainDrops_Quantized.1 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372493 Example4.3rainDrops_Quantized.2 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372591 IMG_1968 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2372595 IMG_1983 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2382152 Main Image Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2382270 NMH_logo_4linjer Norwegian Academy of Music All rights reserved
2383015 abstractImage01 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2383021 SCcollage Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2696401 World Within One Step 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2696404 WorldWithinOneStep.Score 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2696419 WorldWithinOneStep.Score_AlessandraVersion 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2696422 WorldWithinOneStep.Score_AlessandraVersion 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2746837 Being Somewhere Concert Program 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2746897 BeingSomewhere_ConcertImage 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2759306 Oslo Tower Crane 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2759322 TowerCrane2 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2759329 TowerCrane3 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2796763 Spat5 Decoder 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2796770 Levinsalen Speaker Config 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2796775 IEM scene rotator 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2797853 Presence & Pattern Concert Program 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2797862 SMC 2022 Concert Program 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2797880 icmc 2022programme ICMC All rights reserved
2797914 New Electronic Music Program 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2797923 S3DAP 2021 Gold Award 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2813053 WW1S_GraphicSketch 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
2813401 WW1S_GraphicSketch.1 2024 Robert Seaback All rights reserved
3024832 DPA_pseudoBinaural Robert Seaback 2020 All rights reserved
3024833 Madison on 20th Skyview Robert Seaback2017 CC BY-NC-ND
3024834 presencePattern Robert Seaback 2021 CC BY-NC-ND
3024835 IMG_2683 Robert Seaback 2022 All rights reserved

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