Historical work composed and remixed for multi channel by Pierre Henry:
“L’Apocalypse de Jean” (The Apocalypse of John), composed by Pierre Henry in 1968, is a significant multichannel work in electronic music history. This piece was specifically designed for a 16-channel speaker system at the Église Saint-Roch in Paris.
The composition features:
– Spatialized vocal elements
– Electronic sound manipulation
– Religious text readings
– Complex spatial movements
– Environmental recordings
The immersive effect is created in the space of church:
– Move between different heights
– Travel across the space
– Surround the audience
– Create spatial illusions
– Enhance the apocalyptic narrative
This work represents a pivotal moment in multichannel composition, demonstrating how spatial audio could enhance musical storytelling and religious themes. It’s considered one of the earliest large-scale works to fully exploit multichannel possibilities in an architectural space.
Pierre Henry pioneered multichannel techniques in electronic music by combining innovative sound manipulation with spatial distribution. Using tape splicing, field recordings, and studio manipulation, he created complex soundscapes distributed through multiple speakers. His setup included tape recorders, custom mixing consoles, and speaker arrays, allowing him to control sound movement through space manually. Henry’s approach focused on spatial orchestration and architectural integration, treating the placement and movement of sounds as essential compositional elements. His techniques of channel-specific events and sound trajectories established fundamental principles that continue to influence electronic music and sound installation art today.
Multichannel routing:
Multichannel sound art harnesses multiple speakers strategically positioned in space to create immersive sonic environments that go beyond traditional stereo setups. Unlike two-channel audio, multichannel works typically employ four or more independent speakers, enabling artists to craft three-dimensional soundscapes where audio can move, transform, and interact throughout the space. Common configurations include quadraphonic (4 speakers), 5.1 surround, and 8-channel arrays, though artists often develop custom installations based on their specific needs. These systems find applications in gallery installations, concert performances, interactive exhibits, and architectural sound design. Artists can manipulate sound movement, distance perception, and spatial relationships using specialized software like Max/MSP, Ableton Live, or Pure Data to control routing, processing, and automation. The technical aspects involve careful consideration of speaker placement, phase relationships, signal processing, and sound localization to create cohesive sonic environments. Through multichannel sound art, creators can tell spatial stories, design virtual soundscapes, craft interactive experiences, and explore the relationships between sound, space, and listener perception. This medium has become increasingly important in contemporary art practices, offering new ways to engage audiences through immersive audio experiences that challenge traditional listening paradigms and expand the possibilities of sonic expression.
Project development:
During the period of creating, I have asked my friends to send me some example songs that they will include in the album. As I’m considering developing this intro music into a multi-channel production, where it creates an immersive effect for the audiences, l have firstly composed an experimental piece to test the immersive effect.
When l create this sound piece, I have implemented a natural environment field recording which matches with the theme fun time and their first title music “forest”, which is throughout the entire sound piece, creates a vivid background. And an electronic effect of FX motor in every beat, this brings out a futurism and creates a contrast effect for the audience’s ear.
However l find the FX motor track too frequent, where instead of futurism, it is more disturbing. So l decrease the frequency of it, and make it play every 5 seconds.
When l try to play in different channels, l accidentally change the in-channel to various channels, however after the lesson l realize the out-channel is what we need for actual speakers. This is my first attempting towards multi-channel.