My proposal is part of an artistic approach that focuses on the issues of mixing in the context of mixed music, i.e. music that combines acoustic and electronic sources. Obviously, the issue of mixing can be approached in different ways and can take different forms, both in terms of conception and realization, moving from writing to sound, and vice versa. For example, a multitude of approaches have already been proposed in response to different aspects of the problem, such as computer-aided composition, audio processing, sound synthesis, digital organology or reactive audio, to name but a few. However, the theme I'm seeking to explore in this project is more specifically that of space, spatialization and hybrid broadcasting systems. 

Having worked on the question of augmented instruments, those modified by the addition of a transducer enabling them to be used as loudspeakers, this technique seems to me particularly interesting in that it allows us to further confuse cause and effect due to the physical, and cognitive, proximity of the sound sources. In this case, it's no longer a question of hearing the acoustic sources through the loudspeakers, but rather the opposite: it's a question of hearing the electronic sources through the musical instruments. The approach is similar, but the effect is completely different: unlike the neutrality of the loudspeaker, the musical instrument is not. As well as literally giving body to sound, the nature of the object already imposes a number of expectations, but this method can quickly bypass them by creating unusual encounters, such as a piano that sings, or a cello that speaks. In a way, it's a question of creating a kind of augmented reality where analog and digital merge. With this in mind, I'm looking to take the idea a step further by exploring the possibilities of using a hybrid system, combining a configuration of multidirectional loudspeakers, audiodices, and a configuration of traditional loudspeakers, in writing a work for saxophone quartet and electronic device.

In this sense, I'd obviously like to explore the question of mixing from the point of view of the relationship between instrumental and electronic writing, but above all from the point of view of the spatialization of sounds on three distinct planes: (1) the audiodices, (2) the saxophones and (3) a set of loudspeakers arranged around the audience. The idea is essentially to produce complex situations from simple elements by exploiting the combinatory potential of this variable-geometry configuration. Whether unified or fragmented, superimposed or juxtaposed, the three components are obviously used to create trajectories, timbre and textures, but always in such a way as to exploit the potential of the augmented quartet as a kind of meta-instrument, both real and virtual.

In addition to the mixing of sounds and the technical challenges involved in this context of hybridization, the question of mixing is also concerned with the problem of embodiment, that is, how to embody sound. In a way, it's a question of finding a form of presence in absence and, possibly, a form of absence in presence. Thus, the integration of audiodices within the saxophone quartet seems to me a rather interesting and innovative way of exploring this issue, not only by approaching the type of radiation of acoustic sources or moving away from that of conventional loudspeakers, but above all by integrating them at the same level as the musicians. With this in mind, the reverse is just as interesting when it comes to using saxophones in a similar way to an electronic device.

Musically, I paid particular attention to the evolution of the material over time in its relationship with the electronics, audiodices and loudspeakers, not from a process perspective but rather from a dialectical one, i.e. how one can influence the other in such a way as to sublimate their own identities despite the space that separates them. Relying on a dynamic, articulate rhetoric, the idea is to use a rhythmic scenario that exploits contrasts between simple, eloquent materials, all of which carry ideas that are both fragile and powerful. At times complementary, at others contradictory, the materials are used to articulate a virtuoso sonic discourse in which the proposals intersect and collide to the benefit of an intrepid narrative. With this piece, I'm also continuing my exploration of phenomena linked to the perception and legibility of the formal organization articulating the musical material, in a language that I'd like to be as direct and communicative as possible, and in which the freedom of the writing remains at the service of the imaginary and its materialization.

Frédéric Le Bel

Le cas du quatuor augmenté benefited from the production and creation support offered as part of the residency program at the Society for arts and technology (SAT)

www.sat.qc.ca