#hertzlab: Sound spatialization with Zirkonium

In this edition of #hertzlab, we find ourselves in the Cube and focus on the spatialisation of sound. In addition to a technical and music-historical introduction to this artistic practice, an acousmatic concert work in binaural format will be presented.

The blue Cube is not only the visual landmark of ZKM, but also the heart of the musical-artistic production and research at the ZKM | Hertz-Lab. It was planned as a large-volume, acoustically optimized recording studio and houses the Sound Dome. This dome-shaped setup consisting of 47 loudspeakers is an ideal place for the development and reproduction of electroacoustic or acousmatic spatial music and the starting point for numerous current research projects.

Ludger Brümmer, director of the Hertz-Lab and composer, explains in this edition of #hertzlab how this unique loudspeaker instrument, with which a plasticity of sound in space can be produced, works technically, what music-historical and architectural precursors there are and what artistic projects and compositions are realised with it at ZKM.

The specially developed Zirkonium control software allows the composers to set spectral sonic figures and movements directly in the space. 

Ludger Brümmer demonstrates this with the exclusive performance of his acousmatic 42-channel composition »Falling«. It was written on the occasion of the Beethoven Year and deals with one of Beethoven's late compositions, »The Great Fugue« (op. 133.). This string quartet provided the material for all the sounds in Ludger Brümmer's work »Falling« – however, these are turned completely upside down, transformed into new energetic shapes and follow their own dramaturgy. 

Feel free to grab your headphones for this virtual concert livestream and experience the spatial sound experience of the Sound Dome at home in your own living room. We present a binaural version of the piece, based on an artificial head microphone recording, which is an approximation of the spatial musical experience in the Sound Dome.

The event was held in German.

The #hertzlab event is funded by the EASTN-DC project and by the European Union's Creative Europe programme.

Video documentary

ZKM | Videostudio

Sound Dome Concert:

Camera: Xenia Leidig, Christina Zartmann
Editing: Christina Zartmann

Binaurale Tonaufnahme:
Benjamin Miller
ZKM | Hertz-Labor

Lecture Zirkonium:

Camera: Christina Zartmann, Xenia Leidig
Editing: Jule Heinzmann

Moderation:

Camera: Peter Müller, Xenia Leidig
Editing: Christina Zartmann