Composing spaces: music composition and spatial audio
Authors: Seddon, A.
Conference: InMusic25
Dates: 20-22 June 2025
Journal: Routledge Innovation In Music Conference Book
Publisher: Routledge
Abstract:Given the rapid expansion in the range and availability of spatial audio tools in the last decade, it is now possible to mix spatially using headphones and a digital audio workstation at a relatively low cost, and in some cases for free. Given this recent availability of spatial audio tools and the adoption of spatial audio on streaming services such as Apple Music, a number of important questions now emerge for composers in particular: • How might compositional thinking and practices more fully explore and integrate the creative potentials of spatial audio? • In what ways might spatial thinking be integrated into the compositional process ‘from the beginning’ rather than added at the mixing stage? • How might spatial conceptions fundamentally underpin and inform the composition process so that spatiality becomes a core creative component? • What can musical spatial thinking offer studio-based composers beyond the established conventions of panning, elevation, reverberation and depth?
Articles in magazines such as Sound on Sound frequently address immersive audio and Dolby Atmos mixing, and whilst insightful, tend to focus on the mixing process. Indeed, the compositional aspects of spatial audio appear to be relatively under-explored. This said, a body of concepts regarding composition and spatial sound have become established across electroacoustic musics and sonic arts in recent decades including, for example, Smalley’s space-form (2007), Field’s spatial categories (2001), and, more recently, Barrett’s creative methodologies (2022). These theories and ideas provide valuable concepts for composing with spatial sound and analysing spatial aspects of existing works. Whilst the sound materials and aesthetics of these genres can initially appear quite distinct from popular and electronic musics, they often share some founding ideas. Chief amongst them is that the music is intended primarily for listening or projection via loudspeakers or headphones in the first instance, whether at home, in a club or at a concert. Mediation via loudspeakers gives the composer immense flexibility to manipulate the spatial dimensions of the music in subtle and extreme ways. With this commonality in mind, perspectives from electroacoustic music and sonic arts might be fruitfully adapted and expanded to build a broader, more holistic view of compositional spatiality.
Thus this paper examines key spatial ideas from electroacoustic music and sonic arts, bridging the gap to consider their application to electronic and popular music composition, exploring how these concepts can inform and expand compositional practices. Accordingly, the paper will begin by discussing some key spatial concepts found in the work of Smalley, Field, Roads and Barrett, and then explore their application to popular and electronic music. Finally, aspects of spatiality not accounted for in these theories, such as melodic and rhythmic density, will be discussed, providing a more holistic view of spatial composition that accommodates an expanded range of practices and approaches. This examination aims to empower composers across genres to more fully engage with the creative potentials of spatial audio.
Source: Manual
