Fully immersive audio environments—musical, aesthetical, and computational considerations

Abstract

Before the development of the telephone and the phonograph, all audio experiences were essentially three-dimensional. Composers and musicians had to accept the limitations of human performers and the acoustics in which they played. The development in the nineteenth century of the technological means necessary to provide performances of music which were remote in either time or space from the original was accommpanied by an almost complete removal of this three-dimensional aspect. Engineers and musicians have been searching ever since for ways of restoring the balance. Progress in this endeavor has been rapid in the last two decades, so much so that composers, musicians, and sonic artists now have a wide range of techniques at their disposal for manipulating the spatial elements in their compositions. This paper looks at various aspects of the technologies involved and the implications their availability has for composers and sonic artists working in the medium. This is presented within the context of a historical perspective. Special consideration is given to technologies which are intended to allow presentation to audiences, rather than, for instance, the more typical virtual reality systems which is concerned with smaller numbers of individuals.