This commentary will discuss the main concepts behind the electroacoustic music in the composition portfolio: Abstracted Materials. Produced between the years of 2008 to 2013 at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast, these acousmatic works will be framed within various contexts, from the practical to the theoretical. Occasionally, the analysis will centre upon the strategies and methods applied to the formal aspects of the compositions and also consider ideas associated with listening as an integral aspect of sound art practice. During the time I attended the Sonic Arts Research Centre, the research encountered many shifts: from the psychoacoustic aspects of a sound, or sound making activity as a source of inspiration, to the intuitive use of materials that formed my personal associations with a musical process. This document attempts to weave a narrative from these experiences. My goal is to explain these musical concepts and to faithfully record the process of producing this portfolio of acousmatic works.

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The aim of this research was to use altered states of consciousness (ASCs) as an adaptive principle for composing electroacoustic music, in which common features of the ASC experience provide a basis for the design of sonic material and inform the structural design of corresponding musical sections. Various cultures throughout history have sought to undergo visionary journeys using hallucinogenic plants and drugs. In many cases these experiences have been used as a basis for the creation of art, literature and music. Informed by a survey of relevant work, this practice-led research develops a compositional process for creating electroacoustic music that is based upon hallucinogenic perceptual states. Though situated within the electroacoustic idiom, the work also draws significantly upon Western psychedelic culture and electronic dance music. The output is a creative portfolio containing a series of musical compositions, software and video. This supporting commentary describes the compositional processes in detail, and it is hoped that it will be of interest to other creative practitioners dedicated to exploring this theme in music and other mediums. Creative Portfolio The works contained within the creative portfolio are as follows (all works produced 2007- 2010): Fixed Compositions Night Breed. Stereo. Duration: 6 minutes and 23 seconds. Surfer Stem. Stereo. Duration: 7 minutes and 9 seconds. Night Dream. Stereo. Duration: 7 minutes and 59 seconds. Entoptic Phenomena. Stereo. Duration: 5 minutes and 44 seconds. Swamp Process. Stereo. Duration: 7 minutes and 35 seconds. Nausea. 5.1 multichannel. Duration: 19 minutes and 11 seconds. Live Performance Recordings Bass Drum, Saxophone and Laptop: 23rd February 2010, Session 1. Stereo recording of a live performance for bass drum, saxophone and electronics. Duration: 11 minutes and 4 seconds. Bass Drum, Saxophone and Laptop: Extract 1. Extract from a live performance for bass drum, saxophone and electronics. Duration: 59 seconds. Bass Drum, Saxophone and Laptop: Extract 2. Extract from a live performance for bass drum, saxophone and electronics. Duration: 59 seconds. Entoptic Phenomena in Audio: PreICMC04. Recording of a live performance with laptop and electronics, in both stereo and 5.1. Duration 19 minutes and 53 seconds. Audio- Visual Compositions Tiny Jungle. Duration: 7 minutes and 10 seconds. Video Demonstrations of Software Dagon Live Demo. Video demonstrating the Atomizer Live Patch software, with stereo audio. Duration 11 minutes and 9 seconds. Drone Wolf Demo. Video demonstrating the Atomizer Live Patch software, with stereo audio. Duration 8 minutes and 4 seconds. Bass Drum, Saxophone and Lap top Demo: Video demonstrating the Bass Drum, Saxophone and Laptop software, with stereo audio. Duration: 3 minutes. Software Portfolio Atomizer Live Patch. Real-time performance software for MaxIMSP (Windows). Bass Drum, Saxophone and Laptop. Real-time performance software for MaxIMSP (Windows). Atomizer Visual. MaxIMSP software for producing visual material (Windows). The creative portfolio is contained within four CD and DVD discs. All stereo works (including fixed compositions and live performance recordings) are presented on a CD audio disc. The audio-visual composition Tiny Jungle is included on a DVD video disc, together with the software demonstration videos. The software portfolio is included on a separate data DVD. Finally, an additional data DVD contains the Nausea multi channel composition, plus all the creative works and additional files (such as the multichannel version of Entoptic Phenomena in Audio).

In digital music-making activities musicians with physical disabilities employ both accessible and generic control interfaces; accessible controllers capture broad input gestures and map them onto discrete output events, whereas consumer digital musical instruments (DMI's) offer extended control only through artefact multiplication (more buttons, sliders and dials). The interaction paradigm common to both consumer and specialised controllers reveals limited dimensions: click-and-drag or select-and-move. It is common practice in inclusive music activities for an able-bodied facilitator to expose access to low-level parameters via sequential and non-real-time processes, on behalf of the musician with a physical disability; these factors constrain real-time independent creative self-expression. The current research details the explicit needs and capabilities of a small group of digital musicians with quadriplegic cerebral palsy, garnered through participatory design and mixed methods. The project methodology draws on tools and models from the fields of assistive technologies and from mainstream DMI design. Project participants contribute data pertaining to preferences and capabilities, and evaluate key iterations of the evolving prototype. The practice-led and participatory design ethos relies on demonstrably repeatable and preferred gestural capabilities, without seeking to maximise physical ability in a rehabilitative context. The underlying mapping strategy exposes, in real time, a transparent hierarchy of dynamic sound parameters commonly accessed through facilitated, offline and sequential processes.

This thesis accompanies a portfolio of compositions and, in addition, discusses a number of compositional approaches which use physical modelling and physically inspired sound synthesis methods for the creation of electroacoustic music. To this end, a software library has been developed for the purpose of the real-time simulation of systems of inter-connected 10 and 2D objects, which has proven to be indispensable for producing the music works. It should be made clear from the outset that the primary objective of the research was not to add any novel scientific knowledge to the field of physical modelling. Instead, the aim was to explore in depth the creative possibilities of technical research carried out by others and to show that it can be utilised in a form which aids my own creative practice. From a creative perspective, it builds upon concepts and ideas formulated earlier by composers Jean-Claude Risset and Denis Smalley, centred around the interpretation of timbre and sound as constructs which actively inform compositional decision-making and structuring processes. This involves the creation of harmony out of timbre and playing with the source-cause perception of the listener through the transformation of timbre over time. In addition, the thesis offers a discussion of gesture and texture as they commonly appear in electroacoustic music and motivates my own personal preference for focussing on the development of texture over time as a means for creating musical form and function.

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The Vienna based record label Mego is known for establishing an uncompromising, radically experimental electronic music in the 1990s. This thesis considers the work of various different artists on the label, examining in particular their approaches to technology. The artists discussed appear to share an approach that I describe as pragmatic or experimental, which I contrast with idealist or rational approaches. In the latter, music appears to be understood within the framework of a simplistic model of communication, where technology is seen as a medium that should be transparent, allowing the music to pass unaffected. In the pragmatic approach however, I claim that technology is not seen not as a medium for the communication of ideas, but rather as a source of ideas. Implications follow for the ontology of the music. In the simplistic model of communication, physical sound can be considered merely a representation of something more abstract: musical form conceived by the composer. But if music is materially constructed and based on experimentation with the technology at hand, then the sound should not be considered a representation; there is no preconceived idea for it to be a representation of. This concept, which I refer to as 'literalism', is explored in a number of musical examples, and I link it to a definition of noise.

The expressivity of musical performance is highly dependent on the feedback relationship between the performer and the instrument. Despite current advances in music technology, performers still struggle to retain the same expressive nuances of acoustic instruments. The capacity of performative musical expression in technologically-driven music is mitigated by the limitations of controllers and other sensor-based devices used in the performance of such music. Due to their physical properties, such devices and components are unable to provide mainly the haptic and vibrotactile experience between the instrument and the user, thus breaking the link with traditional musical performance. Such limitations are apparent to performers, suggesting often the existence of an unnatural barrier between the technology and the performer. The thesis proposes the use of vibrotactile feedback as means to enhance performer’s expressivity and creativity in technology mediated performances and situate vibrotactile feedback as part of the tradition of instrumental musical playing. Achieved through the use of small controllable electric motors, vibrotactile feedback can nourish communicative pathways between the performer and technology, a relationship that is otherwise limited or non-existing. The ability to experience an instrument's communicative response can significantly improve the performer-instrument relationship, and in turn the music performed. Through a series of case studies, compositions and performances, the dissertation suggests ways in which vibrotactile feedback may be applied to enhance the experience between the technology and the performer. As a result performers are able to develop expressive nuances and have better control of the technology during performance.

Mixing music is the process of combining tracks of recorded audio to an overall piece. This is a complicated process and, hence, automatic mixing or metering tools would be useful. The aim of the current research project was to work towards measuring the perceived quality of music mixes by establishing predictors for one important perceptual attribute of high- quality mixes (spectral clarity). A review of academic and non-academic literature revealed that the high-level parameters that are responsible for determining the perceived quality of a music mix are ‘clarity and separation’, ‘balance’, ‘impact and interest’ and ‘freedom from technical faults’, alongside context-specific parameters. A further in-depth literature review established that clarity and separation—the chosen focus for this research—depend on spectral, spatial and intensity factors, and temporal changes in these factors. Spectral factors play an important role across all areas of literature consulted (namely timbral clarity, clarity in concert halls, masking, loudness, auditory scene analysis and speech intelligibility), and so the impact of mix EQ on spectral clarity was investigated in a series of experiments. These experiments determined that two important factors contribute to the spectral clarity of single sounds. These are the harmonic centroid (spectral centroid divided by the sound’s average fundamental frequency) and mid-range spectral peakiness (related to sharp peaks in the frequency spectrum). For sounds modified by simple spectral filtering, these two factors are sufficient to model clarity changes with a Spearman correlation ranging from 0.631 (bass and vocal stimuli) to 0.848 (string stimuli). For sounds in a mix, however, other factors become important. Adding a peak audibility measure proved useful. This measure determined whether the audibility of peaks in the spectra of the target sounds was increased or decreased through EQ. Target and overall mix harmonic centroids and mid- range spectral peakiness, combined with peak audibility, correlated positively with target spectral clarity (r=0.568). Findings could contribute to the development of marketable products such as a piece of software able to judge the overall sound quality of a mix, automatic mixers or sonically improved music production software. Further work will allow a more comprehensive and generalizable model to be developed.

This thesis in composition started with a reflection about the nature and meaning of space in music and how it has been used in composition, especially in electroacoustic music. My reflection resulted in two research questions - 'What is space in music?' and 'How can space be used as an essential aspect of composition?' I followed a phenomenological approach, in its French ramification, represented by Mikel Dufrenne (1973) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1996, 2004). As phenomenology recognises the centrality of perception as the foundation of all knowledge and the arts, I focussed on the concept of perceived space, as conceptualised by J. J. Gibson (1966, 1986), examining the role of the different perceptual systems in the perception of space, with special emphasis on the auditory system. I defined three senses of space which I believe tQ be fundamental in electroacoustic music: musical space as reverberation, sound spatialisation and reference. I develop each concept and give examples of different composers who have worked with each of them. I composed four pieces - Journey I and 11, and Night Song I and 11 - in which I exemplify and develop in practice the concepts discussed in theory, using a number of spatial compositional techniques which I learned from my theoretical research, while also developing my own techniques. In Chapter 7 I describe the most relevant aspects of my compositional process which are more directly related to the spatial aspects of the works composed, introducing the concepts of spatial narrative and spatial design, providing a bridge between the theory discussed in the previous chapters and my compositional practice. I finish the thesis with a reflection about possible connections which can be made between the development of spatial music and a broader cultural context.