Sól Ey - 2048: Systematic approach to psychoacoustics

‘2048’ is a piece that I worked on last year after allowing Excel to take over my workflow and see where it would take me. The outcome is a piece based on a mathematical system that deals with ratios and the relationship between frequencies and pulses. The system is applied to all factors used; time, space, the spectral content and the pulse.
What surprised me yet motivated me to further explore the system was that when applied musically it created multi-layered psychoacoustic effects. The piece was originally composed for the Wavefield Synthesis Sound system (192 speakers) and premiered at the WFS festival in May 2018. I will also present how this systematic study has inspired my structural thinking of time and spectral thinking in terms of sound design.

Sól Ey is an Icelandic composer, media artist and performer based in The Hague. She is studying composition and sonology and the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague.