UB grant brings cutting-edge spatial audio to Slee

Over the summer, Slee B1 underwent a transformation that places UB students at the forefront of immersive audio innovation. The renovated space now allows them to experiment with the spatial placement of sound, creating and recording compositions that envelop listeners from every direction.

Thanks to a grant from the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Slee B1 is now designed for spatial audio production and immersive sound experiences and will soon be outfitted with immersive video technology as well.

The system includes a NADIA-CP processor, placing Slee Hall among a select group of advanced installations worldwide. It is also one of the first to integrate Spacemap Go, Meyer Sound’s spatial sound design and mixing platform, offering real-time spatial control for up to 128 input channels.

“The Meyer system allows advanced sound spatialization similar to that used in stadium concerts; major performance halls, like Jazz at Lincoln Center; and venues like National Sawdust in Brooklyn,” says Eric Huebner, professor of piano and chair of the Department of Music.

Huebner says the new technology fulfills a long-standing faculty interest in spatial audio and video, and positions the university to provide cutting-edge resources for composers and media artists.

“It offers both experimental creative possibilities and practical industry applications, and makes for a powerful new space in which to collectively experience sound and video art,” he says.

The new setup opens creative territory, one where students can record real-world sounds, design electronic compositions and explore the artistic and philosophical aspects of spatial music — direction, immersion and dimensionality.

“We’re exploring the possibilities — it’s definitely a completely different space or environment than we’re used to,” says Francisco Corthey, a PhD candidate in composition. “We’re used to having the music right in front of us, but here, you’re immersed in the sounds — sounds are equally distributed throughout the space. Above, behind, the sides — and that opens up a bunch of possibilities we’re exploring.”

And the space is not just for music students.

“I know some people from the engineering department who came and visited the space. I could see people scoring films in the space and the possibility of using this as a multidisciplinary space,” says James Pardue, a graduate student in the Department of Media Study.

The Department of Music held its first concert in the upgraded space on Oct. 8. The program featured new works by UB composers Corthey, Pardue, Chi-Yen Huang and Jackson Roush, along with a presentation of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s landmark “Gesang der Jünglinge.”

The student composers have been developing their works all semester in Nina C. Young’s class.

“This is a really beautiful way of making music,” Young, a Slee Visiting Professor of Music, told audience members at the concert. “We often listen to music through headphones or speakers, but when you go to the cinema, that’s your first taste of spatial audio — sound coming from all around you. Here, you can move your head or even change locations in the room to hear how the experience shifts.”

Young encouraged audience members to move throughout the space to discover how perspective and position alter what they hear.

“Utilizing this space opens up new parameters for us to think about while composing. And not only for our own inspirations,” Corthey says.

Looking ahead, plans for the space include adding screens and projection paint for visual media, flexible seating configurations and expanded use across departments.

“The space will serve as a venue for experimental performances and collaborative intermedia projects,” Huebner adds.