by Gregor Schmitz -

Beurteilung der Masterarbeit von Stefanie Nina Steinbichl

Die Klanglichkeit des Sterbens – Untersuchung zur Anwendung und Wahrnehmung klanglicher Todessymbolik und –stereotypen im Sound Design am Beispiel ausgewählter Filmszenen

Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart – Studiengang Elektronische Medien
Erstprüfer: Prof. Oliver Curdt
Zweitprüfer: Prof. Thomas Görne
28. Februar 2011


Die forliegende Masterarbeit von Stefanie Nina Steinbichl beschäftigt sich mit der klanglichen Dimension des Todes im Medium Film und untersucht, wie sich Todessymbole und -stereotype im Sound Design manifestieren und auf die Wahrnehmung des Publikums auswirken. Aufbauend auf theoretischen Grundlagen aus Film-, Medien- und Musikforschung entwickelt die Stefanie Steinbichl eine eigenständige Analyse klanglicher Ausdrucksformen und verknüpft diese mit einem Hörversuch, der die emotionale Wirkung spezifischer Klänge überprüft.

Die Gestaltungshöhe dieser Arbeit ist auf einem hohen ästhetischen Niveau. Die Autorin analysiert zahlreiche filmische und klangliche Gestaltungselemente mit großer Sorgfalt und zeigt ein gutes Verständnis für die komplexe Wechselwirkung zwischen Ton, Emotion und Narration. Die Darstellung der Beispiele und die Einbindung des empirischen Materials sind formal wie inhaltlich gut gelungen. Hervorzuheben ist auch die Gestaltung des eingereichten Textes. Das Format ist ungewöhnlich, überzeugt aber durch ein ansprechende und gut lesbare Erscheinung.

Die Beschäftigung mit Todessymbolik ist an sich soweit ich das beurteilen kann bereits unzählige Male erfolgt. Der Innovationsgrad der Arbeit liegt hier eher in der Verknüpfung verschiedenster Blickwinkel. Die Untersuchung verbindet unter anderem Ansätze aus der filmwissenschaftliche Theorie, Sound Studies und Wahrnehmungspsychologie. Der empirische Hörversuch stellt eine wertvolle Erweiterung des theoretischen Ansatzes dar.

Hinsichtlich der Selbstständigkeit zeigt die Arbeit ein hohes Maß an Eigeninitiative und Reflexionsvermögen. Konzept, Methodik und empirische Umsetzung sind klar eigenständig entwickelt, und die Quellenarbeit ist sorgfältig dokumentiert. Besonders positiv fällt auf, dass im Anschluss auch eine Reflexion der eigenen Forschungsmethodik efolgt.

Die Gliederung und Struktur der Arbeit sind logisch aufgebaut. Der Übergang von der theoretischen Fundierung über die analytische Untersuchung bis hin zum empirischen Teil ist nachvollziehbar und gut balanciert. Die Kapitel bauen sinnvoll aufeinander auf und führen die Leser*innen Stück für Stück zu den Ergebnissen.

Auch der Kommunikationsgrad der Arbeit ist hoch. Trotz der vielen Ansätze gelingt es der Autorin, ihre Argumentation klar verständlich zu formulieren. Wissenschaftliche Terminologie wird häufig eingesetzt, ohne aber dabei die Lesbarkeit einzuschränken.

Der Umfang der Arbeit ist sehr groß. Der Text enthält eine detaillierte Analyse, umfangreiche empirische Auswertungen sowie ergänzende Materialien in Form von Diagrammen, Fotografien und einer beigelegten DVD (die mir leider nicht vorlegt).

Bezüglich Orthografie, Sorgfalt und Genauigkeit zeigt die Arbeit eine hohe sprachliche und formale Qualität. Zitierweise, Layout und Quellenangaben sind korrekt umgesetzt und die Darstellung der Forschungsergebnisse ist präzise. Der Zitierstil ist jedoch ein anderer als der an unserem Institut präferierte.

Das Literaturverzeichnis bzw. Filmverzeichnis könnte evtl. ein klein wenig umfangreicher sein aber ist insgesamt sauber aufgebaut und spiegelt eine sorgfältige, interdisziplinäre Recherche wider.

by Gregor Schmitz -

Opera meets code: Philippe Manoury’s Die letzten Tage der Menschheit

At our visit at the IRCAM-institute during our Paris-excursion I visited a panel talk, that described the workflow in creating a multi-media opera, that lies at the intersection of traditional opera and contemporary music technology and that struck me: Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The Last Days of Mankind) by French composer Philippe Manoury. Based on the extensive anti-war drama by Austrian writer Karl Kraus, the work premiered at the Cologne Opera in June 2025 and reflects on themes of conflict, media, and societal collapse.

The Material

Karl Kraus wrote Die letzten Tage der Menschheit during and after World War I. The text consists of over 220 short scenes, depicting fragments of daily life, political rhetoric, and journalistic distortion that led to the chaos of the war. Due to its scale and structure, Kraus himself considered the piece impossible to stage in its entirety.

Manoury’s adaptation condenses the material into a three-hour opera. Rather than present a straightforward narrative, the production offers a layered and often disjointed sequence of impressions and reflections. Manoury and director Nicolas Stemann refer to the result as a “Thinkspiel”, a hybrid of the German Spiel (play) and the English “think”, suggesting a theatre of ideas rather than linear storytelling.

Blending Acoustic and (digital)Electronic Practice

Manoury, known for his work with live electronics, collaborated closely with IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in developing this opera. He used tools such as Antescofo, a real-time score-following system that syncs live instrumental input with preprogrammed electronic components, and PureData, a visual programming environment designed for audio synthesis and spatial control.

The system enables audio to follow performers in real time, allowing electronics to respond to spoken text, instrumental timing, and stage movement. Manoury worked with Miller Puckette, the creator of PureData, to develop new modules tailored to the opera’s needs, including a granular speech-processing system that tracks vocal input spatially on stage.

This setup allowed for integration of a full orchestra, live electronics, spoken word, and multimedia, with a focus on flexibility and performer interaction during rehearsals and live performance.

Structure and Staging

The opera is divided into two distinct parts. The first presents loosely chronological scenes from the First World War, focusing on figures such as politicians, journalists, and ordinary citizens. The second part is meant to be a reflection and takes a more abstract and philosophical tone, exploring themes such as violence, historical memory, and self-destruction.

A newly introduced character, Angelus Novus acts as an observer throughout the piece. Performed by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, the character provides continuity and commentary across the fragmented scenes.

The staging involves video projections, live camera feeds, war imagery, and a modular stage design. The visual components are used not for spectacle but to support the opera’s shifting focus and tonal contrasts.

A Contemporary Approach to Historical Events

Die letzten Tage der Menschheit does not aim for easy accessibility. Its structure, sound design, and subject matter are complex and at times demanding. However, the production reflects current interests in combining artistic disciplines and using digital tools to reinterpret historical works.

Rather than retell World War I history, the opera focuses on atmosphere and fragmentation, using both musical and technological language to examine how war, media, and misinformation interact, which in my opinion is as relevant as ever in the face of current events.

Sources:

https://antescofo-doc.ircam.fr

https://www.oper.koeln/de/produktionen/die-letzten-tage-der-menschheit/1018

https://www.philippemanoury.org/8584-2/

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_letzten_Tage_der_Menschheit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG9OFe2IE7A

by Gregor Schmitz -

Building the panner: Implementing the Object and Trigger System

After conceptualizing the panner interface as a core feature of my spatial sound toolkit, the next phase of the project shifted into technical territory. This stage involved developing both the XY panner behavior and a trigger system built directly on top of object positions. In this post, I’ll walk through how I translated the idea into code; using MAX/MSP, Max for Live andJavaScript, creating a mix of visual and hidden logic.

Starting with a simple XY Pad

My starting point was a simple XY pad. At first glance, this seemed like a straightforward way to navigate sound across a room and interact with virtual objects. But I quickly found that in its raw form, it lacked the nuance I needed; it was too binary, too linear. There was no sense of proximity, weight, or sonic gravity between the user and the objects.

So I introduced some kind of attractors.

Introducing Attractors

The new implementation allows each object in the panner to become an attractor within a customizable radius. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each object is placed at a fixed position on the grid; The user can set the position within the interface.
  2. A radius value (default: 0.5; range: 0.5–4 [coordinates]) defines how close the user’s XY slider needs to be in order to activate the attractor. This gets checked via a classic condition.
  3. If the user’s XY position falls within that radius, it triggers the attraction_value abstraction;
  4. This abstraction calculates the distance between the user position and the object using the classic formula:
    d = √([x₂ - x₁]²+[y₂ - y₁]²)
  5. This distance is then normalized between 0 and 1 based on the radius and used to control mapping parameters; in this case, faders that modulate each object’s sound layer.

This system gives users a gradient-based interaction model, where getting closer to an object increases its influence, allowing for more natural and exploratory listening behaviors. To give the creators further possibilities to influence the responsiveness, there is an additional smoothing fader, that allows control over how long panning movements need to take action (100-4000ms).

Trigger System

To complement the panner, I also implemented the trigger system that sits directly on top of the mapped objects.

To keep the patch clean and user-friendly, I wrote a custom JavaScript file;
includeTriggers.js

Using JavaScript in Max/MSP provided me with several advantages:

First of all it allows controlled patch editing without the user needing to dive into patch internals.

Further I could implement accurate placement of the trigger buttons in both the patcher and the presentation mode (which further on equals the UI of the Max for Live-Device).

I could also establish invisible connections to the send object that routes interaction to my event_trigger abstraction.

This script is activated via a simple toggle switch in the user interface. When toggled on, it triggers the following actions:

  1. Finds the correct trigger button templates;
  2. Positions them on top of the corresponding object locations;
  3. Connects them invisibly to the back-end.

When toggled off, a sister script, excludeTriggers.js, removes them from presentation mode, disabling interaction safely without deleting anything.

Using the Max for Live API

When a user activates one of the visible triggers, the event_trigger abstraction takes action. It uses the Max for Live API to launch a clip from Ableton Live’s Session View; playing a sound event specifically assigned to that object.

Each object can hold multiple events, which are randomly triggered using a round-robin system. As pointed out in the previous blog entry, this ensures variation and prevents repetition.

Learning Through the Implementation

This implementation phase was not only functional but also very much educational. Working with Max for Live’s UI elements and the API gave me a much better understanding of the platform’s architecture.

In particular, experimenting with JavaScript within Max/MSP allowed me to see and manipulate the underlying hierarchy of patch elements; something normally hidden from view. It definitely was a somewhat tedious process, that forced me to rely a lot on trial and error, due to a bad documentation. But this experiments resulted in a handful of reusable scripts like e.g. createTriggers.js and deleteTriggers.js, which I may refine further for future iterations. Same thing counts for working with Max for Live. Even though I might not use every approach I have some patches now, that I can easily adapt for other UIs.

Since I already mention, that it’s quite a new challenge for me to work with the idea of a broader usability in mind, some feedback would be really nice: So if you’re working with spatial sound, Max for Live, or experimental interaction systems and would like to test this prototype or collaborate; feel free to reach out.

by Gregor Schmitz -

Building the Panner: Creating an interface for Sound, Space, and Interaction

After thinking about the concept for my sound toolkit, the next step in my development focused on the implementation of a central feature: the panner interface. This module allows both creators and audiences to explore and interact with sound in space, directly connecting objects within a room to specific sonic materials.

Mapped Space and Sculpted Sound

The basic functionality of the panner is simple in concept but provides an intuitive experience: it lets users navigate a mapped room and “find” interesting objects through their sonic feature. These objects are linked to compositional materials; for instance, looping ambient pads that are distributed over all of the objects. As you move across the interface, you transition between these materials, and with that inherently between the acoustic properties of each object, they begin to transform what you hear.

This movement isn’t just technical; it’s compositional. Further the potential is there, that the listener becomes part of the performance, shaping the sonic outcome through their interaction with the panning-position; references for similar ideas and use-cases can be found in spatial audio, game sound, and interactive installation art.

Introducing Triggers

To deepen the interaction, I added another layer to the interface: object-based triggers. These can be placed on top of objects in the room and are activated through user interaction. Each trigger is connected to a collection of sound events; sonic gestures that may be specific to certain objects.

What makes these events interesting is that they can be tailored to the object’s qualities. A metallic object, for instance, might trigger sharp industrial sounds, while a soft, fabric-covered object could respond with warm filtered tones. But of course the creative potential is broad. So for example the compositional logic could be based also on affordances; a concept introduced by psychologist James J. Gibson.

Affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of an object that determine how it could be used. In this context, a desk might afford work or stress, and thus be linked to fast-paced or “busy” sounds.
(Source: Gibson, James J. “The Theory of Affordances” The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979)


Triggers play back events using randomized selection, similar to round-robin techniques used in video games. This ensures variation and prevents the experience from becoming predictable or repetitive; especially useful in exhibition settings, where visitors move at their own pace and may stay for different durations. With just six triggers each holding eight events, you already have 48 sonic elements that can be recombined into an evolving aleatoric composition.

Between Creator Tool and Public Interface

Importantly, this panner isn’t only meant for audiences; it’s also built to serve creators as a composition tool. Implemented as a Max for Live plug-in, I further provide an Ableton Live session template that simplifies the setup, which now consists of the following steps:

  • Load a map of the room.
  • Place objects using the provided visual grid.
  • Begin composing within the sessions structure without worrying about the technical backend.

The final panning interface itself can also serve as a user interface for an audience. The most simple solution for this would be the use of Max/MSP’s presentation mode, which of course already works. This dual-purpose design supports both easy prototyping for composers and a potential for more public oriented contexts like e.g. exhibitions, offering flexibility to musicians, designers, and curators alike.

What’s Next: Integration and Testing

The next planned development steps for this specific elemnt of my toolbox include:

  • Adding OSC integration, so creators can use external XY controller apps (e.g., on smartphones or tablets) to interact with the panner in real-time.
  • User testing with other creators, to gain feedback on interface design, usability, and creative workflows.

As someone used to designing tools mainly for my own use, this phase marks an important shift. Building something for others has pushed me to rethink how I structure code, name parameters, and guide the user. This process has also begun to improve my own workflow, making it easier for me to revisit and repurpose tools in the future.

Closing Thoughts

This latest phase of development has brought together many of the themes I’ve been exploring; from spatial sound and interaction to composition, psychology, and usability. The panner is not just a technical feature; it’s a conceptual lens for thinking about how space, sound, and interface design come together to shape musical experience and my workflow as musician.

by Gregor Schmitz -

Exploring the Edges of Concert Design: Between Practice and Research

Title image: Luis Miehlich, “Cartographies – Ein Halbschlafkonzert (2023) – Pieces for Ensemble, Electronics & Video,” luismiehlich, accessed May 25, 2025, https://luismiehlich.com/.

In addition to developing the idea of a technical tool-set, I’ve started to dig a little bit deeper into the research part of my project, trying to better understand the evolving field the creative and technical work inhabits. What started as an effort to clarify the conceptual underpinnings of my practical project turned into a broader exploration of a field that is, in many ways, still defining itself: concert design.

This term may sound straightforward, but its scope is definitively not. Concert design is not just about programming a setlist or choosing a venue; it’s about crafting the entire experiential and spatial context of a performance. It treats every element of the concert, starting from basic things like the seating arrangements (or why not just laying down for example?) to interactivity, from sonic spatialization to the architecture of the space. Everything is understood as part of the creative material designers can work with.

A Field Still Taking Shape

What struck me early on is how fragmented this field still is, even though there are of course some technical resources in more specific aspects like e.g. stage lighting. But there are only a handful of academic sources that explicitly use the term concert design, understanding it as a more holistic view and even fewer that attempt to define it systematically. Among them, people like Martin Tröndle stand out for their efforts to create a structured framework through the emerging field of Concert Studies. Another name, more in the field of practical work, is Folkert Uhde.

Yet, when looking beyond academic texts, I found countless artistic projects that embody the principles of concert design even if their creators never labeled them as such. Here I want to point out the ambient scene with early experiments and even non-scientific reflections from Brian Eno up until very recent formats from Luis Miehlich for example. This suggests a noticeable gap: while practice is vibrant and evolving, theoretical reflection and shared language are still catching up.

Research Process

To navigate this space, I tried out different keywords relating disciplinary intersections; terms like “immersive performance,” “audience interaction,” “spatial dramaturgy”.

With that I found other fields that may offer interesting works, that are worth getting into:

Theater studies turned out to be a goldmine offering both practical and theoretical insights into spatial and participatory performance. There seems to be a howl tradition featuring big names like Berthold Brecht.

But what really surprised me, even though it might seem obvious, was the relevance of game design. The inherent interactive nature impacts of course the work with sound and music. The spaces were players interact with it might be of virtual nature, still the interaction of recipients with there surrounding has to be thought of during the design process. I think there might be a huge potential to examine as well, though it opens the frame to an extend that exceeds this project.

Future Steps: From Reflection to Contribution

The more I researched, the clearer it became that it is hard to just rely on existing research. A way to deal with that can be to contribute to the field as both a designer and researcher. This could be in the following ways:

  • Provide an overview of the evolving field, both as a practical discipline and as an academic field. This may be a starting point.
  • Reach out to leading voices in the field (e.g., Martin Tröndle, Experimental Concert Research) for interviews. This may lead to the following observations.
  • Identify needs and gaps, from the perspective of practitioners and researchers: What do they lack? What could help them frame, evaluate, or communicate their work?

Ultimately, this could lead to the development of a manual or evaluation guid; something that can serve as a conceptual and practical tool for artists and designers, help them providing to the exploration performative spatial sound and the field of concert design.

From Sound Design to Concert Design

This research journey runs in parallel to my technical development of a spatial sound toolkit (→ previous blog entry), but it also stands on its own. It’s an interesting experience for me, locating my work within a broader context and trying to build some kind of bridge between my individual artistic practice and shared disciplinary structures. This might not be my future field of work, still I have the feeling, I can take this locating approach as a strategy with me and implement in future projects, to elevate them and for better communication towards outsiders.

Sources:

Martin Tröndle, ed., Das Konzert II: Beiträge zum Forschungsfeld der Concert Studies (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2018), https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839443156.

“Folkert Uhde Konzertdesign,” accessed May 25, 2025, https://www.folkertuhdekonzertdesign.de/.

Brian Eno, “Ambient Music,” in Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, ed. Christoph Cox and Daniel Warner (New York: Continuum, 2004).

Luis Miehlich, “Cartographies – Ein Halbschlafkonzert (2023) – Pieces for Ensemble, Electronics & Video,” luismiehlich, accessed May 25, 2025, https://luismiehlich.com/.

“Re-Cartographies, by Luis Miehlich,” Bandcamp, accessed May 25, 2025, https://woolookologie.bandcamp.com/album/re-cartographies.

by Gregor Schmitz -

From Public Piazza to Private Practice: Re-thinking Site-Specific Sound Design

When I first planned my project “Sounds of the Joanneum Quarter”, the goal was ambitious: a site-specific ambient music installation, deeply integrated into the architectural and acoustic landscape of the Joanneum Quarter in Graz. Inspired by these unique sounding conical glass funnels and spatial openness of the site, I imagined turning the piazza into a dynamic concert space; one where the audience’s movement and the physical structures would shape the sonic experience.

However, during this semester a certain “reality check” demanded a shift in direction. Logistical constraints, timing and access issues meant that the Joanneum setting wouldn’t be possible for this phase of the project. Still, this place holds a special place in my heart, because it gave me a lot of inspiration to dig deeper into this topic. Together with my supervisor I brainstormed about re-approaching the topic: how could I scale the core ideas of spatial interaction, site-responsiveness, and ambient composition down to a format that’s more flexible, portable, and even testable at home?


A Scaled-Down Version with Broader Potential

The new direction retains the essence of the original project – interaction, spatial sound, resonance, and ambience – but re-frames it within a more universally accessible framework. Instead of relying on a single, monumental site, the project now aims to create a tool-set for composers and installation-makers, enabling them to transform any room or environment into a site-specific sound installation.

This smaller-scale approach not only makes the concept more versatile regarding the adaptability for different locations, but also supports a hands-on, iterative development process. I can now begin building, testing, and refining the tools at home and FH, implementing a workflow that builds a bridge between research and practice.


Building the Infrastructure: Tools for Room-Scale Sound Art

At the heart of this shift is a technical infrastructure that turns any kind everyday objects within a room into potential sound objects. The toolkit consists of both hardware and software components:

  • Hardware: Contact microphones or measuring microphones as input, and transducers as output
  • Software: A modular environment built in Max/MSP within the Max4Live framework, tailored to site-specific sound creation.

One of the tool-kit’s key features is its ability to identify an object’s natural resonances via impulse response measurements (input). These measurements inform the creation of custom filter curves that can be used to excite those resonances musically (output). In this way, a bookshelf, table, a metal lamp or even a trash-can becomes a playable, resonant sound object.


Interactive Soundscapes in Everyday Spaces

A third component of the tool-set introduces basic interaction mechanics, allowing potential users or audiences to engage with the sound installation. These control objects can be mapped to a digital version of the room (upload of a literal map) and may include for examples:

  • Panners that move sound from object to object.
  • One-shot triggers that activate specific objects.

With these tools, rooms become navigable soundscapes, where UI interaction can influence sonic outcomes, echoing the spatial interactivity originally imagined for the Joanneum Quarter, but within reach of smaller spaces.

schematic view of the framework


From Site to System

While the grand setting of the original concept served as a powerful starting point, the shift toward a modular, adaptable toolkit has opened up new creative and technical possibilities. What began as a site-specific composition approach can now be framed maybe as a site-adaptive system; one that gives myself or others the opportunity to explore the relation between sound, space, and interaction in their own settings.

The essence remains: redefining how music and sound inhabit space. But now, instead of building for one site, I’m building a foundation that others can use in many.

by Gregor Schmitz -

Interactivity in Music: How Listeners Become Part of the Performance

Music is often seen as a one-directional experience—composers create, performers interpret, and audiences listen. However, what if listeners could play a more active role in shaping the music they hear?

Movement as a Musical Element

In conventional concerts, the audience remains stationary while sound moves towards them. In contrast, this project leverages the open public space of the Joanneum Quarter to allow the audience to move through different acoustic environments, making movement an essential part of the musical experience.

This already begins with the Joanneum Quarters being an open public space, people cross during there everyday-life. There is no literal gate-keeping, which allows people to enter end leave the place and therefore the musical piece, whenever they like or stumble upon it.

Further the architectural design of the Joanneum Quarter introduces natural delays and phasing shifts as sound waves bounce off its curved glass structures as well as from the surrounding walls. This means that a e.g. melody played in one location may sound different depending on where a listener is standing. And because of time delays the layering of melodies result differently at different locations. As audience members walk through the space, their perception of the music changes, creating a dynamic and personal auditory experience.

Creating immersion via interfaces

Beyond the organic interaction caused by movement, the project considers additional ways to involve audiences directly in the performance. One may be the installation of interfaces:

By incorporating technical solutions such as speaker controls or digital interfaces, visitors can influence the composition itself. Simple adjustments—such as modifying the volume of different speakers—allow participants to shape their own experience. A more complex approach could involve digital interfaces, such as iPads placed around the space, where participants can select different musical elements for each acoustic funnel, effectively curating their own version of the performance.

    Sources:
    “Joanneumsviertel,”accessed January 22, 2025, https://www.museum-joanneum.at/ihr-besuch/museen-standorte/joanneumsviertel.

    by Gregor Schmitz -

    Sounds of the Joanneum Quarters

    Reimagining Concert Spaces: The Acoustic Landscape of Joanneum Quarter

    Music and spaces have always shared a deep and inextricable relationship. The way sound interacts with space transforms the listening experience. By playing with it consciously we are creating an immersive experience that goes beyond traditional concert settings. This is the core idea behind the “Sounds of the Joanneum Quarters Graz” project—an innovative approach to ambient music and concert formats that redefines how audiences engage with sound.

    The Vision: Transforming Public Spaces into Concert Venues

    The project explores how the spatial dynamics of the Joanneum Quarter in Graz can shape a unique musical experience. Unlike conventional concert halls with fixed seating and predictable acoustics, this public space presents a lively environment where sound can evolve organically. The goal is to break down barriers associated with classical concert settings by offering an open, interactive listening experience that invites both intentional audiences and casual passersby.

    Architectural Influence on Sound

    A key element of this project is the relationship between sound and architecture. The Joanneum Quarter is defined by its distinct conical funnels, made of curved glass with a silk-screen print that filters light. These architectural features create natural acoustic properties that influence how sound behaves within this space. By treating these funnels as integral instruments, the composition can interact with the environment rather than simply existing within it.

    There are two primary compositional approaches considered:

    1. Treating each funnel as an individual instrument, crafting site-specific musical material that resonates with the unique properties of each space.
    2. Creating soundscapes that work across all funnels, allowing listeners to move through the space and experience varied auditory perspectives.


    Sources:
    Nieto Sobejano, “Nieto Sobejano | Project | JOANNEUMSVIERTEL,” accessed January 19, 2025, https://nietosobejano.com/project.aspx?i=4&t=JOANNEUMSVIERTEL;