The Sound of Existence / Prime / Rest / Saudade

Morphogenesis
Team: B219
Eom Huigeon (엄희건), Kim Seoyul (김서율), Choi Junhyeok (최준혁), Kim Geonu (김건우)

This performance interprets the theme of morphogenesis through the course of a human life. Life begins, moves through experiences and changes, and shapes an individual form that we commonly call a lifetime. We felt that this process was the most authentic expression of morphogenesis.

The work began with a question.

Does the sound energy we create in our lives truly disappear, or does it merely change form and remain in space and time?

If sound is conserved in some form, it becomes a record that bears witness to the morphogenesis of our lives. We found an answer in the first law of thermodynamics. Energy changes form but does not disappear, so the sounds we make also remain through conversion into other forms of energy. We reinterpreted this as The Sound of Existence: a song left behind by the sounds we produce throughout our lives.

Works
The Sound of Existence — Birth and the beginning of morphogenesis
Prime — A period of growth and the release of energy
Rest — Stability following rapid change, and the beginning of a new phase
Saudade — A deep, wistful longing for a past to which we cannot return, and the completion of morphogenesis

Musical content
The overall sound design was built around analog subtractive synthesizers. Using two analog synthesizers from the Oberheim and Sequential families, we designed the main pad, lead, bass and FX sounds ourselves. In particular, we used the distinctive open, clear timbre of Oberheim's SEM filter, together with changes between filter modes, to create synthesizer sounds with a sense of movement. Sequential's Prophet-family filters were used to create softer, thicker timbres for the pads and lower-register sounds.

Rather than repeatedly using the same timbre in each section, we varied filter cutoff and resonance, oscillator waveforms, and combinations of levels to change the density and frequency content of the sound. In this way, structural changes in the music are also expressed through changes in timbre.

We also used wavetable synthesis to change timbre by moving between different waveforms rather than fixing a single waveform. As the music progresses, the waveform gradually morphs so that one timbre changes naturally into another.

For percussion, effects and ambience, we did not rely solely on existing samples. We recorded sounds from actual spaces and objects and used them as source material. In particular, XY stereo recording captured both the left–right placement of sounds and their spatial information. We edited and processed these recordings to create background sounds and effects for the work. By placing electronically generated synthesizer sounds alongside sounds collected from real spaces, we built up the work's acoustic layers.

Technical applications
Synthesizer sounds were played and controlled via MIDI. We designed the timbres by directly adjusting the oscillators, filters, envelopes and modulation parameters of the analog synthesizers. With the Oberheim-family synthesizer, we used the SEM-style two-pole state-variable filter to produce changes in timbre through low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and notch filter modes. With the Sequential-family synthesizer, we focused on its four-pole low-pass filter, adjusting cutoff and resonance to alter brightness and harmonic structure.

For the wavetable synthesizer, we used waveform morphing, changing the position between different waveforms over time. MIDI and automation data varied waveform position, filtering and other main parameters from section to section, producing timbres that continuously evolve over time.

The percussion, effects and ambience collected outside the studio were recorded using XY stereo microphone placement. Two microphones were arranged in an XY configuration to capture sounds occurring in a single space as a stereo image. The recorded sources were edited and processed in a DAW for the work's sound design. This produced sound sources containing spatial information distinct from that of mono sources.

During the live performance, we plan to use a MIDI controller to manipulate effect parameters such as Auto Pan and Auto Filter in real time. This will allow us to directly change filtering and stereo position during the performance rather than depending solely on previously written automation. We also plan to combine live piano and synthesizer playing with hand drumming, creating a performance in which electronic sound processing and instrumental performance take place together.