Composing Music for an Ambisonic Dome

Ambisonics is a means of capturing and reproducing audio in three-dimensional 360-degree surround sound, allowing you to create immersive sound environments for VR, XR, and live performance. In this video I share my experience composing a new piece of music for the 5th order ambisonic dome at Arizona State University. I'll take you behind the scenes as a prep for the composition, learn how the ambisonic dome works, and compose the piece.

The world premiere of my new work will be premiered as part of the PRISMS Contemporary Music Festival at ASU, alongside 4 other new pieces.

Details & tickets for the PRISMS Contemporary Music Festival & world premiere concerts:

This project is supported by the Herberger Institute Research Building and Investment Grant (HIRBI) and ASU's School of Art, Media, & Engineering. Special thanks to Garth Paine for appearing in this video, and for all of his work in this field.

Software I mentioned / used in this video:
SPAT Revolution:
ReaVolution:

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro + Overview
00:44 Ambisonics, in a nutshell
2:20 Pre-composition prep
4:46 Process update - Day 1
8:24 Process update - Day 2
12:03 Q+A with Dr. Garth Paine
17:12 Process update - Day 3
20:07 Creative takeaways + final thoughts

Sarah Belle Reid is a Canadian performer-composer, active in the fields of electroacoustic trumpet performance, intermedia arts, music technology, and improvisation.

[sarahbellereid]

Curious about modular synthesis, electronic music, and sound design, but unsure how to get started?
PS: You don't need any special gear to do this—just a computer with VCV Rack (which is free to download).

[andropolonsky]

Great !..ambisonics sounds— is my dream comes trough!..

[jstov]

Just heard it live in the dome! That was amazing 👏

[ohwell]

The way you talk about how the process impacts your curiosity about spatialization in your regular music making practice really resonates with me. It helped me realize that wanting to dive deeper into stereo space as a composition parameter has been bubbling up for me over the last few months. Feels like a lesson I’ve been inching towards in part from listening to Natasha Barrett’s Heterotopia again and again. The way you describe the questions you now ask yourself about specific sounds and their spatial story is such an inviting frame for digging further. Hearing how you approached the challenge for this piece in details was also incredibly instructive. Thank you!

[corticallarvae]

I can only mess around in 3rd order ambisonics but that seems massive I'm in love with the D.A.M.E.as a space and a monitor set .

[DougieD_Funk]

lawd Am I in love? I might be in love I think? Pretty sure I’m in love

[sebastienhlab]

such an interesting contemplation at the end. something i already do when producing/composing but some of the aspects you mentioned where very interesting (ie: where exactly does it come from; has something bumped into the sound and made it appear…). thanks for this profound yet simple reflection

[poulsendean]

Incredible possibilities, never before available, are now here for gifted composers to explore…an exciting time indeed! Can’t wait!!!

[jimjarnagin]

This is too cool Sarah!!! Wish Tempe was a little closer to Austin, I would love to hear what you do with this setup. Good luck!!! 😀

Edit - thanks for the closing words on carrying these ideas over into a stereo space. As always, your words spark imagination and inspiration. 🐐🍇

[BottleMakesMusic]

Fascinating! The idea of the dome is intriguing. I'm sure a second- or third-order dome could be within the reach and capability of the average musician, if enough space was available. I love the geodesic shapes used to make the dome - pentagons and hexagons formed from simpler triangles. I think there is a parallel there to making more complex sounds from simpler starting sounds.

[joelkulesha]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this in a week or tro

[corticallarvae]

The best thing I’ve heard from her or anyone else… bar none

[streamtracker]

I had a conversation at the Fitzroy in Berlin this summer with a few modular artists about how cool it would be to have something like this dome. I'm looking forward to this!

[edwardnixon]

Excellent insights here into process and how it changes when "space" (beyond the Stereo) is brought in. I've found that a viable alternative to the (very expensive) SPAT software and a physical dome of speakers is Reaper in 7O with the IEM plugins (free!) Among the IEM plugins is a very serviceable Binaural decoder that, if you wish, can be configured with a particular headphone profile. It seems like a practical way of doing immersive or spacial music given the far larger number of potential listeners who use computers, tablets or phones to listen. Whereever they might happen to be. I really like your thoughts about how space has become part of the composing... landscape; it does indeed change the whole mindset in a very healthy way. Thanks again for this very useful video.

[GrootsieTheDog]

Just went to a light show where they had an ambisonic structure + light structure where the music and light traveled together throughout the structure. As a side note, it's not the same but the first time I ever heard three-dimensional sound was listening to the single soundtrack (yes, the singles soundtrack from the nineties). My head was right between the two speakers of the boombox (remember those?!) And at the end of one of the songs the music swirls not just left to right around but in a circle back and forth.

[Avaruuskettu]

Thank you for the awesome video! I'm in the process of upgrading my studio to Atmos and seeing the dome is quite humbling. 😅 This video is full of interesting ideas like using Max for immersive audio, and the Flux Spat looks really intriquing piece of software. Did you find what they use the Pacarana for?

[DJ_Cthulhu]

Hmmm, my Zoom H2n can record 4 channel audio. Now I just need an Ambisonic Dome to play it back. Interesting stuff :)

[GOSHacid]

Fantastic stuff. If not already I can really recommend reading Curtis Road’s Composing Electronic Music book which opened my eyes (ears?) to a whole load of spatialisation concepts…the million dollar question, ‘did you get a chance to read that copy of Kyma X revealed / switch on the Pacarana?’ :)

[MrPeyghman]

thats some really good content ! Thank you Sarah for your amazing work

[anlcnar]

Hi. Is there a standard or recommendation document showing speaker placements for 1st, 2nd or 3rd order Ambisonic? Are Dolby Atmos or Auro 3D-like speaker setups also sufficient for monitoring at least 2nd degree ambisonic sound? Thanks