Marciano Telese: Space In The Mountains

Abstract

My first breath in early morning welcomes space in the mountains. The chant-like calls of this work exploit the unique timbre of Sharon Olde's voice. I analysed seventeen samples of her voice using Fork to determine fundamental pitches. These samples were free vocal gestures that Sharon felt comfortable expressing. My interest was drawn to the sinusoid-like tone of her pronunciation of 'ooooooo', a quality that underlies the spectral character of the entire piece. The melange of sinusoidal tones and vocal 'ooooooo' phrases generates a subtle tension between the original vocal samples and the resynthesised interpretation. The chant cycle is enlivened by a MIDI microtuned drum-roll that tapers into a granular texture. Both are tuned to the same pitch set as the vocal and sinusoidal tones. Low-frequency drones are created by using the scrub technique in Digidesign's Sound Designer by sliding through a granular texture using the mouse of the computer to determine the pitch of the drone: a process analogous to altering the playback speed of a reel-to-reel tape recorder.