Embodied/Encoded: A Study of Presence in Digital Music

Robert Seaback

Presence in Embodied/Encoded is concerned with the physical and embodied dimensions of musicking in relation to digital-informational representations of such phenomena. I explore presence through practices of recording, creative coding, audio production, and spatial electronic music composition. Of particular interest is the link between presence and the sensual/corporeal aspects of sound production and listening. Research in embodied music cognition and extended reality provide a foundation for this type of meaning formation. In the context of immersive electronic music, I suggest that physical presence – a sense of ‘being somewhere’—emerges not just from images/representations of place, but from peripheral aspects of the (embodied) acoustic experience such as spatial proximity and distance, diffuseness, resonance and reverberation, noise floor, etc. Consequently, musical meaning in “Embodied/Encoded” moves away from the symbolic dimension of electronic sounds toward meaning as an outcome of embodied interaction with the environment. The concept of presence can also apply to ‘mixed’ music, or combinations of acoustic and electronic sources, in which virtual presence is complicated by real bodies and spaces. Digital technology renders sound a flexible, malleable entity—a ‘flickering’ signifier to borrow from Hayles—capable of reconfiguring presence in creative ways. The dance between encoded and embodied dimensions inspires and informs this artistic research. Through a body of immersive music and multimedia documentation, I unpack connections between presence and its digital abstractions.

Embodied/Encoded:

A Study of Presence in Digital Music

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Natasha Barrett and Professor P. A. Tremblay for guidance throughout this project, and for their generosity in sharing tools, methods, and ideas. I am grateful for their continually insightful feedback. It was an honor to be awarded resources connected to Natasha's Reconfiguring the Landscape Project.

Many thanks to the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme for support via the Artistic Research Fellowship from 2020-23.

My sincere gratitude goes to fellow artistic researcher Ingar Zach, whose collaboration over the second year of the fellowship resulted in great progress and many inspiring new musical ideas. Gratitude also to Marika Schultze and Alessandra Rombolà who contributed their individual expertise to the artistic work of the project at the first and last stages respectively.

I thank the Assessment Committee for giving their time and attention to this research: Professors Simon Emmerson, Annie Mahtani, and Trond Lossius. The committee's first evaluation was comprehensive, thoughtful, and well-articulated. I appreciate the opportunity for further elaboration, and I believe the research is stronger as a result.

Finally, most love and thanks to my partner Steph Denardo for supporting me throughout this journey, including frequent trips between Florida and Oslo.

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Robert Seaback - Embodied/Encoded: A Study of Presence in Digital Music - 2024