This paper documents a research dialogue, made up of questions and answers, born and guided by work, by practice, through the analysis of which new knowledge with operational significance is obtained. It is trial and error, the nourishment of creation, which is an excellent tool to keep creativity and curiosity alive.
The creative artefact or output is the origin and the end point of this investigation, not least because the questions, and some of the answers, arose with the practice itself.
The practice referred to is sound design for the creation of electroacoustic compositions, the design and construction of sound objects, intended as building blocks for the construction of electroacoustic tracks. The chain of actions leading to the creation of the sound objects becomes a series of case studies, which it is possible to explore the subject of investigation and thus the main research question: is it possible to design and realise less disembodied sound objects? How?
The aim is to understand whether a sound object can develop a less disembodied space for creation and listening than one would expect from electroacoustic sound created, disseminated and experienced mostly in digital format.
Lofi audio production and manipulation techniques are, at the same time, the main tools and the answer to the “how” of this article's question.
The present article
is derived from an excerpt of a section of the final thesis of A.Re.Mus, an artistic research master’s course that took place at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome (IT) and which was realised and coordinated in cooperation with the Orpheus Institute in Ghent (BE).