PHOTO : BRUNO DESTOMBES
MUTEK 21
some initial reluctance to put the software to use . Once they did , however , they were impressed by both the ease of use and the impact it provided .
One of the engineers who created their own map was Mathieu Parisien , longtime FOH mixer for Patrick Watson , who was performing with a live band . “ I wasn ’ t sure about it and we didn ’ t really have a lot of time to set up .” Additionally , Parisien says , Watson was performing some new material for the first time in public – raising the stakes when it came to the application of a new tool . “ But I was able to make Spacemap GO work pretty rapidly ,” he adds , explaining that he created a map that combined elements of two pre-programmed presets .
“ I only used two or three patterns ; one that was pre-programmed that would move sound slowly around the room that I used for ambient moments , another that was essentially a ping pong effect , and one I drew myself . I used that for one special moment in one song , so it would start surrounding the room slowly and then go into the other ‘ ping pong ’ pattern . I ’ ve found that sometimes these kinds of things can sound gimmicky . It ’ s like when you mix an album and process everything too much ; it doesn ’ t feel right . But this did the opposite . It worked out really well . I was surprised at how easy it was and I really enjoyed it .”
Of all the engineers at SAT , Dieulangard spent the most time on Spacemap GO . Most often he was receiving a stereo mix , but there were exceptions and he used
Softcoresoft performing at SAT during MUTEK 21
the software in both situations . “ I used it for the whole week every night and , after I got used to it , I was thinking it might be really cool for an engineer in a venue who ’ s there regularly , and for installations and galleries .” His usage depended on what type of music was performed at any given time . He also drew his own maps – one being a circular map that slowly moved the sound around the room clockwise , and another was a spiral moving counterclockwise . “ I was blending the two of them depending on the sound ; fitting them to the music – which I hadn ’ t heard before the shows – on the fly .”
For MUTEK , the idea was to keep the pre-programmed maps simple and visually represent the space and speaker layout . But multiple maps can be overlaid in the app in much the same way layers are used in Photoshop . For example , Fehrmann explains : “ You might build a spacemap that just uses the lateral speakers , and a second spacemap that will just be the ceiling speakers . In order to move between them you simply crossfade between the two . The beauty of the app is you can draw your own trajectories .” Those , he adds , could be anything – drawing any shape or figure , even your own signature , and all can be altered in real time . “ It ’ s designed for a live environment but can also be played back and re-called via OSC and third-party controls .”
Early access to the platform has been provided to a number of beta-users and deployed for various events , which has resulted in fine-tuning in response to those users ’ feedback , Fehrmann says , citing a recent tweak to the solo / mute functions for a given map or set of maps . “ When you ’ re in a live environment you don ’ t want to [ accidentally ] press the solo button while you ’ re mixing , so we ’ ve introduced locking controls to lock down the solo buttons so they can ’ t be pressed in a live show . And this is on a per iPad basis , so if you have multiple iPads , you can lock things out differently .” Additionally , any channels in a mix can be set so they are not controlled by Spacemap GO at all . And , for those without a Galaxy on hand , he adds : “ The beauty of this is that it can also be programmed off-line by creating an instance of Galaxy in Virtual Compass – basically a virtual Galaxy that you can use to pre-program your entire show before you even get to the venue .”
At Place des Arts the system was comprised primarily of Meyer Sound ’ s Lina loudspeakers – a new addition to the company ’ s offerings and the smallest and lightest components in the Leo family . In Cinquième Salle , eight Lina loudspeakers were deployed per side , along with two Ultra-X40 front fills , and six 900 LFC subs flown at roughly the same level as the Lina line array . “ We hung the subs in a cardioid configuration and were able to steer the low-end frequency all the way down to the first row of seats ,” says Gaetan Bouffard , Cinquième Salle ’ s house audio engineer . “ The sub coverage of was pretty consistent ; within 3 dB from the nose of the stage to the last seat in the hall , which was perfect for electronic music .”
The 900s have so much power and we had plenty of them so there was no issue covering the whole venue ,” he continues . “ We put them in a cardioid pattern to get the sub wave to tilt to match the coverage of the room even better . Normally I have a pair of USWs rigged on the roof with my normal PA , but they ’ ve been there , I think , since the opening of the hall in the 1980s , so they ’ re getting a little bit used by life .”
“ Meyer Sound is a very good fit for electronic music due to the linearity of the system and especially the subs ,” OneWave ’ s representative adds . “ People tend to forget that sub-frequencies aren ’ t only a frequency range , they ’ re also musical notes and tones . Some subs only reproduce the frequency they ’ re ported at . With these boxes no single low frequency – no musical note – will be louder than another . Therefore , they offered a particularly musical solution for MUTEK ’ s range of experimental performers and their music .
28 PROFESSIONAL SOUND