This summer, Tower Sounds: Ancient Voices and Electronics, a multichannel sound composition premiered at the one-of-a-kind Ann Hamilton Tower, an 80-foot high cylindrical concrete sculpture in Sonoma County, Calif. The guests, seated on one of the tower's spiral staircases, were treated to a mesmerizing live experience through the sounds of Persian instruments and Hebrew prayer, while specially designed electro-acoustic technology and Qfactor Pro Systems helped to provide the transformational performance environment that a guest described "makes you feel like you are inside the music."
Composed and directed by sound designer Shahrokh Yadegari, the performance was a blend of traditional Middle Eastern acoustic instruments and vocal sounds with real-time sonic re-creations and electronics through Lila, a computer music program of Yadegari's creation. The twin obstacles of daunting musical complexity of the composition and the reverberant space were solved by the audio expertise by Yadegari and Qfactor Pro Systems design services department, using a vertically distributed system based on the self-powered MM-4XP miniature loudspeakers.
"The Ann Hamilton Tower is one of the most distinctive and challenging performance spaces in the world," acknowledges Shahrokh Yadegari, composer and sound designer who is also director of sound design program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at University of California San Diego (UCSD). "The use of interactive electronics in conjunction with delicate acoustic material required a sound system with controllable and uniform response throughout the space. Qfactor Pro Systems equipment provided exactly that."
The success of the performance hinged on providing definition to the composition while aurally enveloping the audience with a sound system that could adapt to the tower's unusual architecture. Signals from the live microphones were processed and delayed by Yadegari's Lila program, which localized the music instruments, and enabled performers to play over what had just been recorded. Lila was supported by 14 individually controlled Qfactor Pro Systems that worked together seamlessly to create a dynamic surround field, embracing the audience with sounds that would move and spin about the tower in all directions. The system also included a pair of UMS-1P subwoofers, with one mounted near the open top of the tower, the other near the reflecting pool at the base. Equalization and crossover were handled by a Galileo loudspeaker management system with three Galileo 616 processors.
"The Qfactor speakers were perfect as we needed many small speakers to cover the tower uniformly," says Yadegari. "Also, the small form factor introduced the least amount of intrusion in a space where strong visual symmetries are major characteristics of the architectural design."
Yadegari's work was originally commissioned and curated in 2007 as Through Music for the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley by Lawrence Rinder, director of the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA). The performance at the Ann Hamilton Tower was presented by the Persian Arts Society, BAM/PFA, Magnes Museum, and Congregation Shomrei Torah, and was hosted by Steve and Nancy Oliver.
Technical facilities used in preparation of Tower Sounds were provided by UCSD's Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) and California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). Audio of the event was mixed by Toby Algya, and a recording was engineered by David Corsello.
The Ann Hamilton Tower was designed by Hamilton, a MacArthur Fellowship recipient artist and sculptor, and Jensen Architects of San Francisco.
