This paper will present methods for the analysis of form-building patterns in general, formulating analytical principles across stylistic borders. We will demonstrate the use of two selected analytical tools on a specific work by the Swedish composer Åke Parmerud. We identify, firstly, time-fields which describe the segmentation of form sections and, secondly, dynamic forms tracing the perceived directions of energy flow. Eventually we will discuss a semiotic interpretation of the music analysed. The present paper is a continuation of two previous papers that have presented conceptual and graphic tools for an aural, spectromorphological analysis of music. The first paper, published in Organised Sound 12/2, demonstrated the spectromorphological categories for the transcription of sound objects (level one). The second paper, published in Organised Sound 14/3, demonstrated their application, and expanded the scope of analysis through a discussion of the Schaefferian terms of values/characters.

Mixed works combining live performance with non-live sound sources projected over loudspeakers are commonplace in the field of electroacoustic music. A peculiarity of the mixed-work experience is that only some of the sound sources are seen, while many others may be heard. Consequently, a perceptual dissonance often arises between visual and aural stimuli, drawing particular attention to the relationship between the live and non-live components. Such a heightened perceptual focus on relations suggests the need for an analytical framework and terminology. This paper proposes a multidimensional framework of relations between live and non-live component pairs in mixed works, which can both serve as a model and foundation for analysis as well as provide composers with pathways of relations available under certain conditions.

Acousmatic music is heavily informed by a central duality which lies at the heart of the art form, between the musical layer on the one hand, and the narrative layer on the other. Emphasis shifts between these two layers, and they interact to construct further layers of meaning. In his book Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation, David Huron proposes that our responses to musical stimuli are in fact identical to our responses to real-world stimuli, and follow the same processes. This appears to negate somewhat the dichotomy of musical and narrative layers. We propose a shift in perspective away from a vision of parallel musical and narrative layers, and towards a dualism built from staggered response times to different aspects of the same material.

By comparison to contemporary artists in other disciplines, such as the visual and literary arts, composers of sound-based art and electroacoustic music sometimes appear strangely diffident in articulating their motivations in other than material-based terms, or at least seem so within scholarly debate. Reception-based investigations (such as Weale 2005) seem either at a relatively early stage or understandably inconclusive, with an emphasis on how the listener accesses, or might access, the work. While this might appear a semantic nicety, I suggest that it could be fruitful to proceed instead from considerations of how the work might ‘access’ the listener, via considering diverse experience, rather than direct associative responses to sound, as material that is organised in both creating and listening to sound-based work – and by whom left open to negotiation.

This article examines the possibilities afforded by the use of ecological models in electroacoustic compositions within a semiotic framework for composition. The ecological model is defined and distinguished as a signifier which is recognised through its syntax, and is examined in relation to theoretical writings in the field of electroacoustic composition, as well as approaches adapted from ecological psychology. Several approaches to ecological models – most significantly, those explored by Keller and Barrett – are surveyed while focusing on both technical and conceptual approaches. Finally, the author suggests new compositional possibilities and modes of engagement using ecological models, specifically through the lens of a semiotic framework and relating to the hybridisation of signs afforded by manipulation of computer models – illustrated through the author’s recent compositional work.

This paper contrasts three composers’ relationships with the ‘natural’ and the uses of chance in electroacoustic works which follow from these relationships. John Cage is well known for use of chance methods as an organising principle in his works from the early 1950s onward, based on a professed desire to reflect ‘nature’ in art. Cage’s close colleague David Tudor presents a quite different relationship to the ‘natural’ in his live-electronic music, showing distinctly non-Cageian uses of chance means. Alvin Lucier, whose interaction with Cage and Tudor as a young ‘experimental’ composer was important, frequently describes his work as having a close connection to the ‘natural’, but shows a third quite different way of allowing this relationship to inform his work.

This article examines the use of Complexity Theory as an inspiration for the creation of new musical works, and highlights problems and possible solutions associated with its application as a compositional tool. In particular it explores how the philosophy behind Complexity Theory affects notions of process-based composition, indeterminacy in music and the performer/listener/environment relationship, culminating in providing a basis for the understanding of music creation as an active process within a context. The author presents one of his own sound installations, Cross-Pollination, as an example of a composition inspired and best understood from the philosophical position as described in Complexity Theory.

A computational analysis of temporal patterns of acoustic intensity is applied to a series of recorded electroacoustic works in order to discern whether there are recurrent patterns in the intensity rise–fall structure. The works range from 1962 (Xenakis) to 2001 (Normandeau), and include composition and improvisation, large-scale (>25 minutes) and small-scale (<2 minutes) pieces, and acoustic, electronic and manipulated and synthesised sound. Contrary to Huron’s 1991 finding of long and gradual crescendi compared to short and abrupt decrescendi in classical music notation, it is found that in successive rise–fall events the rise phase (crescendo) is commonly shorter than the fall, and has a greater absolute rate of change of intensity than the fall. Correspondingly, crescendi occupy a smaller portion of the piece than decrescendi. When categorised into dynamic steps (such as p, mp, mf etc.), crescendi are usually less numerous than decrescendi. The results are considered from a cognitive point of view, in that this structuring may influence and thus result from listener attention and arousal patterns; and from a creator/performer point of view, in that embodied or virtualised effort may be key to the impact of an electroacoustic piece.

A comparison is made between two systems of real-time sample selection using timbral proximity that has relevance for live performance. Sound files in large sample libraries are analysed for audio features (amplitude RMS, spectral centroid, spectral flatness, and spectral energy using a Bark auditory modeller), and this data is statistically analysed and stored. Two methods of organisation are described: the first uses fuzzy logic to rate sample similarity, the second uses a self-organising map. The benefits and detriments of each method are described.

This paper explores the dangers of electroacoustic instruments being lost, from the orphaning of compositions to technological innovations in the field going unnoticed, and presents a case for developing a knowledge base as part of an effort to address these issues. Building in particular on the work of Davies and projects such as EARS, ARiADA and SARA, it explains how taxonomical (hierarchical classification systems) and ontological (more general and in-depth methods for formally collecting information on a domain) approaches should be deployed in this work and outlines some emerging ideas that should be considered when taxonomies and ontologies are developed.