What is a Sound Architect
I coined the term Sound Architect to describe the work I do. The "Architectural" component of the term relates to my approach to sound, where I work from the ground up, so to speak, to develop low level manipulations of sound's primary elements. Essentially, I deconstruct, analyze and separate sound by recognizing individual events, elements, or spectral properties, and depending on the situation use the resulting components to modify existing sounds or reconstruct new ones. For example, I might separate a tone into its harmonic or partials or percussive components, and then rebuild those elements into something new.
In the early 90s I created the technology which enabled me to extract an extremely accurate MIDI or DNA Groove Template file from an acoustic performance. These DNA extractions, along with other forms of deconstruction, have allowed me remaster and remix from subtle to extreme manipulations, as well as create custom drone tones, and virtual instruments in the form of sampler patches. To accomplish this type of work a series of proprietary software processes (Mac OS) have been developed and these work entirely in non-realtime mode. These custom processes are not compromised by the limitations imposed by the realtime mode and often take 100-200 times longer than the length of the original sound in order to create the final sound.
Another important component of analyzing a direct sound is understanding its dynamic relation to enclosures. The results allow me to create extremely accurate (non-realtime) re-creations of the actual reverberation of many unique and aesthetically inspiring places, so a recording can be placed virtually into an acoustic setting of your choice. Some of the enclosures I have worked on include the King's Chamber inside the Great Pyramid at Giza, The ancient Pantheon in Rome, Giotto's Bell Tower in Florence, Palladio's San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, the Crypt of the Pantheon in Paris, the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii and the Glen Gould Studio in Toronto, Canada.
As well as interior enclosures, I am interested in the dynamics of natural settings and exterior reverberation locations which I have also recorded and analyzed. Some of these include; The Valley of the King's at Luxor, the Streets of Venice, Ouimet Canyon in Thunderbay, a 4 foot crack in a massive rock formation located along the Northern Shores of Lake Superior, as well as several forests in Canada.
What I am particularly interested in now is applying aspects of the reverberent
signature from sonically moving and visually beautiful spaces to musical
passages in order to evoke harmonically "shadows" of these spaces
in unpredictable ways.