BASILICA (1992)

---

for two or 8 digital soundtracks

The work is based entirely on the bells of the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica in Quebec City as recorded by the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University during a cross-country tour in 1973. The three bells are heard at their original pitch, as well as an octave lower and a twelfth higher, but all of these versions are stretched in time, often to twenty or more times their original duration. The extended versions allow the listener to hear out the inner harmonics inside the bells, and in moving inside the sound it seems as if we are entering the large volume of the church itself.

The piece is an elaboration of a section of the composer's work Dominion (1991), for chamber ensemble and two digital soundtracks, which is based on soundmarks from all across Canada.

Basilica is available on the Cambridge Street Records CD Song of Songs and sonus.ca

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec in Quebec City

Original source recording by the WSP in 1973. The three bells are sounded in descending order, as in the continental European practice of the Catholic church (reflected in the Québec tradition) with various rhythmic permutations. This sequence, and specific parts of it, were stretched with granular time-stretching, thereby turning the internal resonances of the bells into something more closely resembling the reverberant qualities of the church itself. The original pitched version of the stretched bells is combined with transpositions of an octave lower, and a 12th higher, suggesting the sheer volume of the space. Architecturally, the traditional form of the basilica is the shape of a cross, beginning with the long nave symbolizing its lower part, leading to the two arms of the transept and the altar. Therefore, the opening 7.5 minutes of the stretched bells suggests moving down the long nave.

Opening of the piece with the bells granulated, then stretched with transpositions added on the 3rd note (1 octave down, 12th up).

This is followed by a simulated choir based on a sequence of short bell fragments that are stretched to bring out quasi-vocal formants, as if one is standing near the altar.
Finally, we exit the church, to return to the mundane world, symbolized by the way the original bells slow down and end, exposing more of the city ambience as they do. This is achieved by stretching two individual rings until they fade out.

Note: the 8-channel version of this work was created in 1997 with the DM-8 computer-controlled diffusion system which at that time was controlled by a Cue List with commands that directed the input channels to specific speakers as well as allowing clockwise or counter-clockwise movement. At that time, the front speakers were numbered 5 & 6, the back corner speakers were 7&8, with "points of the compass" speakers being 1-4. The basic model for the spatialization is that we begin outside the church, and then move inside it, with the surround sound channels gradually being added. Around 2:50, all of the stretched bell sounds start moving clockwise around the space.

For more details, consult the Production Score, as well as the pencilled Production Notes and the Mixing Score that was used for the original stereo mixdown.

Stereo reduction

Spectragram: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

---

Technical note: The work was realized using the composer's PODX system which uses the DMX-1000 Digital Signal Processor controlled by a PDP Micro-11 computer. The principal signal processing technique involves time stretching of the sampled environmental sound with software for real-time granular synthesis GSAMX developed by the composer in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. Sound densities around 250 events/second were recorded on 8-track tape and mixed down in the Sonic Research Studio at SFU.