THE BELLS OF SALZBURG (2018)
for 8 digital soundtracks

This soundscape composition follows the bells in Salzburg over the course of a day, from 7 am to midnight, including the Palm Sunday celebrations where the congregation processes around the cathedral square. On special occasions such as this, the largest cathedral bell, Salvator Mundi, weighing over 14,000 kg, is rung. For many listeners the experience of this work will seem like a memory of such a day.




Consecration of 5 post-war new bells, 1961

The Bells of Salzburg was premiered at the 2018 Crossroads Festival in Salzburg that marked the 60th anniversary of their electronic music studio.

SCENE
Early Morning
Midday
Procession
Priest, Choir, Salvator Mundi
Evening
Full Peal
Midnight
Production Score
page 1
page 2
page 3
page 4
page 5
page 6
page 7
Stereo Reduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Spectrogram
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7

Stereo Reduction

Materials:

All sounds in the piece were recordings made in Salzburg by the World Soundscape Project in March 1975, recorded on a stereo Nagra. A number of bell recordings, from various times of day, including a priest and choir during the Palm Sunday procession, were convolved with themselves using SoundHack to produce various extensions of these rich sounds.

Bell & Other Recorded Sounds Convolved with itself

Original Source Materials
*self
*self*self
Other
High Bell
High Bell*self
High Bell*self*self
High Bell*Low Bell
Low Bell
Low Bell*self
Low Bell*self*self
Low Bell *High Bell
Bell1
Bell1*self
Bell1*self*self
Bell1*Bell2
Bell2
Bell2*self
Bell2*self*self
Bell1*Bell2*self
Choir1
Choir1*self
Choir1*self*self

Choir2
Choir2*self
Choir2*self*self+rev

Hymn1
Hymn1*self
Hymn1*self*self

Priest
Priest*self
Priest*self*self

Salvator Mundi
SM solo*self
SM solo*self*self

Low Bell
Low Bell*self
Low Bell*self*self

Two Bells Low
Two Bells Low*self
Two Bells Low*self*self

Two Bells High
Two Bells High*self
Two Bells High*self*self

Full Peal 1
FP1*self
FP1*self*self
Full Peal 2
FP2*self
FP2*self*self

Full Peal 3
FP3*self
FP3*self*self

Full Peal 4
FP4*self
FP4*self*self

Full Peal 5
FP5*self
FP5*self*self

Full Peal 6
FP6*self
FP6*self*self
FP6*self*self*self

Source Material from the WSP Tape Collection, March 1975:
  • Eur 20.3 various overlapping bells, midnight
  • Eur 21.1 carillon, various bells plus a big bell, 7 am
  • Eur 21.3 bell mixture, more distant
  • Eur 21.4 Domplatz, 11 am
  • Eur 22.3 single rings, noon, Domplatz and child imitating bells
  • Eur 27.1 distant mix of bells and single bell
  • Eur 27.2 St Peter's, two single rings, 8:30 am
  • Eur 27.3 same, more distant, evening
  • Eur 28.2 Salvator Mundi alone
  • Eur 28.3 Domplatz, full peal (used in The Blind Man)
  • Eur 28.4 Palm Sunday service with priest, choir and procession
  • Eur 29.2 Domplatz, 7 pm, Salvator Mundi alone
  • Eur 29.3 Domplatz, full peal (used here)
Spatialization:

All of the convolved files are spatialized with the TiMax2 Soundhub digital matrix mixer with trajectories of Echo based spatial images producing symmetric copies of the signal on either side of the source with reduced amplitudes (which broaden the stereo image to 6 output channels for a stereo pair), using presets such as:

Echo 1
Echo 5
Echo 8

Note: the delays are set constant at the maximum on each channel to avoid a modulation distortion on the sustained bell sounds if ramped, but in  fact, the delays turned out to be unnecessary as their constant value did not produce an echo. However, the layering of several convolved bell sounds recreates the diffuse sound field observed during an actual ring in the confined spaces of the old town.

These trajectories are mapped onto the various convolved sounds independently, such as the counter-clockwise motion of each section of the full peal of bells in this 8 stereo mix for the first 4 sections of the peal, and these 4 stereo layers of the last mix. For each channel in these diagrams, the pairs of faders control amplitude (left) and time delay (right).
Production Score

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