From Production Format to Research Methodology: Spatial Audio Composition as a ‘New Beginning’ in Listening, Sensing, and Understanding

Saario, Antti ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2912-1354 (2025) From Production Format to Research Methodology: Spatial Audio Composition as a ‘New Beginning’ in Listening, Sensing, and Understanding. In: Innovation In Music 2025 - New Beginnings: From Tabula Rasa to Rip It Up And Start Again, 20-22 June 2025, Bath Spa University, Bath, UK.

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Abstract / Summary

In the rapidly evolving field of immersive technologies, spatial audio is often treated merely as an output format—a final flourish for music production or media distribution. This presentation argues instead for spatial audio as a radical starting point: a research methodology that provokes new ways of listening, sensing, and understanding our world. Drawing on post-acousmatic compositional approaches, ethnographic field methods, and radiophonic traditions, this presentation proposes spatial audio composition as an inherently critical and creative practice that reconfigures how we document and interpret cultural narratives.

By integrating spatial thinking at every stage—from initial field recordings and interviews, through to fixed-media production and final presentation—we move beyond the normative ‘record-and-mix’ workflow. This approach foregrounds embodied, situational listening: capturing not just sounds, but the relationships between them, the places they inhabit, and the communities who sustain them. Thus, spatial audio composition becomes a tool for knowledge production and meaning-making and reframes the composer’s role as both researcher and mediator.

The paper draws on a developing series of “sonic portrays” of Cornish men—individuals whose voices and lived contexts form the raw material for immersive sonic ‘portraits’ – which is part of my E3 funded project ‘Disappearing Voices, Disappearing Spaces: Safeguarding Heritage Through Immersive Technologies and Community Voices’ for Falmouth University’s Centre for Blended Realities. Building on previous fixed-media works, these new pieces adopt a post-immersive perspective in which every step of the compositional process is informed by spatial awareness. By emphasising the dynamic interactions between location, voice, and listener, the project aims to evoke a deeper sense of presence, empathy, and engagement with participants’ stories.
This research resonates with the conference theme by positing spatial audio as a ground-up reimagining of how composition can serve as a rigorous mode of inquiry.

Rather than simply refining existing paradigms, a post-immersive methodology ‘rips up’ conventional boundaries between documentation and artistry, allowing new modes of critical reflection and communal experience to emerge. As such, spatial audio ceases to be the end-point in production and becomes a transformative lens for understanding cultural phenomena, reshaping artistic practice, and envisioning new ethical and inclusive frameworks for immersive media. Through discussion of compositional strategies, fieldwork techniques, and theoretical underpinnings, the presentation offers a blueprint for how spatial audio can catalyse a broader shift in how we compose, research, and ultimately re-experience our shared sonic environments.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Spatial Audio Practice-based research Sonic methodology Post-Immersive Sonic portray
Subjects:	Performing Arts > Music & Sound
Department:	Academy of Music & Theatre Arts
Depositing User:	Antti Saario
Date Deposited:	25 Mar 2026 16:21
Last Modified:	25 Mar 2026 16:21
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/6375

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