Infra GCSE Resource

AURAL SETTING
98
THE PERFORMANCE AND REPRODUCTION OF SOUND FOR INFRA
WRITTEN BY CHRIS EKERS
Infra is a piece for live string quintet, solo piano and electronics. The quintet
consists of two violins, viola and two cellos. All instruments including the piano
have microphones placed near them. All electronic sounds and sound effects
are ‘played’ from a computer using digital audio multitrack playback software.
There are seven channels of audio playback as listed below:
1 Music Left
2 Music Right
3 Sound effects Left
4 Sound effects Right
5 SUB
6 Piano click track
7 Strings click track
In performance the first sounds heard are derived from the computer
playback system.
Each musician in the orchestra pit wears headphones to hear a click track,
which cues the musicians when to start playing. The click track is an audio
track of ‘click’ or ‘tap’ sounds, which pulse (on the beat) according to the
tempo of the music. To determine the first beat of each bar a different click
sound is used; all other click sounds are the same.
In Infra, the solo pianist and the string quintet never play together. Two
different click tracks are used so that the relevant musicians only hear a cue
when they need to play,
To do this the click track for the solo piano must start at exactly the right
moment – otherwise, the player may miss the cue. By following the music and
listening to the performance, the sound operator adjusts the playback system
to bring everything into time, by stopping, re-cueing (to a predefined location
point) and immediately playing from that new location.
This all happens in fractions of a second (it’s almost instantaneous) and,
although pre-programmed, requires the intervention by the sound operator to
correctly realign the performance. In short, if the string quintet play ‘fast’ the
playback system must be advanced to the correct point of playback and if they
play ‘slow’ it must be returned to the (same) correct location.
In addition to this manipulation, Max Richter’s instructions are to modify the
sounds played by Cello 2 specifically and the quintet as a whole. As Winter
Journey 5 is played, there comes a point where the music is so intense, it
sounds almost confused or out of control, and to increase this intensity,
electronic distortion is added to the string quintet so that it sounds more like a
chaotic ‘grunge’ band than traditional instruments. At the same time, Cello 2 is
pitch-shifted, so that the true pitch of the instrument is heard an octave lower,
adding real weight to an already powerful ending.
Technical drawing by Max Richter
Once the piece has started the computer playback system runs continuously
through to the end, ensuring a consistent performance every time. However,
there is one occasion (in Winter Journey 5 – Dance Section 6a and 6b) where
playback must be manipulated according to the live performance.
Winter Journey 5 is a string quintet, which builds to a loud, fast and intense
climax immediately followed by a very quiet solo piano piece called Winter
Journey 6. (Dance Section 7a)
Although the string players are listening to the click track and are very
consistent at playing the correct tempo, there is often an element of ‘drift’ in
the time taken to play it. Sometimes it’s played a little faster and sometimes a
little slower and this can be difficult for the dancers to adapt to. However, what
is critical is that the solo piano starts at the correct moment.