Intermedial Interference in Electroacoustic Audiovisual Composition

1 Jan 2024 — Antonino Chiaramonte (2024)
intermedial interferenceaudiovisual compositionelectroacoustic musicpractice-based researchmusique concretevisual music

Summary

A practice-based PhD thesis presenting a portfolio of six electroacoustic audiovisual compositions alongside a written commentary that introduces the concept of “intermedial interference.” Chiaramonte borrows the metaphor from wave physics: just as two waves can interfere constructively (amplifying each other) or destructively (cancelling each other), sound and moving image in audiovisual composition can combine in ways that reinforce a unified perceptual experience or disrupt it, creating tension and contrast. The thesis traces a trajectory across six works from simple media combination toward deeper intermedial fusion, using autoethnographic reflection to document the compositional process. The musical approach draws on musique concrete (treating recorded sound as raw material), while the visual approach uses abstracted-from-reality imagery to avoid narrative associations. Key concerns include balance between modalities, synchrony and asynchrony, non-narrative temporal structure, and the “intermedial space” where sound and image meet.

Key Contributions

  • Introduces the concept of intermedial interference (constructive and destructive) as an analytical and compositional framework for audiovisual work
  • Maps a trajectory from media combination (sound + image side by side) through media integration (structural sharing) to media fusion (perceptually unified)
  • Demonstrates how musique concrete principles can extend to the visual domain — treating visual material with the same editing, layering, and transformation techniques used for sound
  • Identifies balance between modalities as a primary compositional parameter — not just loudness/brightness but structural weight, complexity, and movement
  • Documents how synchrony operates on a spectrum: tight temporal sync creates immediacy, loose sync allows independent development, deliberate desynchronisation creates productive tension

Methods

  • Autoethnographic, practice-based research — the compositions themselves are primary research outputs
  • Portfolio of six electroacoustic audiovisual works of increasing intermedial complexity
  • Critical reflection drawing on intermediality theory (Rajewsky, Ellestrom, Bolter & Grusin)
  • Analysis of own works using Ellestrom’s four-modality model (material, sensorial, spatiotemporal, semiotic)
  • Audience feedback collection (informal, not statistically rigorous — more like pilot perception data)

Connections to Active Projects

OrganisedSound: This is the most directly relevant paper to the perception study. Chiaramonte’s intermedial interference framework provides vocabulary for what the raters are being asked to evaluate. When a rater judges “coherence,” they are essentially assessing constructive interference — does the AV combination feel unified? The trajectory from combination to integration to fusion maps onto different configurations of AutoTonnetz output that could be tested. The balance parameter is particularly important: if sound and light are structurally imbalanced in the AutoTonnetz output, raters may perceive less coherence regardless of whether the content is musically valid. This thesis provides theoretical grounding for the survey design.

AutoTonnetz: AutoTonnetz is interesting in the context of this thesis because it generates sound and light from the same source (cellular automata state on the Tonnetz), which means the audio-visual relationship is not composed but computed. This is a different paradigm from Chiaramonte’s hand-composed works. In Chiaramonte’s terms, AutoTonnetz starts at the “fusion” end of the spectrum — the intermedial relationship is structurally determined, not aesthetically negotiated. But the perceptual result may not feel fused to listeners. The gap between structural fusion and perceptual fusion is exactly what the OrganisedSound study aims to investigate. AutoTonnetz could also be modified to introduce deliberate interference (e.g., delay between LED state change and MIDI output, or different CA rules for sound vs light).

Suggested Reading

  • Chion (1994) — Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen (foundational work on audiovisual contract, synchresis, added value)
  • Grierson (2005) — Audiovisual Composition (PhD thesis, earlier practice-based work on AV relationships)
  • Rajewsky (2005) — Intermediality, Intertextuality and Remediation (theoretical framework Chiaramonte builds on)
  • Ellestrom (2010) — The Modalities of Media (four-modality model used in Chiaramonte’s analysis)
  • Cook (1998) — Analysing Musical Multimedia (conformance, complementation, and contest models of AV relationship)