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Dr Peter Batchelor

Job: Senior Lecturer

Faculty: Computing, Engineering and Media

School/department: Leicester Media School

Research group(s): Music, Technology and Innovation Institute for Sonic Research (MTI^2)

Address: 51Âþ»­, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 207 8563

E: peter.batchelor@dmu.ac.uk

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Personal profile

Dr Peter Batchelor is a Senior Lecturer in music and music technology,  Programme Leader of the BA Music Technology, and a member of the Music, Technology and Innovation Institute of Sonic Creativity (MTI2).  He joined the team at De Montfort in 2003.

His creative activities encompass a range of electroacoustic composition and sound-making work, including radiophonic documentary, live-electronics and improvisation, multimedia and large-scale multi-channel installation work. Research interests that arise from this practice include: aural landscape construction in sonic arts practice; sound spatialisation/immersion; theories of space; place and listening as they pertain to sound; audience engagement and public art.

His work has received recognition from such sources as the Concours de musique electroacoustique de Bourges and the International ElectroAcoustic Music Contest of São Paulo and has been presented/performed internationally.

Research group affiliations

Publications and outputs


  • dc.title: Beyond (Richard Steinitz) dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: Beyond (Richard Steinitz Building) (2023) is a multichannel installation produced in collaboration with visual artist Ian Bilson. Consisting of a spherical geodesic structure and containing 40 loud speakers, it builds on research conducted for Beyond (2014) and other previous research surrounding the fabrication of aural landscapes and trompe l’oreille. As in the previous version of the installation, the speakers are conceived collectively as a single sound-producing unit, accommodating the detailed spatial construction of sonic images over the surfaces of the domes. Beyond (Richard Steinitz Building) presents new site-specific compositions which take into account the audio ‘assets’ and idiosyncracies of the Richard Steinitz building at the University of Huddersfield. The presented scenes are designed to extend the sounds of the building, its immediate surroundings and the countryside of the nearby Yorkshire moors, in order to draw the ear outwards and encourage closer listening to the local aural environment.

  • dc.title: Grasping the Intimate Immensity: Acousmatic compositional techniques in sound art as ‘something to hold on to’ dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: This article explores the accessibility of acousmatic compositional approaches to sound and installation art. Principally of concern is the consideration of intimacy to create a means of ‘connecting’ with an audience. Installations might be said to explore ideas of intimacy in two ways which increase accessibility for the installation visitor: through cultivating installation-visitor relationships, and through encouraging visitor-visitor relationships. In either case the experience of intimacy might be said to help to provide ‘something to hold onto’ (Landy 1994). A variety of ways in which various acousmatic compositional techniques relating to intimacy might be brought to bear on, and operate as a way of drawing a listener into a work are explored, in particular as they relate to the consideration of space and spatial relationships. These include recording techniques, types of sound materials chosen, and the creation of particular spatial environments and listening conditions. Along with a number of instances of sound art provided by way of examples, my ongoing GRIDs series of sound sculptures will provide a case study of works related to an acousmatic aesthetic where these concerns find an outlet. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.

  • dc.title: Orbits dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter; Blow, Mike dc.description.abstract: Orbits form the basis of the physical movement of objects throughout the universe, from stars and planets to electrons in an atom. Different forces are at work to create these orbits at different scales, but at all levels the result is to group objects into order, acting against a state of entropy. This installation explores relationships between the order created by orbits and the entropy from which they form. Six rotating speakers are presented within an evolving cloud of sound in the Clore Ballroom, functioning as centres from which sound objects emerge and depart — coalescing and condensing, disintegrating and evaporating. Orbits was produced with support from the Philharmonia Orchestra. It was inspired by Péter Eötvös’s work, Mulltiversum, and scientific discoveries from NASA.

  • dc.title: Through the Looking Glass: Reflectivity vs Transparency; and the embedding of Place through Sound. dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: Presenting electroacoustic music has traditionally involved large spaces and high quality listening environments set up in (very often) architecturally imposing spaces. Recent works of mine involve the development of smaller-scale multichannel environments using affordable speakers and DIY construction techniques. While retaining the capacity for spatial interest and precision in sound localisation, this accommodates much more intimate listening conditions for audiences along, importantly, with portability, which in turn allows the presentation of rich multichannel sound worlds in settings far removed from the normal concert situation. Such environments encourage consideration of how sound materials appropriated from life might be experienced when, after creative/compositional intervention, they are reinserted back into life (the real world). This in turn invites exploration of ‘rhythm[s] between transparency and reflectivity’ (Bolter and Grom (2004)) of the artistic ‘interface', where the boundary between real and unreal sound environments become ambiguous, and consideration of how musical space might be reconceived in terms of its relationship with place.

  • dc.title: Cascade dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: Much of my research to date has been concerned with the relationship between acousmatic compositional practice and sound art. In Batchelor 2015, I attempted to identify some potential overlaps and compatibilities between these two apparently incompatible forms which might prove fruitful when applied to broader, Sound Art-related practice. A not inconsiderable part of my discussion concerned the relevance of acousmatic music to a wider listenership, and how such work might be brought to new audiences. I argue that there is much to be gained from the application of acousmatic compositional techniques and practices to sound art contexts, and that detailed ‘musical’ as well as referential listening might be encouraged in real-world contexts if appropriate strategies are implemented to accommodate it. One of the aspects of acousmatic music most immediately compelling to the uninitiated listener is the deployment of sound in space. However, the large-scale coordinated multichannel speaker arrays required for the high-quality presentation of acousmatic works are usually seen as the preserve of institutions who can provide the resource required for reliable, high quality signal processing and sample-accurate digital audio conversion. Recent developments in low-cost computing, however, allow affordable distributed networks which, while requiring certain compromises and modifications to workflow, can nevertheless accommodate rich acousmatic soundscape generation over multiple channels at a relatively low cost. This in turn permits the development of particularly extravagant multichannel arrays. As such, since 2004, I have been developing a series of works, collectively entitled GRIDs, comprising such affordable, user-defined multichannel arrays. These are sculptural insofar as they are physical, navigable objects comprising geometric configurations of many (in some cases potentially hundreds of) loudspeakers. Being so massively (and geometrically) multichannel, they permit the generation of extremely intricate and immersive spatial sound environments, which encourage ambulatory investigation and scrutiny. My approach to the composition of material for all of these environments has emerged directly from an acousmatic compositional aesthetic and associated spatialisation practice, employed with a view to exploring how listeners might engage with constructed image space (e.g. experiencing it through, beyond, or within the physical object). The current work, Cascade (2018), presents a flat-panel array of 256 small loudspeakers suspended in a 16x16 array above the listener. The volume of speakers is accommodated by the use of affordable technologies as described above—in this case, networked Raspberry Pi computers and cheap multichannel gaming interfaces. Aside from exploring the technical and aesthetic challenges inherent in managing such volumes of loudspeakers with a view to creating a coherent spatial sound environment, the installation seeks, through a series of short compositions, to consider the deployment of acousmatic compositional materials and strategies across the ‘flat panel’ speaker space. Batchelor, P., 2015. Acousmatic Approaches to the Construction of Image and Space in Sound Art. Organised Sound, 20(2), pp.148-159. For further information: http://www.peterbatchelor.com/cascade

  • dc.title: Beyond dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: A series of geodesic spherical structures with speakers placed in the vertices between the triangular panels of each. Listeners sit within the domes, experiencing sound circumferencially and distally—always outwards/surrounding. The spheres are designed to be unenclosed and thus acoustically transparent, enabling a listener within to experience the soundscape beyond the playing loudspeakers (ideally a park or other outdoor public space) as an extension of that presented by the dome itself. This work emerges logically from previous REF outputs Studies on Canvas (REF2007) and DOME (REF2013).

  • dc.title: Acousmatic Approaches to the Construction of Image and Space in Sound Art dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: This article considers ideas of image and space as they apply to acousmatic music and to sound art, establishing overlaps and compatibilities which are perhaps overlooked in the current trend to consider these two genres incompatible. Two issues in particular are considered: compositional (especially mimesis and the construction of image, and what shall be termed ‘ephemeral narrative’) and presentational (in particular multi- channel speaker deployment). While exploring several relevant works within this discussion, by way of a case study the article introduces the author’s GRIDs project – a series of four multichannel sound sculptures united in their arrangement in geometric arrays of many (in some cases potentially hundreds of) loudspeakers. These permit, by virtue of being so massively (and geometrically) multichannel, the generation of extremely intricate spatial sound environments – fabricated landscapes – that emerge directly from an acousmatic compositional aesthetic. Owing to their alternative means of presentation and presentation contexts, however, they offer very different experiences from those of acousmatic music encountered in the concert hall. So the latter part of this article explores the various ways in which the listener might engage with constructed image space within these sound sculptures, along with the relationship of the audio content of each with its visual and situational setup – that is, its environment.

  • dc.title: The intimate and the immersive in grids: Multichannel sound installations. dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter

  • dc.title: Kaleidoscope: Cycle (multichannel electroacoustic compositions, 2013) dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: Fissure (2006) [completed prior to REF period; submitted for RAE 2008] Nebula (2012) Pulse (2013) Fuse (2013) This series continues my exploration of spatialisation strategies in the composition of multichannel acousmatic music, presenting immersive sound fields that are spatially and musically coherent irrespective of audience position/orientation. It employs strategies of spatial deployment that involve peripheral, rotational, oppositional and envelopment activities and relationships (in contrast to left/right and back/front) such that listeners receive similar subjective weightings (relative levels) of front, sides and rear wherever they are situated (even if the positions/trajectories of spatial gestures are perceived uniquely by each). Collectively the works explore the idea of elemental cyclicity, pursuing a narrative from fragmentation (Fissure), through fragment deployment across particulate structures and periodicity (Nebula, Pulse), to reconstitution (Fuse). Through this narrative, the works deal with well-established concerns of acousmatic compositional practice, enhanced by the above spatialisation strategies. For example, each piece focuses on one of four stages along an articulation continuum identified by Smalley: Fissure on predominantly attack characteristics and discrete events, Pulse on impulse and iteration, Nebula on granularity, and Fuse on effluvium. Spectromorphological characteristics relevant to a work’s position on the continuum are enhanced by their spatial deployment. Issues of aural/mimetic discourse (Emmerson) are also explored: poetic implications of each title play out through the chosen source materials and their treatment, and the works frequently transition between recognition and non-recognition, often allying anecdotal materials alluding to physical processes or states with musical equivalents (e.g. openness and closure, anacrusis and cadence). The ability to fabricate sound landscapes such that ‘the walls disappear’ within a concert environment is facilitated by the spatialisation techniques applied to the materials, facilitating the transformation of and transition between these landscapes.

  • dc.title: Lowercase Strategies in Public Sound Art: celebrating the transient audience dc.contributor.author: Batchelor, Peter dc.description.abstract: Public art invariably involves the drawing of individuals into the roles of audience and participant by virtue of it being in the public domain – in public places where those individuals are getting on with their everyday lives. As such, a large proportion of the ‘audience’ is an unwitting one, subjected to the art rather than subscribing to it. This is equally true of public sound art, where response to an intervention may vary from engagement to non-engagement to indifference to unawareness, along with a variety of transitional states between. This essay seeks to investigate this ambiguous territory in public sound art, proposing it both as an area rich in possibility for creative exploration and as a means by which artists may reveal and encourage sensitivity to the existing characteristics of a site (thus accommodating the pursuit of agendas relating to acoustic ecology). In particular it investigates and presents a case for the use of lowercase strategies in sound art as ways in which the public might be invited into a dialogue with works (invitation rather than imposition) and thus empowered as partakers of public sound art.

Key research outputs

  • (288 channel installation — speakers arranged in cylindrical columns) (2020)

  • Batchelor, P., 2019. Grasping the Intimate Immensity: Acousmatic compositional techniques in sound art as 'something to hold on to'. Organised Sound, 24(3), pp.307-318.

  • (6 channel installation — speakers on rotating arms) (2019)

  • (256 channel installation — flat panel arrangement) (2018)

  • (40 channel installation — geodesic sphere arrangement) (2015)

  • Batchelor, P. 2015. Acousmatic Approaches to the Construction of Image and Space in Sound Art. Organised Sound, 20(2), pp.148-159.

  • — 8 channel acousmatic work (2013)

  •  — 8 channel acousmatic work (2013)

  • Batchelor, P., 2013. Lowercase Strategies in Public Sound Art: celebrating the transient audience. Organised Sound, 18(1), pp.14-21.

  • DOME (26 channel installation — geodesic dome. arrangement) (2012)

  • — 8 channel acousmatic work (2011)

  • Batchelor, P. 2007. Really Hearing the Thing: An Investigation of the Creative Possibilities of Trompe L'Oreille and the Fabrication of Aural Landscapes. EMS Proceedings 2007.

  • — 8 channel acousmatic work (2006)

  • — 30 channel flat-panel installation (2004)

  • Kaleidoscope: Arcade — 12 channel acousmatic work (2004)

Research interests/expertise

Music composition (electroacoustic, acousmatic), installation art, public art, multichannel sound deployment, trompe l’oreille.

Areas of teaching

  • Audio Production
  • Sequencing
  • Synthesis and sound design
  • Critical studies
  • Programming using Max/MSP
  • Composition and creative work
  • Sound spatialisation
  • Installation Art

Qualifications

  • BMus—University of Wales, Bangor (1996)
  • MPhil—University of Wales, Bangor (1997)
  • PhD—University of Birmingham (2004)

Courses taught

  • Introduction to Studio Production
  • Sound Analysis & Perception
  • Sequencing & Synthesis
  • Presentation & Promotion
  • Research Project
  • Personal Practice
  • Installation Art & Environments
  • Spatial Audio Production

Honours and awards

  • Finalist in the Sounds Electric ’07 Competition, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland 
  • Mention in the 'Quadrivium' category of the 34e Concours Internationaux de Musique et d'Art Sonore Electroacoustiques de Bourges 2007
  • 2nd Prize in the CIMESP'99 competition, São Paulo, Brazil
  • Mention in the 'Quadrivium' category of the 25e Concours de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges 1998
  • Prize in the 'Residences' category of the 24e Concours de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges 1997
  • Honourable Mention in the CIMESP'97 competition, São Paulo, Brazil

Membership of external committees

International Computer Music Association

 

Projects

Co-Investigator: Sensing the Forest (AHRC Early Career Research Grant)

Conference attendance

Keynote Presenter

  • Batchelor, P. 2015. A view to somewhere in space: multichannel acousmatic music outside the concert hall. Keynote talk presented at VOLUME Sound & Spatiality Festival, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.

Invited Talk

  • Batchelor, P. 2023. MAKE(R) SOUND: Affordable technologies in the creation of (acousmatic) sound art. Creative Coding Lab, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield. 

 

  • Batchelor, P. 2018. Encounters in space and place: immersive environment construction for the concert hall and beyond. Bournmouth University

  • Batchelor, P. 2017. Through the Looking Glass: Reflectivity vs Transparency; and the embedding of Place through Sound. Paper presented at ARCTIC SOUND & NATURE Conference 2017, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi.

Reviewed Conference Papers

  • Batchelor, P., 2019. Democratising Sound: Low-Cost Solutions for Acousmatic Sound Art Production. Convergences 2019 Conference, De Monfort University, Leicester.

  • Batchelor, P. 2015. From Spaces to Places: multichannel acousmatic music outside the concert hall. Paper presented at BEAST FEaST 2015, University of Birmingham, Birmingham.

  • Batchelor, P. 2014. Evaluating Acousmatic Compositional Strategies within Public Sound Art. Electronic Music Studies Network Conference, Berlin.

  • Batchelor, P., 2007. Fabricating Aural Landscapes: some Compositional Implications of Trompe L'oreille. Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference.

Current research students

PhD First Supervisor

  1. Stefano Catena -- The Language of Music in Space: A Study ofListeners' Perception to Develop a New Vocabulary of Sound Movement (M4C Scholarship)
  2. Cristiana Palandri -- Objectifying sound-based composition: exploring multisensory perception and audience engagement (M4C Scholarship)
  3. Michael Uwins -- Turning 360°: Enhancing the listening experience of vinyl using ambisonic surround technologies.
  4. Stewart Worthy -- Beyond the Veil: Revealing the Hidden Qualities of Objects and Spaces through Electroacoustic Audiovisual Experiences

Professional esteem indicators

Reviewer: Organised Sound

 

Other forms of public presentation

(selected recent performances/presentations)

15-18 Feb 2023 — Electric Spring Festival 2023, Richard Steinitz Foyer, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield (Beyond: Richard Steinitz)

17-20 Jun 2020  — Accepted for EMS 2020, a conference run by the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network (Cancelled due to COVID-19) (Contraption)

1-2 May 2020 — Accepted for BEAST FEaST 2020 ‘Come Together’, a conference run by the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (Cancelled due to COVID-19) (Contraption)

1-4 Jun 2019 — CURVE Theatre, Leicester as part of Interfaces Festival (Contraption prototype)

7 Feb 2019 — Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, London as part Music of Today series run by the Philharmonia Orchestra (Orbits)

21-23 Sep 2018 -- Studio 2, PACE Building, 51Âþ»­, Leicester as part of Bringing New Music to New Audiences’ International Conference (Cascade)

26-28 Apr 2018 — Studio 1, Bramall Building, University of Birmingham as part of BEAST FEaST—BEASTopia!, a conference run by the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (Cascade)

5 Mar 2018 — Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool as part of the VOLUME Festival (Beyond: White)

23-24 Jun 2017 — Hugh Aston Courtyard, 51Âþ»­, Leicester as part of Art & Sound Symposium: ‘Craft’ (Beyond: Willow)

1-3 Nov 2015 — Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland as part of the VOLUME Festival (Beyond: White)

6-13 Jun 2015 — CURVE Theatre, Leicester as part of the Make||Sound Festival (Beyond: White)

6-13 Jun 2015 — Highcross Shopping Centre, Leicester as part of the Make||Sound Festival (Beyond: Fire)

30 Apr-2 May 2015 — Bramall Foyer, University of Birmingham at BEAST FEaST, a conference run by the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (Beyond: White)

30 Apr-2 May 2015 — Chancellor's Court, University of Birmingham at BEAST FEaST, a conference run by the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (Beyond: Willow)

3-11 May 2014 — Cube gallery, Phoenix Square, Leicester as part of Loss & Gain (Assisting Hearing; Expanding Listening)— an installation focusing on hearing loss by Ximena Alarcon, Peter Batchelor, Ian Bilson and Lorenzo Picinalli (Beyond: White)

09-14 Sep 2012 -- International Computer Music Conference, Jakopic Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia (DOME installation)

11-14 Jul 2012 -- Sound & Music Computing Conference, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark (DOME installation)

13 Mar 2012 -- Invited concert, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, UK (Kaleidoscope: Fissure; Nebula)

04 May 2011 -- HYDRA electroacoustic music and video concert, Paine Hall, Harvard University (Kaleidoscope: Arcade)

30 Oct 2010 -- Jugendzentrum "mon ami", Weimar, Germany (Kaleidoscope: Arcade)

27 May 2010 -- Greek Orthodox Church, Old Fortress, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece (Kaleidoscope: Fissure) 

29 Jul 2010 -- Inventionen 2010, Elisabethkirche, Berlin, Germany (Kaleidoscope: Fissure)

06 Feg 2010 -- Soundings, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh (Kaleidoscope: Fissure)

06 Jun 2009 -- Sound Junction 2009, University of Sheffield, Sheffield (Kaleidoscope: Fissure)

April 2009 -- Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland (Kaleidoscope: Fissure)

11 Jan 2008 -- 25 yrs BEAST, George Cadbury Hall, Birmingham, UK (Kaleidoscope: Fissure)

07 Feb 2008 -- ÉuCuE: serie XXVI series, Salle de concert Oscar Peterson, université Concordia, Montreal, Quebec (Kaleidoscope: Fissure; Kaleidoscope: Arcade)

29 Feb 2008 -- Sonic Space, SEAMS (Society for Electroacoustic Music in Sweden), Fylkingen, Sweden (Kaleidoscope: Arcade)

29 Apr 2008 -- ElectriCity, The Great Hall, City University, London (Kaleidoscope: Fissure)

15 Aug 2008 -- VII BIMESP 2008, SESC Vila Mariana, São Paulo, Brazil (Kaleidoscope: Arcade)

25 Nov 2008 -- LA Sonic Odyssey, Pasadena, CA, USA (Kaleidoscope: Arcade)

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