Interface[s] Montréal

Digital Sound

Dominique Bassal

empreintes DIGITALes

Electroacoustics, mastering & surround

View the presentation [In French]

Unconfined by either the classical or contemporary instrumental tradition- which is more constrained than most believe- and free from any prescribed functional role, electroacoustics lends itself particularly well to the most audacious mastering techniques, and the most creative spatialisations. The technical restrictions imposed by consumers' expectations for conventional musical sensations is demonstrated with audio examples, alongside an illustration of the radically different spectral, spatial, and dynamic profiles that electroacoustics makes possible. The current limitations of this creative explosion are also touched on, as they arise from the attitude of the music industry, from technical problems due to the variety of possible listening situations or an insular inclination in the milieu itself, since any potential emergence for this music will not come about unless a certain professionalization is achieved in its production.

A sound engineer and composer, Dominique Bassal discovered electroacoustic music at a time when it embodied the cutting edge of music production techniques. One of the first “all-digital” arrangers in Montreal, he worked as a studio manager and producer, transposing methods from the avant-garde to the technically conservative pop production world. But in the mid-eighties, the music industry began to take the lead in the exploitation of technological breakthroughs, in production as well as in mastering. Upon his return to electroacoustics, in 2001, Bassal found himself essentially invested with the inverse “mission”: to transfer know-how back to a genre debilitated by under-financing and academic isolation. In these circumstances, he published The Practice of Mastering in Electroacoustics, and is now mastering new releases from the electroacoustic label empreintes DIGITALes both in stereo and in the 5.1 format..