Spatial Composition is not an entirely new concept; from Varèse’ Poème Électronique, Isao Tomia’s The Planets to the immersive music we experience at museum exhibits today, the element of space (location and movement of sounds) have been explored during the past 75 years. And of course, many music streamers are familiar with the Dolby Atmos mixes that have been at the top of popular music charts over the past couple of years.
Spatial Composition – The New Frontier poster. Research presentation event at Dolby Headquarters for the Audio Engineering Society and the Recording Academy.
Expanding the established elements of music composition (melody, harmony and rhythm), musique concrète brought us timbre – often cited as the 4th element of music – 75 years ago. Through decades of struggle for acceptance, it took a fundamental role in the development of electronic music. Are we at verge of the next musical disruption? Can space become the 5th element of composition?
New research by Julius Dobos reveals that the spatial element is more powerful than just a listening format. The use of space as a compositional tool during the composition process has the power to influence melody, harmony, rhythm and timbre, thus impacting the meaning and emotions of the music itself. Supported by data from his two research experiments and over 200 focus groups listeners, this realization inspired Julius to apply spatial synthesis and spatial composition techniques to several new works. As part of his presentation for the Audio Engineering Society and the Recording Academy, guests will experience the use of space in these immersive compositions in Dolby Atmos at Dolby Lab‘s San Francisco Headquarters on October 9.
If you can’t make it to the premier event at Dolby on October 9th, come to hear Julius’ talk at the AES Long Beach Convention on October 24th. Here you can also read the Spatial Composition research summary and paper.
W2, the sequel to the critically acclaimed forgotten future: W1 album has been in the works for years. According to many, it’s been too long of a wait for a major new forgotten future release, but according to its creator, “good work takes time” – referring to the concept of W2: Time itself. On October 22nd, forgotten future gave an hour-long electronic music concert at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the invitation of Monsoon Festival. The track list included some fan favorites from the W1 and Realignment albums, as well as some W1 tracks not previously performed in forgotten future shows. But the surprise was the world premier of two brand new tracks,Circular Time and Bending Time, from the upcoming W2 album.
forgotten future electronic music performance. Concert footage courtesy of Thanh Viet Production.
“Traveling to Hanoi felt like a time travel to an alternate past on its own, so it was a fitting event to premier the first bits of an album that’s all about the interpretations of Time. The Imperial Citadel is rich in history, the area is full of cultural and textural layers, lots of details… which also characterize the music, so it felt like the right pairing.” – said Julius Dobos, composer of forgotten future. “I also wanted to create some continuity between the previous albums and the new one, and playing tracks from the old and the new in the same concert was a natural way to connect them.”
The closing piece, Bending Time, featured Trang Pham, one of Hanoi’s top Dan Bau performers. (The Dan Bau is Vietnam’s original, traditional one-stringed instrument, which allows the player to intricately bend notes). The music presented an interplay between cutting-edge electronics and traditional Eastern colors, a duet between new and old musical expressions.
Track listing of the Hanoi show:
(forgotten future pre-show ambience)
1. Circular Time (from W2)
2. This Time Back to the Lucky Blue (from Realignment)
3. Witnessing the Forces (from W1)
4. Energy Assembly (from W1)
5. Breakthrough Chroma Mix (from Live in California)
6. Parallel Realities Epic Monk Mix (from Realignment)
7. Return to a New Ending (from W1)
8. Bending Time (from W2)
Footage from this one-off electronic music concert will be published in the future.
SSJ – the original music composers of Dragon Ball Z (English score)
SSJ (Smith, Scott & Julius) takes a 21st Century spin on the iconic themes they originally composed for over 200 episodes of Dragon Ball Z. DBZ has been one of the most popular series on Cartoon Network, ever. SSJ has announced two music shows in the series of live performances for July, in San Jose, California.
On July 14th, SSJ will be performing at MAGWest, playing some of the fan favorites as well as the live version of some themes the first time. After the show a panel discussion with the audience and an autograph session will follow.
On July 15th, SSJ will give an exclusive performance at the University of Silicon Valley. This concert will be hosted and live-streamed by YouTube celebrity Geekdom101 – Dragon Ball Z guru. More than a concert, the three composers will discuss their work, and, for the first time, share inside stories between the tracks. This will give audiences a behind-the-scenes look at their journey in creating the music for Dragon Ball Z.
Get your tickets to MAGWest, register for the USV performance or watch the live stream here on 7/15/23 at 8pm PST.
Creative Shop Music has announced the planned release of remastered, expanded editions of a range of Julius Dobos’ albums. The new series of releases will include the platinum album Connecting Images, the now-classic Mountain Flying, and Epic, among others. Aside from an improved sonic experience, fans can expect to find previously unreleased bonus tracks on some of the remastered editions. The new digital-only album releases are scheduled for 2022.
As a major proponent of individuality and as someone who strives for maximum originality, I rarely speak about my influences. It’s virtually impossible for any composer, musician, performer to not be influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by others who came before them. Often, we don’t talk about them openly, simply to minimize the unnecessary comparisons between their and our work – but they’re there. I owe so much to the exceptional composer, the incomparable Vangelis, on so many levels, that I can only feel right if I express my deepest appreciation for him, his music, and share my sadness about his passing in a tribute on these pages.
Vangelis was my biggest influence as a composer and as a human, for 40+ years. I would not be where I am as a composer, if it wasn’t for the effect of his music on me as a child – and ever since. I vividly remember listening to the full Chariots of Fire album in headphones when going to bed, before I could reach the pedals of my piano. I was mesmerized by his music, the sounds, the feel and emotions that the long track on side 2 evoked; it effected me not only musically and emotionally, but in ways that actually shaped who I became as a person. In later years, after gaining experience through my own album releases and scores, discovering Vangelis’ statements about the music industry, which I fully shared, his views on technology, people, art, expression, unobtrusiveness, resonated with me as much as his music.
There are too many personal and intimate stories throughout my life to share that connected me, sometimes miraculously coincidentally, to him through his music. Just a couple of weeks ago I was on the phone with his best synthesist, reminiscing about his wonderful ways with people… I am lecturing about his enormously influential work in my Ultimate Electronic Music course at USV in just a couple of weeks – as I do every year… he’s been a deep part of my world for as long as I can remember music. More than to any other creator of honest music, I wish I had had the opportunity to express my gratitude to him in person.
The world has gotten poorer this week – and I mean this literally. He has created a new universe of music, or as he would say, he presented the music of the universe to us.
His work stops here, even though his music lives on. While he inspired so many, it is impossible to genuinely come even close to his musical expression. However, his legacy reaches far beyond music. The philosophies he shared with the world, and not just about music but about ourselves as humans, are like seeds. Seeds of thoughts, approaches, attitudes that he had planted and grew into a lush forest of musical dimension of his own. Although his list of his albums, scores, performances don’t expand any longer, molecules of these seeds have become part of the genetics of art, philosophy, culture, and musical expression, spreading all over the world through true creativity. And for composers, some of these powerful molecules are now part of our own genes, ensuring that the legacy of Vangelis continues to spread wider and farther as we create new music.
Please join me in cherishing Vangelis’ impact on our world, the human culture, and celebrate his new journey beyond our existence with Procession from his album, The City.
