The Creators Project

Martyn Ware Talks 3D Soundscapes

Martyn Ware, founder of The Human League, is a pioneer of three-dimensional soundscapes, with his company Illustrious. Together with Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the pair have fused photography and 3D sound to create A.D.A.B.A., their Creators Project installation.

The Creators Project: So Martyn, can you explain A.D.A.B.A. to us?
Martyn Ware: It’s a photographic exhibition with a difference, because Nick, the main artist, made a composition to accompany the photographs, with overlapping strings and guitars. What we did was configure it in three dimensions so you can be immersed whilst viewing his pictures.

So what is 3D sound?
It’s like surround sound you get in cinemas, but it has a height axis as well, so in other words, you can create three-dimensional sound objects that move around in three-dimensional space within the exhibition space.

This installation was shown at the New York Creators Project event first – was it difficult to move it to London?
No, we can tell the software where the new speaker locations are and it rephrases the sound field. It was in a room by itself in New York, with one entrance and one exit, so it was like entering into a black, womb-like space filled with an amazing soundscape with beautiful photographs. The walls kind of disappeared into the darkness because they were black and opaque. In this space, it’s slightly different because there is a walkthrough to another exhibition. So we have a new set of interesting issues.

How does the artistic interaction between yourself and Nick work?
Well, although I come from the rock and pop world, I have been doing this for the last ten years and know it inside out. But for him it’s a new toy to play with. When he first heard the 3D sound in its practical environment, he was overwhelmed. It’s hard to understand how potent this stuff is in an exhibition environment, even as a musician. So the creative process was very much about mentoring him through the spatialisation process. He comes from a much more indie kind of thing and I come from old-school electronics, so it’s a very interesting meeting of minds really.