As an integral part of being dedicated to instruments of our time (the modern marimba + computer), I am also dedicated to the music of our time — making a great effort to compose, commission, perform, and record new works. In particular, I am interested in works that utilize three-dimensional, high-definition (24bit/96kHz), computer-generated sound projection. I perform with a rig that seamlessly melds my instrument with electronics, computers, and an eight-channel cube (+ subwoofer) of loudspeakers — a performance concept that I call modern marimba³. With this equipment, I am able to project and move sound anywhere in the performance space, totally immersing the audience in the music. In fact, the computer-generated sounds relate quite well to the visual arts in that concepts of objecthood and spatial structure become a part of the musical fabric.

A dual-display computer monitor has replaced the music stand. The score, now free from the physical realm, can be totally integrated in real-time with the audio parameters of the music.

Through complex mathematical formulas, and eight loudspeakers (placed at the eight corners of a cuboid structure around the audience), a true three-dimensional sound stage can be created. Not only can the computer spatialize sounds (create the perception that a sound is near or far, right or left, front or back, above or below), but the computer can also give sounds motion, and move them through the concert space — creating an immersive concert experience.

Rhythm, pitch, timbre, intensity (loudness). These were the basic parameters that a musician had to manipulate to create music. Now, with the advent of computers and other electronics, there is a fifth parameter: spatialization/motion. The spatialization and motion of sounds now create their own textures within a musical composition.

The sound of my instrument is a critical component of my art, and a critical component of the sound of my instrument is the acoustic nature of the space in which I am performing. In a very real way, a concert hall is an instrument that a I “play” during a performance. However, not all spaces (in particular small spaces) have a sound that is well-suited for solo marimba.

Through the use of the hardware and software components of my system, along with my cuboid loudspeaker array, I can synthesize desirable acoustical properties in nearly any space. This allows me to perform in a much greater range of venues, and to bring my music to a much wider audience.

Q: High-definition audio? Higher than what?

A: Well, to start, the digital source material I use is of a substantially higher quality than a CD.

There are two components to standard digital audio: sampling rate and bit depth. The device that digitizes sound essentially takes a "snapshot", or sample, of the sound wave at regular intervals (the sample rate). CD audio has a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz (44,100 samples per second). I work with a sampling rate of 96 kHz (!), more than twice as dense as CD audio. With each of these samples, the number of gradations used to describe the amplitude of the sound is determined by the bit depth. CD audio is 16-bit - which is 2¹⁶ (65,536) gradations. I use audio that is 24-bit. 2²⁴ is a much bigger number (16,777,216), rendering vastly more accurate audio information.

The result is beautifully refined, nuanced, audio. The same attention to detail one would expect from a great acoustic instrument.

I tour with all my own gear — everything right down to the extension cords. This way, I can present the music in its fully 3D, high-def form at every performance.