A New World of Audio at the MUTEK 21
Electronic Music & Arts Festival
PHOTO : MYRIAM MENARD
By Kevin Young
The
MUTEK electronic music and arts festival has been a fixture in Montreal since 2000 , but it has never been presented in quite the way it was in September 2020 . Organizers dealt with shifting health regulations and looked for a way to move forward that reflects the festival ’ s well-deserved reputation for innovating and pushing boundaries musically and technologically .
This year ’ s iteration , entitled MUTEK 21 – A Virtual Exploration , was pushed back from its usual late-August timeframe to Sept . 8-13 and cut down to include only two venues , the Society for Arts and Technology ( SAT ) and Cinquième Salle at Place des Arts , hosting physically distanced ,
Guillaume Coutu-Dumont & Diagraf performing at SAT during MUTEK 21
in-person shows and simultaneous livestreamed performances .
According to a representative of One- Wave , the sound designer / equipment vendor for both spaces , their approach had to evolve as well . Given the changing restrictions for live performance and gatherings , the presentation shifted from a live-centric experience to a hybrid model .
OneWave was contracted to work on the festival in January . At that point there were seven venues in play ; however , as regulations , possible venues , and the number of audience members allowed in each shifted , they adapted their system design accordingly .
Once the venues were confirmed , OneWave and MUTEK worked closely to ensure a unique event for performers , live audiences , and remote viewers alike ; specified were systems comprised of Digico consoles , Meyer Sound loudspeakers , and Meyer ’ s then-yet-to-be-released Spacemap GO – a spatial sound design and mixing tool leveraging Meyer Sound ’ s Galaxy network platform .
Immersive sound is coming increasingly into vogue , but Meyer has been in the game for some time , providing sophisticated spatial sound mixing solutions for applications including highly popular offerings such as Cirque du Soleil ’ s Vegas-based production of The Beatles ’ LOVE . In brief , Spacemap Go allows users to draw a ‘ map ’ on an iPad to direct the path a given signal takes around the room , which may correspond to the existing loudspeaker layout , or not . “ There ’ s really no limit to what you can do ,” OneWave ’ s rep says , adding that one
26 PROFESSIONAL SOUND