Molecule dives into darkness with L-ISA
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Molécule records sound in extreme locations: aboard a fishing boat in the Atlantic, in a village in Greenland or on the mythic surf swells of Nazaré in Portugal. More recently, he captured the sound of Thomas Ruyant's monohull during the Vendée Globe yacht race. Molécule transforms his recordings into spatialised music with the help of sound designer Hervé Déjardin, engineer in charge of developing immersive audio at Radio France.
Now, Molécule and Déjardin have brought a 360-degree spatialised sound experience to concert audiences listening in darkness, in the round. With the moniker Acousmatic 360°, the duo has taken the concept on tour, using L-Acoustics’ L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology
The term acousmatic, from the Greek word akousma, ‘a thing heard’, can be traced back to Pythagoras. The philosopher tutored his students from behind a screen so as not to let his presence distract from the content of his lectures. Taking inspiration from the idea, Molécule discovered he could create extra synergy with his audience by extinguishing the lights.
Molécule and Déjardin came up with the concept after performing at Paris' Rex Club in 2018. As an experiment, they played in the dark. “Although the concert was scheduled for an hour, we kept going for over two hours because people were so into it,” declares Déjardin. After gathering audience feedback via a podcast, the live set-up was refined with further shows at La Cigale as part of the MaMA festival.
For their illumination-free, 360° sound concert of the future, Hervé and Molécule play in the centre of the auditorium, with an L-Acoustics Syva system circling both the performers and audience. “We have a special relationship with the audience because they are so close,” says Déjardin.
“With Acousmatic, we’re not on a pedestal, we’re in the middle of the show,” adds Molécule. “In terms of what spatialization adds to the show, there is a higher quality to the work and performance. At the same time, we have the pleasure of hearing the same sound as the audience and the quaity of the audio allows me to be really specific with the movement of the sounds, which means I can go deeper and deeper into the performance.”
The circle of 12 Syva, two Syva Low and four L-Acoustics KS28 dual 18" subwoofers, provided by S Group, delivers substantial SPL with no distortion. “Syva is really impressive in this respect; when you’re in the surround system, you feel like you’re in a protective cocoon. It’s a very new experience,” Déjardin continues.
When Déjardin returns to the studio to mix these recordings, he notes that using L-ISA means many of his live mixes already have instruments and sounds precisely localised. He says he is able to pinpoint his live mix so well because the Syva cabinets reproduce incredibly accurately, and because recording in object mode avoids the restrictions of conventional stereo.
Using a mix of software that he patches into L-Acoustics’ L-ISA Controller, Déjardin develops movements for each sound. L-ISA Controller’s touch-friendly interface enables advanced object-based mixing and extensive programming capabilities, with control of each sound object’s pan, width, distance, and elevation positions, with the use of immersive technology giving him the ability to create deeper emotions for the audience.
“The spatialisation allows me to reinforce the key moments of the music,” he says. During the live performance, he will use the softer moments to pull back to a quieter sound, and even stop all movement. Then, when the music crescendos again, he’ll use the 360° capability to enhance the moment with quick movements
