'Southgate' was composed to celebrate a, city. The work describes Melbourne, Australia, which was settled on the banks of the Yarra River close to the sea some 150 years ago. The work was performed over a huge sound system along both banks of the Yarra River in November 1992.
The idea behind the piece was to create a textural collage using relevant 'real world' sounds. While the piece is designed to work on a, musical level for any listener, many of the sounds heard in this piece also have special significance for the inhabitants of Melbourne; such as the sounds of our trams, church bells etc. 'Southgate' was realized using an Emax sampler and a computer program called 'Sound Globs' by Russ Kozerski. All sounds used in this piece were sampled and modified using the sampler.
The piece was recorded in sections onto a multitrack tape recorder and then mixed down to stereo.