John Duncan and Francisco López propose to create a new collaborative electroacoustic work that combines the unique approaches to sound of two outstanding artists to create a synthesis that is greater than the individual components. The goal is to create a non-associative audio environment that is monumental yet intimate in scale. Multi-channel audio spatialization and dramatically minimal lighting conditions render the space both immense and intimate, from one extreme to the other, from one moment to the next, involving the audience in a sensual experience that is both private and public.

Both artists are known for performing in total darkness. For Duncan, this absence of visual stimuli is effective—in fact essential—to eliminate as many peripheral distractions as possible, and to focus the listener’s attention on internal, psychic responses to the sound. For López, darkness serves to focus audience attention entirely on the sound itself, and on the environment that it creates.

For this project, each of the artists gave audio sources and sourcefiles to the other, for use in processing and composing individually in their own studios in Italy (Duncan) and Spain (López). The modifications to these files were then recorded on CD-R format and traded through the mail. The final mix was recorded in Duncan’s studio, mastered with a high-end audio D-A/A-D conversion process for added depth and resonance.