Starlings Spatial Sound Collective

Starlings Spatial Sound Collective is a group of sound artists dedicated to the investigation, demystification and celebration of spatialised sound. Members of Starlings are Lisa Rae Bartolomei, Gillian Lever and Josh Peters.

We are artists who illuminate variegated facets of spatialised sound practice, working individually or collaboratively to produce and present works that expand ideas of how sound can exist in and create space.

Working in collaboration with SIAL Sound Studios at RMIT University, Starlings are dedicated to the artistic applications and historical examinations of multi-channel audio in its many forms. We explore the myriad possibilities arising from the creative use of multiple sound sources to build immersive and innovative sonic spaces. 

Starlings has presented multichannel sound art concert Orbits: Traversing the sound sphere (2019), and Murmurations Spatial Sound Festival (2018), as well as performing at RMIT Gallery’s New Order event in 2018. In February 2021, they curated and presented works as part of Inhabitation : Emerging Spatial Sound Artist Showcase, a concert at McClelland Gallery as part of Site + Sound, an extensive investigation of sound art and the sonic environment.

Projects

The Space Beyond the Screen: Experimental Spatial Sound & Cinema, ACMI Melbourne, October 2023

Starlings Spatial Sound Collective, in collaboration with SIAL Sound Studios and RMIT University, present an evening of experimental audio visual and pure sound works using the ACMI Cinema 2 surround speaker system. Each artist will present either a quadraphonic, 5.1 sound or audiovisual work featuring surround sound of up to 10 minutes.

Artists have been given carte blanche to create their vision of what the space beyond the screen means to their practice, resulting in a showcase of the diversity and talent present in the Australian sound art and experimental cinema community. The Space Beyond the Screen celebrates Australia’s sound community by presenting a continuum of sound culture with artists at all stages of their careers - from emerging to more established practitioners, recent RMIT alumni and current RMIT School of Design student works. Spatial sound art is underrepresented in Australia’s arts performance landscape, this project provides artists with the space and scope to experiment with multichannel audio at scale.          

With the advent of surround sound, the cinema space is the perfect venue to explore 3-dimensional sound composition and the possibilities it affords in a directed listening environment with a state-of-the-art sound system. A place where the audience sits in comfort, immersed and intrigued by the sonic world they inhabit. Surround Sound is now an essential part of the cinema experience. How often do we stop and consider the role of sound in space? Or consider sound’s world-building and creative potential and its relationship with space and screen? By presenting a mixture of pure sound and audiovisual works together, we draw attention to the sound world stretching beyond the limits of the screen to the sonic imaginarium.

This non-conventional approach to a cinema space allows the audience to experience the encompassing nature of surround sound, engulfing the cinemagoers’ ears and immersing their bodies, inviting them to consider a new way of listening in space and with screen.

Ever wondered what it would be like if Aphex Twin took over one of ACMI’s cinemas? Welcome to The Space Beyond the Screen, an immersive multi-sensory spectacle! After experiencing the world through the flattened dimensions of our devices for several locked-down years, this surround sound concert will plunge audiences into a universe of cinematic sound and vision, giving them the means of hearing, seeing and feeling in 3D like never before.

Lineup: Gail Priest, Camilla Hannan, Polly Stanton & Byron Dean, Alice Bennett, Don Gray, Madelynne Cornish, Michelle Nguyen, Paddy Hay, Prudence Rees-Lee, Justin Ashworth, Jake Moore, Joshua Peters, Lisa Rae Bartolomei, Gillian Lever.

Degustations event, in collaboration with Dogmilk Films, Miscellania, Melbourne, May 2023

Starlings presented new collaborative works with experimental filmmakers at Miscellania Cinema and Club, Swanston St Melbourne on 24th May, 2023.

Joshua Peters presented with John Hewison, Lisa Rae Bartolomei with Jordan James Kaye, and Gillian Lever with Don Gray. The night explored Expanded Cinema, with audio and visuals extending beyond the traditional cinema screenspace.

Images credit: Paddy Hay 2023

Images credit: Gillian Lever 2023

Inhabitation: Spatial Sound Showcase, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, February 2021

Visitors to McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery experienced the emerging artform of sound art and the sonic practice of diffusion in a series of dynamic performances in the pavilion and grounds on Saturday 27 February. This suite of new compositions was presented in conjunction with the RMIT University, SIAL Sound Studios and McClelland’s Site + Sound exhibition.

Lineup 12pm-

Vicki Hallett
Dave Coen
Gillian Lever
Josh Peters
Lisa Rae Bartolomei
Martin Kay

Lineup 3pm-

Lewis Gittus
Nat Grant
Keith W Clancy
Gillian Lever
Josh Peters
Lisa Rae Bartolomei
Tarab

In addition, a series of installed works were presented in the garden to be enjoyed at anytime during either session, with works by:
Byron Dean
Bonnie Mercer
Sara Retallick
Blended Fields

Diffusion is a sonic arts practice whereby a sound composition, traditionally a standard stereo recording, is played back over multiple speakers, commonly known as a speaker orchestra or a multichannel speaker array. The diffusionist performs their composition by moving the fader banks of the mixing desk, creating sound shapes across the space and adjusting the sound volume throughout the performance.

Blended Fields, a collaborative project between Starlings and sound artists David Coen, Don Gray, and Keith Clancy, is a new, site-specific composition made in the natural environments around McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery.

Orbits: traversing the sound sphere concert, November 2019:

Orbits: traversing the sound sphere was held at RMIT’s Black Box Theatre on Saturday 16th November, 2019, presented by Starlings in conjunction with SIAL Sound Studios. With a spherical array of 26 speakers surrounding the listener, Orbits explored sound’s ability to move through, inhabit, and create ever-transforming shapes in space.

Orbits highlight video by John Hewison.

Orbits featured the Australian debut of compositions by Starlings members and other Melbourne sound artists.

Orbits lineup:

• Keith W. Clancy - 31 to 41 (live sound diffusion).

• Lisa Rae Bartolomei, David Coen, Keith W. Clancy, Don Gray, Gillian Lever and Joshua Peters - Oil and water (collaboratively composed 26 channel sound work).

• Lisa Rae Bartolomei - The Inner Planets (live sound diffusion).

• Joshua Peters - Phase Transitions (live sound diffusion).

• Gillian Lever - Brain Box (26 channel sound work).

Orbits performance and audience photos by Dusty Reid. Venue photos by Gillian Lever.

Murmurations Spatial Sound Festival, October 2018:

Murmurations was a festival of spatial sound incorporating a panel discussion, listening session and two concerts, held on 7-10 October, 2018 at RMIT University’s Black Box Theatre, Melbourne.

Panelists were Dr. Helen Dilkes, Dr. Nat Grant, Assoc. Professor Lawrence Harvey and Assoc. Professor Philip Samartzis. The listening session showcased works by Daniel Teruggi, Hildegard Westerkamp, Christine Groult and Bill Fontana. The Starlings performed live diffusions at an evening concert, presenting new works; Gillian Lever’s Sustain and release, Joshua Peters’ SUBSTANCE and Lisa Rae Bartolomei’s Mandorla.

Performance at New Order, 3rd May 2018 at RMIT First Site Gallery, Melbourne.

New Order was an Art Party at RMIT First Site Gallery, in conjunction with SIAL and RMIT Galleries, showcasing new multichannel sound works by members of Starlings Spatial Sound Collective.

Photographs courtesy of RMIT Creative, photographer: Sarah Lay.

The performance utilised a mixture of live diffusion and automated spatial sound strategies to murmurate throughout the inverted city-soundscape of the 16-channel sound system installed at First Site Gallery.
New Order invited the listener on a journey to redefine their understanding of the acoustic environment, creating a surreal and sonorous sonic terrain sparking the imagination to the possibilities that lie beneath the world of everyday sound.

Photographs: Sara Retallick

New Order Performances: