Pipes are (digitally) calling to herald new era in recording
Posted on 10 September 2008
Bagpipe music performed by students in Edinburgh will be captured by sophisticated microphones in surround sound and sent using the JISC/Janet Lightpath network network to York, 300 miles away. The development allows remote collaboration in real time — artists can perform in a studio hundreds of miles from where their sound is recorded, opening up possibilities for remote collaborative composition and performance.
The demonstration illustrates the potential of Janet Lightpath to deliver affordable transfer of audio recordings
Dr Rob Fletcher
In York, award-winning composer Ambrose Field will mix the recordings to create a new composition, and the results will be beamed back to an audience in Edinburgh. The music will be delivered in master quality throughout — the standard used by recording studios.
The Lightpath remix project uses the fibre-optic network for the first time in the UK to capture full studio resolution surround audio rather than standard compressed, streaming internet audio. The audio is captured in York less than 3 milliseconds after it enters the microphones in Edinburgh — with no interruptions, delays, or digital artefacts.
The Lightpath remix is a joint venture, undertaken between the University of Edinburgh E-science centre and the University of York (Dr Rob Fletcher, Computing Service and Dr Ambrose Field, of the Department of Music).
The experiment will take place as part of a conference of experts in e-Science — research which depends upon advanced computing and networking facilities. The UK e-Science All Hands Meeting is being held at the University of Edinburgh from 8-11 September.
Dr Fletcher said: "The demonstration illustrates the potential of Janet Lightpath to deliver affordable transfer of audio recordings — the experiment will use off-the-shelf software with no compromise on quality. We could even extend the experiment to connect with networks overseas."
Peter Clarke, director of the National e-Science Centre, said: "This is a perfect example of how the JANET Lightpath network can deliver music quality bandwidth between remote locations – it allows experts to work together while hundreds of miles apart."
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- More information on the University of York’s Department of Music at http://music.york.ac.uk/
- More information on the University of York’s Computing Service at www.york.ac.uk/services/cserv/