Shiva Feshareki
Shiva Feshareki is a composer and turntablist working at the intersection between contemporary classical, and electronic music, with a focus on spatial sound and spatialised composition. We caught up with her at King’s Place ahead of her and collaborator
Can you tell us what inspires your work?
The physicality of sound, the live moment, and the live manifestation of music and how sound interacts so closely with the different elements of our lives, our existence really - with the universe. Frequencies, sound waves, vibrations; everything is made up of sound and vibration in some way.
How did your collaboration with Sean (Shibe) come about and can you tell us about your performance together using Soundscape?
Sean and I met when we were working separately on different projects, and we struck up quite an organic collaboration. He’s performed some of my music; he released Venus/Zohreh as an arrangement for electric guitar - it’s originally for string orchestra. And I also invited him to perform Seismic Wave Orchestra a couple of years ago in Denmark. And that was the first time we played together.
And it’s Seismic Wave Orchestra you’re playing tonight. Can you tell us how that piece works with Soundscape?
Seismic Wave Orchestra is a piece that has spatial electronics and electric guitar. The way that the piece works is that the electric guitar is all focused on the amp work and this kind of static sound of the guitar with the amp, whereas the electronics and the turntables are improvised on top, spatially moving around the space. And tonight, we’re diffusing it through the d&b Soundscape system. Normally it’s diffused just with Ambisonics and now it’s a hybrid of Ambisonics and Soundscape and just controlling that spatialisation together.
How do Soundscape and Ambisonics work together?
Soundscape and Ambisonics are similar in some ways and different in others; with Ambisonics you get more of a 360° sound world with height as well, but with Soundscape you get the full XY plane of spatial sound so it’s good to work with because wherever you’re sat or standing in the audience you get a very, very clear understanding of the spatialisation. [1]
What’s the main difference between performing in stereo and an object-based system?
I haven’t performed in stereo for a good four or five years now, and the reason for that is because with stereo sound it’s a linear sound plane from left to right and my music is very much focused on the physicality of sound and spatial sounds. So, working with the Soundscape system and Ambisonics and other spatial audio allows me to realise my spatialised compositions using the state-of-the-art technology that it requires. But also, I feel like my spatial compositions have developed side by side with the technology because I’ve been working in this way for a while now.
How has the collaboration been with the d&b team leading up to this show tonight?
It's been a great experience, really, really cool. I’ve enjoyed going to the studios in Soho and actually being able to work quite closely with the team; that’s how we came up with the hybrid system I was telling you about with the object-based Soundscape, and the spatialisation I do with Ambisonics. And then putting it together and seeing how those two sounds collide.
As an artist what does performing live mean to you?
Performing live is such an important part of my work, it’s definitely the live experience that drives me rather than the recorded experience and releasing work. It’s how my music manifests live in the moment, in response to the acoustic space, in response to the sound system, in response to the audience. That energy is so important to my music and how it actually grows and develops in the moment and in ways that you can’t really predict.
And how does Soundscape enhance the audience experience?
The spatial sound experience is so much a part of my music that without it, it wouldn’t really be my music. So actually, working with the Soundscape system allows for a very creative collaboration between sound and technology, and the audience get a really thrilling experience of how you can push the parameters of how you actually understand sound.