Emma Margetson
Emma Margetson (b.1993) is an acousmatic composer and sound artist based in the United Kingdom. Her output encompasses acousmatic composition, sound art, acousmatic performance interpretation and, occasionally, live electronic music improvisation. Her research interests include sound diffusion and spatialisation practices; site-specific works, sound walks and installations; audience development and engagement; and community music practice.
Her music has been recognised and performed extensively in concerts and festivals internationally, and has been the recipient of a special mention in the Biennial Acousmatic Composition Competition Métamorphoses (Belgium, 2020), the Excellence in Sound Art & Sound Design Prize in the klingt gut! Young Artist Award (Germany, 2018), and a First prize ex æquo in the Space of Sound Spatialization Performance Competition (Belgium, 2019). She has received commissions and collaborations including those from Royal Observatory (Royal Museums Greenwich), The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, and the Ikon Gallery.
Emma Margetson is a Senior Lecturer in Music and Sound and Programme Leader of the MA Music and Sound Design course at the University of Greenwich (England, UK). She is also Co-Director of the Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert Series.
Her work is available on several recording labels, including empreintes DIGITALes, Obs, Sonos Localia, and Urban Arts Berlin.
2024.25 Artistic Research Residency
Spatial Materiality: Composing with the IKO loudspeaker
Experimenting compositionally with material environments
Research theme: redefining music through space: discover how the IKO loudspeaker (a spherical loudspeaker array) transforms our perception of sound by integrating the physical environment as a key element of composition.
In collaboration with the IRCAM-STMS Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces team
The IKO loudspeaker (a spherical loudspeaker array) is a novel spatial musical instrument which affords a unique relationality between sounds, space, and listeners in a way which other systems cannot – it is not simply a playback system but part of a larger spatial network.
As practitioners of spatial sound, we often inhabit controlled environments in the production and presentation of work (such as the studio or the acoustically treated concert hall), which can lead to an illusion of ‘perfect reproduction’, in which the physical performance space and the listening audiences can be diminished. In the mindset of this ‘perfect reproduction’, a work is composed spectrally and temporally then presented spatially but always in isolation from people and spaces. In contrast, the IKO emphasises the material environment in which it’s placed, and actively positions the physical space as a prime compositional parameter at the start, embracing the unique features of performance space acoustics and the situated audience.
This project seeks to explore sound in space, bringing together scientific acoustic measurements and creativity to reamplify environments, blending approaches from installation and sound art into composition with the IKO loudspeaker. It will bring together techniques from multichannel acousmatic composition, sound arts, film sound and installation practice to expand our articulation of space as a compositional tool, not just for positioning, but for fundamental transformation and sonic development.
