Nightports at Hull Minster: Physical, Hybrid and Virtualized Live Loudspeaker Array Spatialization of Electronic Music Performance

‘Nightports at Hull Minster’ is a musical project that harnesses spatialization techniques to present music composed of the sounds of Hull Minster, UK, in both the location itself and alternative performance spaces, whilst still expressing the spatiality of the location. The project involves a live electronic music performance by Nightports (The Leaf Label), using only sounds recorded in the Minster itself, spatialized in real-time by another performer across a 25-loudspeaker array. In total, three variant approaches are detailed: a physical acousmonium in-situ; a hybrid acousmonium and virtualmonium; and headphone-targeted virtualizations. To achieve virtualization, spatial room impulse response measurements were taken across the diffusion array to capture the characteristics of the loudspeaker arrangement implemented in the Minster. A scalable and adaptable spatialization system was devised to realize the different iterations and is detailed in this paper, alongside observations on the performative ramifications, compositional preoccupations, and potential developments of the project.