The Ambisonic Canvas: A Portfolio of Spatial Music Compositions in the Ambisonic Domain

The portfolio presented is a series of compositions created within, and specifically for, the technical spatial format of Higher-Order Ambisonics (HOA). The format provides a suitable framework within which to compose and produce spatial music; that which overtly employs spatiality as a core compositional component, incorporated during the processes of composition and production. This research investigates the composition of spatial electronic and popular music through a Practice-as-Research (PaR) framework, examining the aesthetic affordances this approach offers the composer during the creative process, and incorporates a comparative remixing study in the Dolby Atmos format. It is a development of experimental practices within the broad fields of popular music production and electroacoustic composition, rooted primarily in the genre of experimental electronic music. The research has revealed a series of emergent themes with an overarching focus on the interrelationship of compositional process and spatial context: spatial music composition and composer perception; musical gesture and space-form; and spatial coherence.