ID#: 623

Sonic Earth: A Real-time Journey Through Environmental Data (2025) ; 8:25

by Riccardo Mazza

High Perfection Music School – APM (Saluzzo – Italy)

This piece explores the relationship between environmental data and musical expression through algorithmic composition and real-time sonification. During the performance, the composer navigates the globe live via Google Earth, conducting a path through different regions and climates. At each location, the system acquires environmental data in real time via APIs such as OpenMeteo. This data is processed through an algorithmic framework that generates complex musical structures and evolving soundscapes—an interpretation rather than a direct translation of the data. Fundamental frequencies are derived from Earth’s rotational dynamics and geographical coordinates. Various sound objects emerge, each informed by environmental variables and regional musical scales associated with broad geographic zones. These scale mappings reflect traditional intervallic structures and serve as abstract representations of sonic heritage. This is part of an ongoing exploration, a work in progress aimed at integrating cultural memory into algorithmic form. Each location’s conditions shape distinct sonic identities. Atmospheric space is rendered through bandpass-filtered brown noise modulated by wind and pressure. H2O, representing water and life, is shaped by humidity and temperature via additive synthesis. Precipitation triggers new textures: rain through frequency-based particle synthesis, snow through vowel-like formant structures.

When performed with voice or acoustic ensemble, the system generates a real-time score that guides the performers. The human voice—here embodied by a live interpreter—responds to both the harmonic framework and environmental quality. Depending on real-time conditions, vocal gestures may shift from tonal to fragmented and atonal. Across macro-regions, acousmatic elements emerge: fragments of ancestral songs and environmental textures resurface as symbolic artefacts, giving voice to the world’s cultural memory. The resulting composition is inherently unpredictable, shaped by ever-changing environmental parameters and the performer’s interpretative choices. This immersive sonic journey invites listeners to reconnect with the Earth through listening. Each place speaks, if we are ready to listen.