Cross-modality in multi-channel acousmatic music: the physical and virtual in music where there is ‘nothing to see’

Acousmatic music asks for very active listening and is often quite challenging. Allowing for cross-modality enables strong, often physical associations to emerge and potentially affords greater understanding during the work and greater recollection of the work. Composers of acousmatic music are often aware of the need to engage the listener at numerous levels of experience and understanding, creating sounds that tend both towards the superficial and the structural. Acousmatic music in multi-channel formats affords certain degrees of freedom, allowing the listener to more easily prioritise their listening. This freedom potentially affords a more immersive experience making cross-modality easier through the acceptance of a plausible sonic reality no matter how foreign the sound-world.