Mikel Kuehn - Works

Perseverance: An Artist Rendering (2022), for periphonic Ambisonic system (HOA3):

Program Note

Perseverance: An Artist Rendering (2022)

In late February of 2021, I was astonished to discover that NASA made several raw recordings of the recently landed Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover available to the public. Inspired by the first ever recorded (atmospheric) sound from another planet, I began fantasizing about what the sonic environment of Mars might be like. This piece was constructed solely from four recordings capturing the sounds of the Martian wind, the rover driving, the rover’s mechanical parts (dust blower and various moving components), and the laser shots used to examine the properties of rocks. One additional recording was used: the inflight noise of the heat rejection fluid pump (recorded through the mechanical parts since there is no actual sound that propagates thought the vacuum of space). These minimal source sounds were then processed, spatialized, and combined/expanded into various suggestive textures. The result is my “artist rendering” of a fantastical narrative of the Rover’s journey though the sonic landscape of Mars. Its title is also a nod to the perseverance within each of us as we learn to navigate through the global pandemic. Perseverance: An Artist Rendering opens with an imaginary camera zooming from deep space onto the lonely flight of the spacecraft as it sets up for entry into the Martian atmosphere, then lands. In the short sequence immediately following, most of the source sounds that are used to build the piece are exposed in context with the work’s formal narrative. From this moment on, the journey moves from fairly literal to fictional, even absurd, as the rover drives though multiple sonic terrains such as a “machine” sequence, a “thunderstorm,” then encounters various “creatures” as it continues on its strange journey and eventual death.

Technical Information
This piece is composed in 3rd order ambisonics (HOA3) as 3D immersive audio. It can be decoded for virtually any format (down to binaural or UHJ stereo). Please contact the composer for the Ambix (16 channel) source file or a custom decoding (Binaural, Stereo, Quad, Octophonic, etc.).