The Path of Peace (DualDisc) by Visionsound

Keyboard artist Ben Dowling, whose roots are in classical and jazz, has developed a unique, minimalist piano technique specifically for this work. A “singing” melodic touch and novel pedal work are joined with a spatial sense that crosses effortlessly between diatonic and modal harmony. “I needed to develop a different way of playing to take advantage of the 5.1 surround field—since surround-sound is allergic to too much motion,” explains Dowling. “For years I’ve tried to capture the open, suspended quality of the piano – like the experience of improvising in a dark concert hall. Finally, technology has made that possible. I can safely say that The Path of Peace is one of the finest recordings of piano I have ever heard.”

Visual artist Mark Wagner is one of the few traditionalists awarded a National Endowment of the Arts grant for early experiments in computer-generated art. Using oil, chalk, pencil and even hot glue, Wagner synchronized his own creative vision with Dowling’s music in a slowly unfolding, multi-layer video-scoring style. “As I started placing my images to Ben’s music, I noticed that I began to slow down,” says Wagner. “The slow pacing creates an enchanting quality. It’s a little bit like looking at an ocean for a few days. After a while, it begins to work on you.”

“The music for The Path of Peace was designed to cause an environmental shift,” confirms Dowling. “So when Mark and I discussed the project as a whole, we focused on the potential of beauty to positively impact people’s lives.” Wagner adds, “The idea of creating something counter-culture and counter-anxiety is very appealing to me. I want to be part of the medicine - the way of beauty, the path of peace.”

The artists envision practical applications for personal inner peace in health, therapy, hospice, incarceration and post-traumatic care as well as, more broadly, consciousness raising for an increasingly sensory overloaded and warlike world. “These are times when it’s vital for artists to consider the environment for which we create,” says Dowling. “This is a work about peace, that doubles as a great way to get there.”

The Path of Peace balances artistic brilliance in vision and sound with technical mastery and innovation, captured in a product design that beautifully embraces a profound and timely idea.

About Visionsound Innovative Arts

The aptly named Visionsound has contributed to many key developments in integrating music and technology, winning many accolades and awards. From R&D for the Korg synthesizer company, to the creation of unique sound for top entertainment clients including Michael Jackson and Madonna, Visionsound is at the leading edge of integrative developments. New media and interactive projects include: the Golden Eagle winning documentary A Place to Stand, featuring Patrick Stewart for the United Nations 50th Anniversary, and Powershift, featuring Cameron Diaz for the California Science Museums environmental initiative.

For a streaming video demonstation, please visit www.visionsound.com

Visionsound® - Art as the Cure™

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The Path of Peace – and where this idea came from…

After the DVD specification was announced in 1995, I had this inspiration for a new way of combining music in surround-sound with different traditional art forms - painting, dance, poetry, etc. But the technology for combining them was so expensive that I really couldn't commit the time and resources to making it happen. That changed when Apple Computer announced Final Cut Pro and the DVD Studio Pro software that permitted mere mortals to edit video and author DVD - combining video and audio into an interactive form.

For myself, what drew me was primarily musical. Surround-sound was a logical extension of the work I had done in sound synthesis with Korg Research and Development (M1, Wavestation, Oasys). And DVD actually introduced two expansions in audio - a new 5-speaker dimensionality for spatial placement (the 5 in 5.1) and an extension of the low frequencies, with the addition of sub woofers in Home Theater (the .1 in 5.1). I refer to these two vectors as "Sonics and Space."

As someone who had worked with comparatively crude sonic tools in the synthesis realm, this was very exciting to me - full bandwidth with extended bass and spatial placement. Wow. So I spent considerable resources to get a surround system for music production and started getting acquainted with these new dimensions in sound.

The Surround Field

Here's where it gets interesting for me. I found that surround-sound was such an extraordinarily powerful technology that it was easy to bombard the listener with too much input. It could easily become a form of sonic torture, rather than a useful creative expansion. The surround-sound field actually required a lighter touch to be effective. Of course, the movie industry had discovered that a long time ago, but as a synth programmer all those years, I was always looking for a bigger or more impressive experience.

What I discovered was that sonic density was not the friend of the surround-sound field. It required more space, and far less density. So music had to adapt in order to excel in this new environment. Thinking historically, this should not have been a surprise, but it was to me. No wonder stereo conceived music was not well suited to a "straight across" repurposing...

My first steps involved experiments with recording and mixing within the surround-sound environment. And in the beginning, I focused on the easier-to-manage synths in the studio. I would pan different sonic components to different areas of the surround field, experiment with different effects, phases on different speakers and the like. I found that it was a complicated area, due to the complexity created by speakers facing each other, bass management and other issues. And there really wasn't much information in the world about how to proceed.

Piano as an Environment

It was when I started experimenting with recording the piano where the breakthrough came. Here was an instrument that has thousands of reflections, a multi-octave chromatic resonator and is an incredibly complex natural system. Additionally, there is a sonic “ecology” to the piano that surround, unlike stereo, could capture.

This brought me back to my roots as a pianist. I started exploring different ways of playing to achieve the space needed for this new sonic environment. It needed to be interesting, yet slow. It relished complex harmony - even dissonance - but had to unfold in slow motion. It was particularly well suited to a "pedal down" approach where played notes would sympathetically excite the non-damped strings. But that required that the music develop "modally" rather than diatonically - and that risked being boring.

Over time, I developed a style of playing and improvising that resulted in the recordings made for The Path of Peace.

On a parallel, I was trying to come up with a concept for the work. What is the message of this music? Who does it speak to? What kind of visual imagery was the best fit for it? How was I to convey this idea clearly? I had formerly released some of the music as an EP called, "Ahimsa," which is the term Gandhi used referring to the spiritual path of "harmlessness" – and a concept very close to my heart. My friend and production partner, Kit Thomas was the one who suggested the name, "The Path of Peace."

The Development of the Visuals

So I had a name, a direction and some music, but I still didn't have the visual imagery, and was totally intimidated by the size of that job. Through my own experiments with high-res scans and video editing software, it became clear that, if I wanted to hit a target of genuine excellence, I should not try to do everything – a key lesson for all of us in these times. Already, I had learned how to do interactive DVD authoring, but this was asking too much.

Again and again, I was overwhelmed with the scale of the project and tried to set it aside. But it would not stay quiet for long. In the middle of the night, I would be woken up with yet another inspiration about how to proceed. While on a human level I was perfectly happy to put this on a back burner for "someday," it seemed that the creative muse was unprepared to let this one go.

In mid 2005, after a year's hiatus, I was visiting my painter friend, Mark Wagner on a family trip to Northern California. He was showing me his extraordinary painting, and mentioned that he had been doing experiments in iMovie on his Mac. I decided to tell him about my project. I told him how I had been experimenting with slow movement and multiple layers in video. Mark took that idea and ran with it. The result of our collaboration is this incredible project known as “The Path of Peace.” I am so proud of our efforts, and of what it has the potential of doing in the world.

Creative Paths

I think that ultimately, I realized this idea was not going to let me go, and I gave into that process. Creativity is a funny thing. You don't have creativity. Creativity has you. It's like a river that takes hold of you and carries you as far as it’s going - and often not in the direction of your desires and "petty needs" (like making a living).

With little exception, The Path of Peace has been a constant inspiration over the past seven years - becoming an integral part of my life and personality. Now that the creation part is done, I'm sure I will go through my own identity realignment.

Art as the Cure…

I've always felt that music and art are the answers to the ills of the world - that the creative art's ability to transport someone to a new energetic is an important form of healing. It certainly is for me.

I truly hope that people will discover this incredible project. It is one of those rare instances when the planets align, and something extraordinary comes out. I love the fact that it is so fulfilling artistically, and yet it also has the capacity to serve people in a profound way as they experience the challenges of life.

The Path of Peace has been an act of love and of faith, of commitment to excellence, a desire to heal, and to an expansion of artistic expression. It has also been a "right use" of technology - turning it from a controlling influence to one serving our individual and collective humanity.

But mostly, it has been the ride of a lifetime.

Peace and love,

Ben Dowling January 24, 2007

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