Multi-Channel Compositions
The Depths (2024)
21-channel sound composition.
Head down below, to a place beneath the surface. A place where time slows down, and sonic events unfold with subtle precision and startling intent. The Depths is a sound world that asks for your patience, but where you end up is worth the wait.
Listen as liquid drips & drops land on sluggish synth drones. Horns improvise saturated melodies while flying above you. Wind whips at your front and back. A contrabass tickles your feet. You are being drawn into The Depths...
![](https://www.daveshaff.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/depths-cropped-more-1-602x550.jpg)
![](https://www.daveshaff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/imgonline-com-ua-CompressToSize-mzVTTCc9eL-356x550.jpg)
Sound Hour (2021)
An immersive 21-channel sound environment to promote calm and wellness during COVID-19.
Sonic scenes ranging from the loud clatter of the Tenderloin to a remote Baker Beach cave. A familiar afternoon in the Sunset District gives way to an ecstatic celebration in the Mission. Hear birds flitter above, while children laugh and play below. Electronic melodies bump up against each other and burst.
![](https://www.daveshaff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/imgonline-com-ua-CompressToSize-dQbpPHBBwuf3HOi-359x550.jpg)
Audium 11 (2019)
Site-specific, 8-channels designed for performance in Audium’s 176-speaker space. Collaboration with Stan Shaff and Ryan Elizabeth Reid includes lobby installation with projections, light & visuals.
Dive into the primordial world buried beneath the surface of consciousness; the shifting sonic layers deep inside us all. A calm scene in a cafe can become a raucous thunderstorm, and dark ethereal rumblings can morph into pleasant piano tinkling.
Sound & Space Workshop (2018)
Site-specific, 6 channels + lobby installation
What is a sound sculpture? How does one compose music for space? This composition introduces listeners to the language of composing for “sound-sculptured space”. Journey through various sonic scenes, each environment seamlessly mixing fantasy and reality. One moment, listeners find themselves in a speeding train’s engine, the next walking through a forest while being serenaded by a lone trumpeter.
![](https://www.daveshaff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/imgonline-com-ua-CompressToSize-fKnImw2xDtku5-700x525.jpg)
Audium 10 (2017)
Site-Specific, 4 channels + lobby installation
Listeners are immersed in natural and urban sounds from across the globe, as well as a vast assortment of electronic sounds. Water, trains, gongs, birds, and many others [sources] move past, under, and above the audience in total darkness. The ideas explored in this work come from the life experiences of the father and son creators, and include ideas of travel, movement both natural and man-made, and the fluid nature of life.
![](https://www.daveshaff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Dark-Space-Ceiling-comperess-700x451.jpg)