Summary: Music, Culture and Society: Lawrence Harvey <strong>Auditory City: Realising an Auditory Spatial Awareness</strong> Lawrence Harvey The role of the electroacoustic music studio and associated domains of practice have significantly transformed in recent years. Institutional studios were originally necessary to aggregate expensive equipment for a small body of expert users to undertake research in musical, technical and perceptual topics. However the democratisation of technology and widely available technical information has forced a shift in the focus of such sites of auditory production. The SIAL Sound Studios were established in 2004 in RMIT University’s School of Architecture and Design. As the Studios are located in a school of spatial studies and not a traditional music or media arts school the research, teaching and cultural agenda pursued in the Studios has been developed to address a unique set of cultural, spatial and musical concerns. Research in the Studios is primarily situated in three domains: urban soundscape research and design, spatial sound concerts and acoustic design. This paper will report on a series of public performances and new work in urban-based electroacoustic performances and installations that addresses two of these domains. In 2007 the Studios produced <em>Auditory City</em>, a pilot series of three events for the Arts and Culture Branch of the City of Melbourne. The aim of the series was to present a free series of spatial music concerts in the city using diverse locations: the local town hall and grand-organ, a laneway and a multi-channel soundscape system. Each of the performances used components of the Studios’ 40 speaker sound diffusion system and software, and involved collaboration with a solo performer. Extending this project is current practice-based research into large-scale urban soundscape systems for electroacoustic sound design. The paper considers the place of sound design in the experience of urban spaces and proposes how this type of work exemplifies the new cultural role that a studio can play in the auditory life of a city and its inhabitants.
