Sonic Hacking & Freedom: Zeugma interviews Yu-Chung Tseng

English Transcription

[Francesco Giannico]: Welcome back to our series of conversations with the artists of the LANDSCAPE project organized by Collettivo Zeugma. I’m Francesco Giannico from Collettivo Zeugma, and today we are honored to feature the artist who took second place in our competition, Yu-Chung Tseng.

Yu-Chung holds a DMA from the University of North Texas and is currently professor of electronic music composition and director of the Multi-channel Sound Lab at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taiwan.

Writing for both acoustic and electronic media, his work has earned international acclaim, receiving top honors at the Pierre Schaeffer Competition, Musica Nova, ICMC Best Music Awards, and many others. Released on prestigious labels worldwide, his music bridges raw acoustic capture, dense electronic textures, and spatial sound environments.

Yu-Chung, welcome and congratulations on your award!

In your work, the soundscape ceases to be a passive backdrop and transforms into an active practice of freedom. Where does the urgency come from to choose bamboo—an element so deeply rooted in tradition and nature—to disrupt the rigidity of modern systems?

[Yu-Chung Tseng]: The urgency to choose bamboo comes from its role as a profound symbol of Eastern humanism. By using this traditional element, the work reclaims the delicate details and the chaotic realities often ignored by rigid systems, which allows the soundscape to transcend mere depiction and become an active practice of freedom.

[Francesco Giannico]: The piece constantly oscillates between concrete acoustic recordings and highly processed digital textures. How did you translate this balance into the electroacoustic domain while echoing the Eastern philosophy of Yin and Yang, virtuality and reality?

[Yu-Chung Tseng]: The balance is musically translated by designing the piece to oscillate between concrete acoustic recordings and highly processed textures. This deliberate shifting directly mirrors the Eastern philosophical contrast of yin and yang, virtuality and reality.

[Francesco Giannico]: You speak of “listening and caring” applied to micro-sonic voices. At the same time, you direct the Multi-channel Sound Lab at NYCU in Taiwan. How has your extensive experience with spatialization influenced the geometric construction and sonic architecture of such an intimate work like Metascape of Bamboo?

[Yu-Chung Tseng]: Yes, my years directing the Multi-channel Sound Lab shaped my approach to sonic architecture when transitioning from an expansive laboratory to an intimate piece like Metascape of Bamboo. My multi-channel mindset scales inward. Instead of projecting sound across a vast hall, I focus on the micro-acoustics and the internal resonance of the bamboo itself. My background in spatialization allows me to treat distinct spatial layers as if they are moving along discrete trajectories, building a virtual multi-channel environment.

[Francesco Giannico]: Stepping into your studio for a moment: the composition is built upon raw recordings of chaotic collisions and random chirps. What was the manipulation and synthesis process that allowed you to transform these physical percussive impacts into such a fluid and floating narrative?

[Yu-Chung Tseng]: In the studio, I relied heavily on granular synthesis and spatial processing. The raw recordings of those chaotic collisions and random chirps of bamboo have a very physical, percussive feel to them. By fragmenting these impact sounds into tiny audio grains just milliseconds long, I could alter their density, pitch, and spatial location. This technique let me time-stretch brief, sharp hits into smooth, continuous threads of sound.

Simultaneously, I used convolution reverb to capture the acoustic impulse of the bamboo forest itself. This process allowed those raw physical impacts to eventually evolve into a floating narrative line that almost seems to breathe.

[Francesco Giannico]: The focus of this edition of LANDSCAPE revolves around “Hacking the System.” In your project description, you state that rewriting our sonic environment allows us to experience boundless freedom within a constrained world. In what way do you feel your work most strongly embodies this attitude of creative disobedience?

[Yu-Chung Tseng]: The work embodies creative disobedience through the act of rewriting our sonic environment. By doing so, the composition asserts a proactive concept of landscape.

[Francesco Giannico]: And if you had to describe Metascape of Bamboo using only three words, which ones would you choose?

[Yu-Chung Tseng]: If I could only use three words to describe my work, I would choose: Listening, Resistance, Freedom.

Listening is the starting point for connecting with the world. Resistance, a gentle disobedience against a rigid system. Freedom, the boundless liberation achieved after rewriting the soundscape.

[Francesco Giannico]: Thank you so much, Yu-Chung, for sharing your time and deep insights with us, and congratulations once again from all of us at Collettivo Zeugma.

And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. And now, we invite you to immerse yourself in the piece itself. Here is Metascape of Bamboo by Yu-Chung Tseng.

[Yu-Chung Tseng]: Thank you.