The experience of sound happens in a fleeting moment and can endure as a lasting impression. In this interview, experimental musician Fangyi Liu reflects on his creative journey from early encounters with unconventional techniques to his evolving practice of sound recording, composition and improvisation. The interview is presented in two chapters-- in Part I, Fangyi shares about his approach to collecting sounds and making albums, and in Part II, we deep dive into his performative explorations with sound and space.

Every experience of sound possesses its own unique spatial characteristics--whether it is the varying ways sound transitions into one another in space, or the distance in between. The interplay between sounds and their spatial attributes is an important part of my work.

In 2022, I was invited to create a work Corridor Under Construction at C-LAB Sound Lab, equipped with a 49 channel, 360 degree surround sound system.

Each time the system booted up, white noise was played to test whether every speaker was functioning properly. I personally enjoyed listening to this speaker testing process, because even though it's the same white noise, each speaker's different angle created variations in how the sound was heard, sometimes even with shifted pitches. As the same sound moved through the 49 speakers—ding, ding, ding—it felt distinct from each one.

I loved how the white noise surrounds the space, so I had the technician write down the playback sequence for the speakers to incorporate it into the piece. Next, I included a second white noise recorded while riding past a campus gate — of a nitrogen tank releasing gas. These two sounds created a layered dynamic in the composition.





For me, creating a work that relies entirely on pre-recorded sounds played through speakers felt less engaging, so it was important to also include live sound. From past experience, surround-sound performances move sound around the space, but the sound feels disconnected from the space itself. Instead, it is as if the sound transforms the venue into another environment entirely, transporting you another place. So In the process of arranging, I aimed to highlight unique acoustic qualities of different spaces. The composition revolved around the idea of scene transitions, including shifts between various spaces, sometimes using specific sounds to facilitate those transitions.

At the same time, I wanted to use certain sounds to draw attention back to the immediate space and the live experience. In the live performance of Corridor Under Construction, I experimented with turning speakers into instruments. By attaching aluminum foil to the speakers and playing specific frequencies, I made the foil vibrate. Audiences could hear the faint sound produced by the vibrating foil on the speaker, combined with the clanging of the metal stanchions and the soundscape from the 49 speakers.

In the performance, I also played a recording of the sound of stanchions. Then, I physically interacted with the barriers on-site, pulling them up and letting them retract with a clanging sound. This created a contrast for the audience, offering a direct comparison of hearing the recorded sound of the object, and then experiencing the same object live in the space.

The technology of ambisonics is designed to transport you elsewhere - I compare the experience to that of VR, which immerses you into another environment with the aid of a headset. The spaces where people experience VR are often designed to eliminate any sound characteristics, aiming to achieve the effect of VR completely overriding reality. Instead of using sound to transport people to another place, I personally prefer bringing sounds from elsewhere into the present space.

If we stick to the VR analogy, in sound, I lean more toward AR — my own preference is to bring external sounds into the present space. That is why for my performance at Sound Lab, I included acoustic sounds produced live, rather than relying solely on speakers. Acoustic sound inherently feels distinct in a way that ambisonic sound struggles to replicate.


When it comes to illusions, I prefer shadow puppetry over Hollywood’s ultra-realistic special effects.

Speaking of different kinds of illusions, I compare my preference to shadow puppetry, which allows the option to step in and out of the illusion, maintaining a tangible connection between the participant and the imaginary. I recall reading an article that discussed how audiences tend to have a better relationship with ‘obviously fake’ illusions, as they make the experience of fiction more comprehensible. In a sense, this creates a stronger sense of wonder. You could say I gravitate toward meta approaches.

(Update: 2025-03-08)

︎ Fangyi Liu
Fangyi Liu lives in Kaohsiung. He focuses on freestyle musical and tonal improvisation. Additionally, he remixes and edits field recordings as demonstration works. Liu's work highlights two major points. The first is about the human voice. The act of pronouncing sounds from different races and cultures encompasses not only language but also pre-linguistic sounds, distortions, and language lapses. Even unestablished pronunciations can convey signals or context to listeners. The second point is about environmental sound or soundscapes. People are constantly surrounded by sounds from both living and nonliving things. His major projects address the issues of sensing and recognizing environmental sounds. Liu employs various materials and methods to explore these two topics.

He also created a Facebook group called Cochlea to introduce musicians from different fields to new audiences. He has organized several performances to promote new audio experiences.

︎ 劉芳一
現居高雄。他特別著迷於各式物件的聲學細節，並習慣於日常搜集聲音，進行即興演奏或聲音拼貼，構成意義含糊的敘事。其作品形式包括作曲、裝置和演出。現為“三半規管”及高雄實驗音樂團體“Beniyaben”成員，同時擔任高雄聲音聆聽推廣單位《耳蝸》的管理人與實驗音樂會《耳集》的策劃者。

劉芳一曾擔任《伊人》（2015）、《此岸：一個家族故事》（2020）、《宿舍》（2021）等影片的聲音設計，並參與演出TIDF《虛舟記》擴延電影配樂、台東美術館聲音藝術節、KLEX吉隆坡實驗電影錄像音樂節、台北藝術節、斯德哥爾摩藝穗節、另翼之聲：台灣當代噪音、即興、前衛音樂等活動。他的展覽經歷包括麻豆大地藝術季、金馬賓館、台灣雙年展等。