Spatializing Music in VR Experiences

Music has a complex relation with the concept of space: there is the metaphorical notion of tonal space, the space that recorded music creates when played through stereo or surround sound speakers, and finally, the actual physical spaces where music sounds—whether through instruments, speakers, or headphones. Virtual reality (VR) technology offers unique possibilities for interacting with these different kinds of musical spaces by creating and recreating performance spaces in VR, or through game-like VR applications such as Beat Saber and adaptations of rhythm-action video games.

This chapter looks specifically at this second category, asking to what extent spatiality plays a role in these games. First, it builds upon the ideas of Peter Shultz regarding the conceptions of musical space that traditional music video games like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution offer players, asking the question what a space in virtual reality adds to these conceptions. Then, following the broader discourse on ludomusicality and musical play in video games, it explores what the visual and gameplay elements of games such as Beat Saber and Thumper say about our imaginations of musical spaces. Can we think of the colourful virtual environments of Beat Saber or Rez Infinite as a representation of abstract musical space, or should these be seen as engaging with the cultural imaginary of musical synaesthaesia that has been prevalent throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from Scriabin’s clavier à lumieres and the tone poems of Oskar Fischinger to the digital visualization software of Winamp and iTunes?