"Virtual" attempts to convey the idea of an illusory soundscape set in vibrant motion by the wind - an invisible and capricious source of energy for the "virtual" objects in the space, the exact nature of which we are left to imagine. This idea extended partly out of my fascination in the process of making field recordings in the natural environment, where the wind is typically regarded as a pervasive and problematic intruder. But, in fact, the wind is often a part of the sonic signature of a place (especially in the notoriously windy city in which I live), so I set out to record wind "noise" trying to take advantage of the very active but entirely natural stereo play it produces over a pair of microphones (just as it does across our ear canals). Other sound identities were designed around this idea, including controlled and turbulent air streams, tube-like resonances, and "objects" which form and flutter close to the ear, or far in the distance. Linked to this is a characteristic and consistent spatial morphology within which these sounds evolve and transform in their own ways. I was also aiming to develop a scale of sonic reality and abstraction, from the super-real sensations of direct physicality to more materially ambiguous sounds.

John Young (NZ) born 1962, studied composition at the University o f Canterbury, where he also completed a PhD on field recordings as a sound source in electroacoustic music. In 1989, with assistance from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, he travelled to the United Kingdom to further his study of electroacoustic music, returning to New Zealand the following year to join the staff of Victoria University of Wellington, where he is now Director of the Electroacoustic Music Studios.