Adapting Audio Mixing Principles and Tools to Parameter Mapping Sonification Design
Prithvi Ravi Kantan, Sofia Dahl, Erika Geraldina Spaich · 2024
Designing a parameter mapping sonification (PMSon) involves defining a mapping function that determines how data variables affect audio signal parameters. The mapping function is represented using mathematical notation and/or characterized in terms of scaling, transfer function and polarity; both approaches manifest in software platforms for PMSon design. Math notation is not always directly relatable to complex design requirements, and simple characterizations lack generality and may be ambiguous - both issues hamper mapping function design, conceptualization, and dissemination. We seek to address them through knowledge transfer from audio mixing, a mature craft with strong parallels to PMSon design. For mixing, it was a versatile and universally applicable technological platform (the multitrack mixer) that supported the development of mixing technique, concepts, and recent formalizations thereof, laying the foundation for modern audio production. We posit that a PMSon design platform that adapts the essential elements of the mixer can similarly reinforce PMSon by supporting a mapping function representation directly tied to the design process. We define the correspondence between mixing and PMSon design, outline specifics of mixer functionality adaptation, and demonstrate the resulting capabilities with our proof-of-principle platform Mix-N-Map that is currently pending user testing. We believe a general PMSon framework explicitly rooted in audio mixing can potentially advance theory and practice to the benefit of PMSon designers and users alike.