Working as a composer, sound designer and programmer, Rob has a passionate interest in how sound behaves acoustically and has developed a number of techniques for controlling and building virtual spaces for use within live performance and installation. His fascination with the work of the Roman Architect Vitruvius has influenced many of his compositions and led to appearances on national radio shows throughout the UK, Australia and America and a book chapter for Brill.
An enthusiastic collaborator, Rob has worked on many large-scale experimental and commercial music and sound design projects. He is part of a collaborative team with Simeon Nelson and Nick Rothwell creating a number of installation works combining sound and light sculpture. Plenum is a computer generated real-time architectural sound and light projection instigated by Simeon Nelson. It has been projected on many of the world’s most iconic buildings throughout Europe and Australia. Nelson’s Wellcome Trust funded Anarchy in the Organism exists as an installation and live concert-hall versions. Initially installed at the new Macmillan Cancer Centre, University College London Hospitals (UCLH), running for twelve months, it was later developed for live performance as a new composition for Eb Clarinet with Live & Algorithmic Sound Projection and Responsive Video. Performances have included the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Their Wellcome Trust/Artichoke funded project Cosmoscope, a light and sound projection and sculpture for Durham Lumiere 2017 and London Lumiere 2018 has most recently been displayed at the Watts Gallery, Surrey.
Rob works regularly with Kate Romano. Projects include a new realisation and performance of Poeme Electronique by Varese for live sound projection and video. Their work focuses in bringing excellence in musical programming, combining live electroacoustic performance into a meaningful concert-hall and public art environment. Tiny Stories, commissioned by Lichfield Festival 2020, are seven tiny collages of music-and-spoken-word, all less then 5 minutes long forming a wünderkammer of curiosities...
He created a companion work to Poeme - Faraday Waves. It was selected for the Art & Science Days Concerts, Concours Bourges June 2016 and the Diffrazioni Festival November 2016, S. Maria Novella, Florence, Italy. It has gone on to be shown at numerous arts/science events plus WOMAD and the Noisely Music Festival.
For linear film, he has composed the sound for Kamila Kuc’s Batum, Uchronia No.1 and Noonwraith Blues; plus Sam Jury’s film To Be Here (AHRC Research in Film Awards 2018) and This you must remember (2020/22 - recently premiered as a multi-screen/speaker installation at Depo İstanbul and KCB, Belgrade). This you must remember features hybridised music and sound design compositions, whereby environmental sounds (on-camera and field recordings) are used as structural musical devices. Many sounds were recorded on location in Abkazia (using native speakers), with other field recordings made in England and Wales during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
Rob has received performances from artists such as the Siobhan Davies Dance Company, The BBC Singers, Evelyn Glennie, Gemini, Philip Mead, Vivienne Spiteri, Kate Romano, Andrew Sparling, The Goldfield Ensemble and the Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble QuintEssential.
Rob Godman is Reader in Music at the University of Hertfordshire.
Other research and compositional interests include interactive audio (live and responsive), multi-speaker sound projection (Rob is the director of UH Diffuse – the Music Centre’s multi-speaker diffusion system), field recording, programming, collaborative methods and cross-arts (music and architecture, music and image, music and text etc.).
