“Yorunoyo - Yokohama Cross Night Illumination”

From November 18 (Thursday) to December 26 (Sunday), 2021, “YORUNOYO - YOKOHAMA CROSS NIGHT ILLUMINATION”, an art illumination event featuring state-of-the-art light and sound technology, was held in the city of Minatomirai, Yokohama.

Yamaha's latest immersive sound system AFC Image, which realizes three-dimensional sound, was used in the “Cross Dome” at the Shinko Chuo Square, the main venue of Yorunoyo. We interviewed Mr. Junichi Takekawa, creative director, and Ms. Minori Nagashima, sound director and event producer of Yorunoyo, about the reason for its adoption and the concept of Yorunoyo.

Art Illumination “Yorunoyo - YOKOHAMA CROSS NIGHT ILLUMINATION” Overview

Yorunoyo is an urban illumination event spread across the entire Yokohama Bay Area for the public to experience the ever-growing “Yokohama-ness” through light and music. Yorunoyo consists of various interactive events: “NIGHT WALKING,” in which visitors experience light and sound in the “Cross Dome” at the Shinko Chuo Square, the main venue; “NIGHT VIEWING,” a five-minute event in which light and sound are interlinked with the surrounding facilities such as Minatomirai, Bashamichi, and Kannai; “PORTAL” installed at 12 locations in the waterfront area of central Yokohama, in which lights and sounds change as people pass; and an “ART CRUISE,” a night boat cruise where visitors can enjoy the illumination and projection mapping of Yorunoyo from the boat.

The Cross Dome, a light dome object consisting of a dome approximately 20 meters in diameter and two domes approximately 11 meters in diameter, was installed in the Shinko Chuo Square, and music created by Minori Nagashima was played inside the dome. In the Cross Dome, a number of speakers were installed at various locations in the frame to realize a three-dimensional acoustic space using AFC Image. A total of 58 speakers were used in the Cross Dome. The speakers used were the Yamaha VXS8 and VXS5 surface mount speakers, which are IP35 rated for outdoor installations.

What is AFC Image?

AFC Image is an object-based sound image control system that creates an immersive sound environment in any space. The sound effects created by freely controlling the sound within a space maximize the appeal of the expressions and art on stage and draw the audience into an immersive emotional experience. The object-based system used in AFC Image is a solution that overcomes the challenges of channel-based systems and proposes a new approach to mixing in response to the demands for uniformity of service and complex production in live entertainment.

About Yorunoyo

The word “Yorunoyo” is intended to evoke a sense of onomatopoeia that will become a Japanese word 100 years from now, like “shinshin to,” and it also includes the meaning of “You will Know You (know yourself)” that we want people to feel at Yorunoyo. I think the name fits the scenery of Yokohama at night.

Yorunoyo expresses the message of the city of Yokohama and the current era through light and sound, and for the first event in 2020, we have chosen the theme of “CROSS” to express Yokohama's character as a place where various people and things intersect, through light and sound. The important point was that Minori Nagashima, a musician who creates music for Yorunoyo, created and imagined the concept, and by expressing the concept through music and visual light, we brought dynamism to the city. The event was held with the idea that each person is a light that illuminates the world, and 850,000 people visited the event.

The theme for the second edition in 2021 is “FLOW - Going Around”. The message is that if something is in motion and flows, something will be born.

The Power of Yamaha's Stereophonic AFC Image

Yorunoyo is part of a creative illumination project that creates opportunities to enjoy the night in Yokohama and experience new attractions. Based on the idea that not only light but also sound is an important element, we had used AFC Image in its prototype stage for the first Yorunoyo. The results were so good that we decided to use AFC Image again this year.

AFC Image uses a large number of speakers to reproduce a three-dimensional sound that blends well within the scenery. The sound of fireworks and music are beautifully mixed, as well as the sounds of birdsong and the hustle and bustle of the city. That's what I like about it. The human ear perceives sound in every direction, so multiple channels are used to closely resemble how the human ear naturally hears sound, which may be what makes the sound so comforting. Immersive sound does not just move the sound image like surround sound, but also gives us a sense of depth and distance from the sound. In last year's 2020 visitor survey, many commented that the music was good, which led to a high level of satisfaction with the event.

In the future, we may hold concerts inside the Cross Dome using immersive sound, or create an area in the city where people can experience music produced by speakers attached to drones, which could lead to another field of research and development. I imagine that the splendor of Yorunoyo will spread to the world, and that “Yorunoyo in Yokohama” will become a collaborative experience between various cities around the world and Yokohama.

Creating Music Based on the Premise of Stereophonic Playback with AFC Image

Since the first Yorunoyo, I have been in charge of the overall direction of the concept and content, as well as composing the music. The “Cross Dome,” a collection of three domes, was inspired by the lattice-like crossed-out framework of tents at rock festivals and other events. It also means “intersection” of people, things, and culture. Yokohama is situated on a bay, so I created the music with wind, water, and the flow of the ocean in mind.

As for acoustics, I have been studying surround sound since I was a student, and I have always thought that music reproduction is not simply stereo, so I was hoping to use surround sound at Yorunoyo as well. Then I was able to use AFC Image, which was in the prototype stage, on a test basis at the first event. Since the Cross Dome is an outdoor installation, there are various limitations such as volume restrictions, wind direction, and speaker height. While making the sweet spot at the center of the dome, we designed the system by taking into account the various standing positions and orientations within the dome.

For the second of Yorunoyo, I created music with AFC Image from the beginning. I moved the sound image further in accordance with the concept of “FLOW - Going Around”. I thought about three-dimensional localization and speaker placement from the composition stage, for example, “Let's swing to L here,” or “Let's move the violin sound in this way in the space,” and so on. The PANs and other components of AFC Image responded to the music in a straightforward manner, making it easy to create a three-dimensional sound image. I wanted to create the music on a grand scale, so it was beneficial that the number of AFC objects was increased from the previous event to a maximum of 128 channels. This time, we have more than 120 channels for sound sources including quartet recordings, digital music, and ambient microphones, which were combined into 80 channels by stemming. After actually playing it back in the Cross Dome, we made some minor adjustments, such as adding a kick and separating the violin track to give it more breadth.

We also used 3D reverb from AFC Image, which creates different reverberations depending on the position of the objects. The Cross Dome has no walls, only a framework, but with the 3D reverb, we were able to create a sound field as if we were enveloped in a sphere with walls.

Systems like AFC Image are a great way for artists to express themselves in new ways and to expand their range of expression, so I would like to continue to actively use systems that use new technologies as they become available.