Space Explorer: The Translation of the Concept Album into an Immersive and Interactive Virtual Space

Abstract

Space Explorer – a VR concept album – is practice-based research situated within a Research through Design (RtD) framework. The project began as a speculative attempt to explore immersive interactions with the concept album format but evolved significantly through a series of entangled creative encounters. Three interrelated contributions emerged through this process, each addressing a distinct aspect of the research inquiry.
First, the project explores how three qualities I consider central to the concept album – that it is meaningful, phonographic, and actively engaging – might be translated into immersive and interactive forms. These attributes are not directly imported from one medium to another, but reshaped through spatial design, embodied interaction, and an emphasis on user-led meaning-making – resulting in a navigable album-space that invites exploratory engagement. Second, the project addresses how conscious narrative engagement and subliminal sensory immersion might be reconciled in VR. To this end, I developed a set of behavioural cues called perceptamorphs. These guide attention and influence interpretation across conscious and subliminal registers, shaping user experience. They are formalised within the Conscious and Subliminal Entanglement (CASE) framework, an analytical model devised to describe how perceptamorphs operate. Third, the project was shaped by a design-creator entanglement, in which the limitations of my coding knowledge and the affordances of VR technology generated unexpected design solutions. These moments of insight fed back into the work as deliberate aesthetic choices. The project’s methodology – rooted in intuition, aesthetic judgement, and heuristic improvisation – was itself reshaped through active engagement with the medium.
This research contributes to current debates around sound-led VR, HCI design, and post-phenomenological practice. The project fundamentally concerns how knowledge emerges from entanglement, both for creator and user alike. The experience of the work, rather than the design or written thesis, should therefore be considered the key element of this submission.

Metadata

Supervisors:	Maloney, Liam
Publicly visible additional information:	I consider the experience of the album in VR to be the main component of this submission. Therefore Included with the thesis are nine VR builds for each track. There are also nine video captures which supplement the written thesis.
Keywords:	VR concept album; Concept albums; VR; Virtual Reality; Perceptamorph; CASE (Conscious and Subliminal Entanglement) framework; Meaning-through-Doing; Spatial counterpoint; Non-hierarchical mix; Spatial audio; Spatial mixing; Equivocal narrative; Entanglement HCI; Entanglement; Embodied interaction; Post-phenomenology; Post phenomenology; Immersion; Interaction; Phonography; Sound-construct; Reflective practice; Remediation theory; Research through Design; SIVE; Acoustic invariants; Behavioural cues; Perceptual cues; Narrative paradox; Temporal density; Sensory overload; Cinematic Virtual Reality (CVR); Diegesis; Intermedial; Intermediality; Heuristic methodology; Behavioural artefact; Ritual of Vinyl; 360° music videos; Probabilistic Experiential Editing (PEE); VR plausibility; Media grammars; Acousmatics; Source-bonded objects; Adaptive music;
Awarding institution:	University of York
Academic Units:	The University of York > School of Arts and Creative Technologies (York)
Depositing User:	Mr Stephen Newcombe
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2025 12:50
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2025 12:50
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:etheses.whiterose.ac.uk:37299

Downloads

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: Stephen Newcombe Examined Thesis 2024.pdf

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of Stephen Newcombe Examined Thesis 2024.pdf]

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 1. Menu Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 2. Space Explorer Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 3. Tinnitus Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 4. Euterpe Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 5. Defective Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 6. John Dunstable Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 7. Leiderkreis Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 9. Humana Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: 8. Legend Build.zip

Description: VR Build

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Supplementary Material

Filename: 1. Menu Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Supplementary Material

Filename: 2. Space Explorer Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of 2. Space Explorer Video.mp4]

Supplementary Material

Filename: 3. Tinittus Beginittus Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of 3. Tinittus Beginittus Video.mp4]

Supplementary Material

Filename: 4. Hymn to Euterpe Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of 4. Hymn to Euterpe Video.mp4]

Supplementary Material

Filename: 5. The Singing Defective Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of 5. The Singing Defective Video.mp4]

Supplementary Material

Filename: 6. John Dunstable Scene Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of 6. John Dunstable Scene Video.mp4]

Supplementary Material

Filename: 7. Die Quantum Leiderkreis Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of 7. Die Quantum Leiderkreis Video.mp4]

Supplementary Material

Filename: 8. Legend in my Own Room Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of 8. Legend in my Own Room Video.mp4]

Supplementary Material

Filename: 9. Feel Humana Video.mp4

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Supplementary Material

Filename: Space Explorer Audio Only.wav

Licence:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

[thumbnail of Space Explorer Audio Only.wav]

You do not need to contact us to get a copy of this thesis. Please use the 'Download' link(s) above to get a copy.
You can contact us about this thesis. If you need to make a general enquiry, please see the Contact us page.

Space Explorer: The Translation of the Concept Album into an Immersive and Interactive Virtual Space

Abstract

Metadata

Downloads

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Examined Thesis (PDF)

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Export

Statistics