Studioforum

Woche 37 - 42 / 08.09. - 19.10.08

SMC´08 Stereoversionen der prämierten Werke Teil 3

01. Erik Nyström / Multiverse / 2008 / 11:07
02. Georg Dennis / Electric Sheep / 2008 / 5:02
03. Martin Bedard / Excavations / 2008 / 10:00
04. John Ritz / In the Very Eye of Night / 20008 / 8:50
05. Yutaka Makino / Ephemera / 2008 / 10:09

01. Erik Nyström / Multiverse / 2008 / 11:07
Discontinuous connections and connected discontinuities lie at the heart of this piece. These aspects are reflected both in the choice of sound material and the way the piece is structured. Percussive singularities are presented and approached on several parallel strata, from "big" obvious gestural events, across rhythmic pulsations, towards more abstract textures and drones. The boundaries are blurred as a synthesis takes place within the network of connections that constitute the composition, weaving an irregular fabric of space and time - full of knots and holes - where music emerges in a gravitational flux. The term multiverse is used in cosmological science and describes a constellation of universes, where phase transitions such as chaotic inflations and big bangs spawn new regions in space and time. The piece was premiered at the ElectriCity festival in London in April 2008 and was shortlisted for the Residence prize in the 35th Bourges International Competition in 2008.

02. Georg Dennis / Electric Sheep / 2008 / 5:02
The forefather of modern computer science, Alan Turing, once theorised that were a computer ever to effectively simulate the human mind, it must also inherit its mistakes and failings, its tendency towards error. Functioning correctly, the modern computer seems almost incapable of such faults; it is a model of unthinking perfection. Perhaps then, any audible 'errors' that computers make and have made throughout their history could be extraneous by-products of their operation: the screech of the metal housing containing the early machines that Turing worked with; the clicks and whirrs of tape players once used as storage media; the modern-day hums and buzzes of the computers that we are all familiar with. This piece makes use of these sounds. However, an attempt has been made to imbue these inanimate sonic objects with the spark of life whilst still retaining something of a machine-like quality, to give them a sense of intelligence whilst ultimately remaining artificial. Electric Sheep is dedicated to the memories of Alan Turing and Philip K. Dick, the latter’s novel/treatise on ‘AI’ providing the title of this work.

03. Martin Bedard / Excavations / 2008 / 10:00
Commissioned for the Québec City 400th anniversary (1608-2008) celebrations. Excavations is a homage to the history and unique character of Québec City. In the piece, I explore the cohabitation of electroacoustic media and sound culture, which I identify as being the unique sound heritage of a community or area. The composition uses referential sounds, which are recognizable and anchored in reality. These have then been reworked in the studio to transform their anecdotal nature into material that can be presented in musical form. The sounds have been used as symbols, metaphors and indices, here suggesting a narrative approach to the design of the sound phenomenon. Non-referential sounds, created using montage and treatment techniques, have been added to form part of the cohabitation. They punctuate the écriture of the sound into phrasings, take on the role of signals, or have a function that is purely abstract. The title Excavations alludes to the archaeological campaigns in the city.

04. John Ritz / In the Very Eye of Night / 20008 / 8:50
The laws of macro- and microcosm are alike. Travel in the interior is as a voyage in outer space: we must in each case burst past the circumference of our surface – enter worlds where the relationship of parts is the sole gravity.

05. Yutaka Makino / Ephemera / 2008 / 10:09
Yutaka Makino is an artist and researcher currently based at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he is working towards his Ph.D., supervised by Curtis Roads (UCSB), Marcos Novak (UCSB, Sci-Arc) and C.E.B. Reas (UCLA). His works/research seeks to amalgamate the historic precedents of computer music and contemporary techniques in architecture towards new materiality, involving research in non-standard sound synthesis, spatial perception, form-finding processes, complex dynamical systems and emergence. He studied electronic music, art and science at the Center for Composition of Iannis Xenakis (France), Institute of Sonology (The Netherlands), The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (USA), Royal Academy of Arts / Conservatory (The Netherlands), Waseda University (Japan) and University of Tokyo (Japan). His works have been recognized/performed at numerous competitions and festivals internationally including the MusikTriennale Cologne (Germany), the Bourges International Competitions of Electroacoustic Music and Sound Art (France), Bucharest Youth Biannual (Romania), transmediale (Germany), the International Gaudeamus Music Week (The Netherlands), STRP Festival (The Netherlands), Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music (UK) and Seoul International Computer Music Festival (South Korea) among others. He has won the Prix Ton Bruynel 2007 for his composition Cryosphere. Residencies include STEIM (The Netherlands), Foundation Kaus Australis (The Netherlands), Atlantic Center for the Arts (USA) and Electronic Music Studio at TU Berlin (Germany). With Takuro Mizuta Lippit of STEIM, he frequently performs as Audile. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

sound in space – space in sound
5th Sound and Music Computing Conference, Berlin, Germany, Thur July 31st 2008 - Sun August 3rd 2008

Every era develops its specific, culturally defined awareness of space as well as forms of its aesthetic reification. In music, we can trace a development from an architectural place of sound to the symbolical space of formal and structural projections and finally to the imaginitive, musically immanent space of compositional fantasy. From thereon the actual space can be functionalised musically, it can, however, also be opened to and expanded by technical spaces. These, as digital simulations, enable both universal manipulation and boundless scaling. The conception of an "acoustic cyberspace" becomes constitutive for new aesthetical conceptions of form as well as for the generation and manipulation of sounds.
In 2007 the Technische Universität Berlin has installed the largest wavefield synthesis system worldwide with 832 channels and 2700 loudspeakers in a 700 seats lecture hall. During the 5th SMC „Space in Sound – Sound in Space“ works for this system will be performed. This system will be augmented by a 20 channel Klangdome and an Acousmonium provided by GRM Paris in the same hall. The simultaneous installation allows a combination of different sound systems with their individual qualities as well as an analytical listening of the same works performed on different systems.
The scientific program of the SMC08 will have a special focus on different concepts and technologies of spatialisation, including sound art, acousmatic music, stereophonic reproduction, and wavefield synthesis. The talks will cover historical, aesthetical, technical as well as genre specific aspects of sound and space.

The Fifth SMC (SMC08) will be organised by the German Association of Electroacoustic Music (DEGEM) in collaboration with the Audio Communication Group, Technische Universität Berlin.
www.smc08.org

Elektronische Studios aus ganz Deutschland und dem Ausland werden hier portraitiert und stellen ihre aktuellen Projekte, Forschungsvorhaben und Entwicklungsarbeiten vor. Das Studio-Forum dient langfristig dem Austausch zwischen den Studios als Produktionsstätten vielfältiger elektroakustischer Musik und Klangkunst.