ACMC 2023

Australasian Computer Music Conference 2023 & ElectroMUSE Concert Series

The University of New England is thrilled to be hosting the 2023 Australasian Computer Music Association Conference and Concert Series. ACMC is the annual gathering of the Australasian Computer Music Association where you are invited to share and discuss emerging research and innovative practice in computer/electronic/digital music. ACMC is a festival of performances, installations, workshops, and tutorials that will inspire, challenge, and showcase the emerging work of global leading researchers and artists in this rapidly growing community of practice.

ACMC will take place on the 9th-11th October at our Sydney Campus at the University of New England, Parramatta. ACMC will partner with the Parramatta City Council and the Parramatta Lanes Festival to present a concert series in conjunction with a program of presentations and workshops across the three-day event with leading academics and artists.

We invite students, academics, artists, and all enthusiasts of digital and electronic music to attend this inspiring event. UNE students can access the event for free.

2023 Conference Theme: ElectroMUSE

This year’s ACMC theme is ElectroMUSE. The Muse of Ancient Greek mythology are nine goddesses who preside over the arts and science and were the source of inspirational fire for the artist. To muse on something is to absorb in thought and to deeply reflect. ACMC2023 will absorb participants in thinking deeply about music and its relationship to all things technological, digital, and electronic. We will take inspiration from the technological muse of our age and engage with an array of creative processes and musical outputs throughout the event.

Technology has long been an integral part of music making practice and now more than ever, is a source of inspiration and collaboration among musicians and artists working with sound.

Humans and machines continue to evolve, becoming ever more deeply entwined, with greater power than ever before, to impact our social and cultural fabric and alter the world. Technology offers great opportunity and promise but also brings challenges and many unknowns which can generate fear and distrust. As we navigate our rapidly changing technological world, we will muse upon, explore, imagine, investigate, reflect, make, collaborate, and draw inspiration from the emerging technologies that are fast becoming the Muse of the modern age, inspiring our music and music making practices.

Program

PHIVE Installations

UNE Installations

Keynote 1

Keynote 2

Paper 1A

Paper 1B

Paper 2A

Paper 2B

Paper 2C

Paper 2D

Paper 3A

Paper 3B

Demo

Spatial 1

Live Concert 1 UNE

Spatial 2

Fixed Media 1 UNE

Calligrapix - The Muse of Calligraphy and Visual Arts (AV Works 1)

CybErato - The Muse of Love, Sensors and Sound Synthesis (Fixed Media 2)

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Lyrictron - The Muse of Music Production, Poetry and Phonemes (AV Works 2)

VoceST II (Massimo Fragalà)

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All the sounds that form this composition derive from the elaboration of vocal sample. Starting from this very small sample (0.1756 seconds) I tried to change the original characteristics in order to generate a range of sounds more o less different compared to their original variety. This was possible using particular technique of sound processing such as time and spectrum stretching, morphing, harmonisation, freezing and sustaining a sound on an explicitly specified grain, transposing copies of sound on top of one another.

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Massimo Fragalà graduated in Electronic Music and in Classical Guitar. His music has been performed in many festivals and conferences worldwide including ICMC 2003, 3rd Prize ex aequo 4° Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Elettronica “P. Schaeffer” (Italy, 2003), ICMC 2005, Festival Zèppelin 05, EAR Sounds Electric 2005, LAC06, ICMC 2006, Festival Mùsica Viva 2008 (Sound Walk), NWEAMO 2008, Taukay 2008 (FrammentAzioni), Vox Novus 2008 (60x60 project), LAC 2011, Emufest 2011, 60x60 2012 (PianoForte Mix), Csound Conference 2013, LAC 2015, Csound Conference 2015, Csound 30, WOCMAT 2016, LAC 2017, LAC 2018, ICMC 2018, MusLab 2018, LAC 2019, ICMC 2019, MusLab 2020, NYCEMF 2022, etc.. .

Desolation (Andre Montanaro)

Program Note:

Desolation is an 8’38” acousmatic composition made with digital and environmental sound materials. The title is inspired by the desolation inherent in man who does not accept belonging to the social fabric that he lives because he does not recognize himself in his arcane fabrics. Digital synthesis is obtained through subtractive synthesis processes, it refers, given a sound source (oscillators or partials) rich in harmonics, it is filtered from a spectral point of view by “subtracting” from it frequency bands or single partials. This filtering operation develops during the temporal evolution of the signal, it is organized into three sound typologies: low-pitched, mid-pitched, high-pitched, and is rich in beats. The piece was conceived by referring to processing techniques through the various filterings that widen and tighten.

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Andrea Montanaro, multi-instrumentalist composer, director and teacher from Abruzzo: he obtained diplomas in popular music, clarinet, piano, jazz piano, organ and organ composition, multimedia composition, film music composition, at the Conservatories of Pescara, Rome and Verona. He collaborates with international artists such as Franco D’andrea, Calogero Palermo, Xavier Girotto with whom he has made engravings, compositions and didactic texts published by the Academy. Some of his compositions have been premiered at the contemporary music festival in Desenzano del Garda. To deepen the basics of instrumental composition, he dedicates himself to the study of multiple instruments. Winner of four international piano competitions. He has published liturgical music for Tau publisher. He teaches Analysis and Composition Theory and Musical Technologies at the Liceo Musicale of Vasto.

String Theory (for live electronics and paetzold contrabass recorder) (Mark Oliveiro)

Program Note:

“String Theory” is an interactive concert work that intertwines the resonant tones of the paetzold contrabass recorder, live electronic music featuring sub bass frequencies, and immersive video projections inspired by Galileo Galilei’s celestial research. Designed using MaxMSP, this multidimensional experience takes the audience on a captivating journey through the harmonious realms of both music and astronomy.

The paetzold contrabass recorder, renowned for its deep, resonating timbre, serves as the centerpiece of ““String Theory””. Its commanding presence and virtuosic expressions evoke a sense of wonder, embodying the cosmic vibrations that once fascinated Galileo. Through MaxMSP, the recorder’s melodies and textures blend seamlessly with live electronic manipulations, where sub bass frequencies merge with the organic sounds, blurring the boundaries between the earthly and the ethereal.

Bio:

“Dr Mark Oliveiro is a graduate and distinguished alumnus of the Sydney Conservatorium, the College of Music, the University of North Texas and the School of Music of Indiana University.

As well as working as an academic lecturer at AIM, Mark is a composer with diverse extra-musical interests including history, mythology and ancient literature.

At present, he has an interest in exploring, by way of conceptual abstract and musical aesthetic, the notion of reconstructing lost or imagined performance traditions. Dance and movement, theatrics and technology, language and social media, are just some of the non-musical solutions most apt for his ever expanding, contemporary composer tool belt.

With a keen and equal interest in acoustic and electronic music as well as interactive media, Mark’s music has been represented at national and international conferences and festivals including the World Saxophone Congress, the International Horn Society, the International Computer Music Association, the Society of Electroacoustic Music, Electronic Music Midwest and Vivid Music.”

Whispers of the Branch (Cecilia Suhr)

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Whispers of Branches is an improvisational violin and bamboo flute on fixed and live electronics; it is performed as a real-time audio-visual interaction. The improvisational sound of the violin and bamboo flute is being processed electronically while affecting the drawing lines of the branches. This piece imagines the whispers of branches after all the leaves have fallen off. What is the sound of nature’s whispers as the bare-bone branches move and dance on a tree? Can there be a message of fortitude and strength as branches withstand the cold months of winter? The violin and bamboo flute improvisation reflect on the sound of winds and branches’ silent messages while drawing out the actual sound in a visual form in real-time.

Bio:

Cecilia Suhr is an intermedia artist and researcher, multi-instrumentalist (violin/cello/voice/piano/bamboo flute), multimedia composer, interaction designer, painter, author, and improviser. She has won multiple awards in the field of visual art, music, interactive media, and academic research, including the MacArthur Foundation, Digital Media and Learning Research Grant Award (2012), Pauline Oliveros Award from the IAWM (2022), Silver Medal Award from the International Cambridge Music Competition (2023), Bronze Medal Winner from the Global Music Awards (2022), Best of Competition Winner in Interactive Media and Emerging Technologies from the Broadcast Education Association (2023), Saint Michael Achievement Medal from International Juried Fine Arts Competition, (2013), etc. Her music has been performed and featured at the NYCEMF, ICMC, SEAMUS, EMM, SCI, International Multimedia Arts Festival, New Music Gathering, Splice Festival, New Music on the Bayou, Hot Air Music Festival, Moxonic Festival, Beast Feast, Harvard University, Yale University, ISSTA, Klint Gut, among many others. She is the author of “Social Media and Music” (Peter Lang Press, 2012) and “Evaluation and Credentialing in Digital Music Communities” (MIT Press, 2014). Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Creative Arts at Miami University Regionals.

Discontinuous Mediation III (Rodrigo Pascale)

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Discontinuous Mediation III is the third composition of this series. Unlike the first and second compositions, in which pre-recorded guitar and clarinet sounds were used, here pre-recorded viola sounds are used as sonic material. However, this composition has many similarities with its predecessor in terms of the conceptual environment and planning. As in “Discontinuous Mediation I” and “Discontinuous Mediation II”, the sounds were organized in a segmented way, which was responsible for forming a structure based by my compositional procedure. This method was applied to explore the conceptual idea of a perceptually continuous world being interpreted by a discrete mediation.

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Rodrigo Pascale (b. 1996) is a Brazilian composer based in the USA. Pascale graduated in composition from UFRJ in 2018. Since 2019, Pascale has lived in the United States, where he is currently pursuing his DMA in composition at Peabody Institute. His works have been selected for the following festivals: XXIX Panorama da Música Brasileira Atual, 2020 MUSLAB Exhibition, Espacios Sonoros 2020 Festival, V International Congress of Music and Mathematics and the Tesselat Electronic/Electroacoustic Concert. Furthermore, Pascale was one of the winners of the International Composition Contest organized by Sound Silence Thought and winner of the Festival Expresiones Contemporáneas 2020.

Action-Reaction (Chi Wang)

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In classical mechanics, Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The action and reaction form a single interaction, they are simultaneous and neither force exists without the other. In this composition, the GameTrak’s retractable tethers interact with the performer’s push, pull, release and free movements. Each time the performer releases the tethers, they are retracted back to the rest state, creating predictable yet unique realignment path each time. The data measured from the physical movements are mapped to control various parameters, creating musical expressions that are both superimposed and nuanced. The performer, sound producing engine, and the concert venue can be virtually connected from three different physical locations, producing the composition via network.

Bio:

Chi Wang is a composer and performer of electroacoustic music. Her research and compositional interests include sound design, data-driven instruments creation, musical composition, and performance. Chi’s compositions have been performed internationally including presentations at the International Computer Music Conference, New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Musicacoustica-Beijing, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States Conference, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Kyma International Sound Symposia, Electronic Music Midwest Festival, Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, Portland Biennial of Contemporary Art, I. Paderewski Conservatory of Music in Poland, International Confederation of Electro-Acoustic Music, and WOCMAT in Taiwan. Chi’s compositions were selected for SEAMUS CD, Best Composition from the Americas from International Computer Music Conference, and Award of Distinction from MA/IN festival. Chi has also served as a judge for international electronic music competitions including Musicacostica-Beijing, Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States national conferences and International Computer Music Conference. Chi is also an active translator for electronic music related books, including Kyma and the SumOfSines Disco Club and Electronic Music Interactive. Chi received her D.M.A. at the University of Oregon in the Performance of Data-driven Instruments and is currently an assistant professor of music (composition: electronic and computer music) at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Astraeus (Eric Lemmon)

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Astraeus // Consort of Eos // God of the Dusk.

Bio:

Composer Eric Lemmon’s artistic practice and academic research is preoccupied with the politics that circumscribe and are woven into our musical technologies and institutions. His music has been reviewed by the New York Times and featured on WQXR’s Q2 and has been performed in venues ranging from underground bars (le) Poisson Rouge and SubCulture to the DiMenna Center for Classical Music and the FIGMENT arts festival on Governors Island. Works by Eric have been performed across the internationally, with notable performers of his music including PUBLIQuartet, Jacqueline LeClaire, and Yarn/Wire.

Highly recognized for his electronic and electroacoustic sonic practice, Eric’s music been performed at conferences and festivals including SEAMUS, the Performing Media Festival [PMF~], the International Workshop on Computer Music and Audio Technology, the Xenakis Networked Performance Marathon, the NowNet Arts Conference, the Australasian Computer Music Conference, the Web Audio Conference, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference, the Network Music Festival, and more.

The Swan [Derbarl Yerrigan] (2022) (Sze Tsang)

Program Note:

The Swan [Derbarl Yerrigan] (2022) was originally created as part of a series of work commissioned by the State Library of Western Australia and West Australian Music, as part of a re-imagining of the State Library’s maps collection. The work combines a map of the Perth area from the 1890s, rendered into an digital virtual instrument, with field recordings taken from modern-day Perth, as a way of demonstrating how landscape can both be inspiration, and active participant, of a composition.

Bio:

Sze Tsang (they/them) is a published researcher, performer and audio-visual artist residing in Boorloo/Perth, Western Australia. Sze’s practice and research focuses on the relationships between self and place through audio-visual works, and their experience as a practitioner-researcher. Their practice involves incorporating audio and visual elements of place into compositions, as an expression of catharsis through abstracted soundworks.

Sze performs and has exhibited works nationally and internationally as samarobryn. Currently a PhD candidate at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Sze has spoken at international and national conferences and published writings on soundscape composition.

Live Concert Riverside: EuterMechania - Muse of Music Interfaces and Instrumentation

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Lanes Concert (Techalia - The Muse of Technology & Invention)

Electronica Bass (Mansell Laidler)

Program Note:

“Welcome to the performance Electronica Bass, where the electric bass takes centre stage as a powerful interface for the creation of electronic music. Throughout this performance, I will harness the boundless potential of the electric bass, moulding its raw sound through a carefully curated collection of effects and digital amplifier models.

In this performance the bass will take on new dimensions, its tones shaped and sculpted in real-time. By employing the versatile software looping platform, Ableton, the processed bass parts are looped, building intricate layers of sonic richness that defy convention.

Join me on this sonic journey as I push the boundaries of music and embark on an unforgettable exploration of sound. Welcome to Electronica Bass, where innovation meets artistry, and the electric bass reigns supreme. “

Bio:

“Mansell Laidler is a seasoned bass player with an impressive 25-year career in the music industry. Over the past decade, he has served as a member of the Australian Army Band, offering his musical talents and contributing to numerous performances. This role has granted him the opportunity to embark on extensive travels across Australia and various international destinations.

In 2020, during the initial wave of the global pandemic, Mansell’s artistic interests took a fascinating turn. In the face of isolation and limited performance opportunities, he discovered the captivating world of Live Looping. This newfound passion led him to delve deeper into the realm of software looping, exploring the vast potential that could be unlocked when combining the electric bass with effects and software-based loopers.

Motivated by his profound curiosity and desire to expand his musical horizons, Mansell was accepted into the University of New England’s prestigious Masters of Philosophy program in May 2021. With an anticipated graduation date in late 2023, he is currently undertaking a captivating research project titled ““Electronica Bass: The Electric Bass as an Interface for the creation of Electronic Music.”” Through this project, Mansell aims to unravel the possibilities and intricacies of using the electric bass as a creative gateway to the world of electronic music.

Mansell Laidler’s diverse experiences as a professional bass player, combined with his unique journey in the Australian Army Band and his exploration of Live Looping and software looping, have shaped him into a multifaceted musician with a relentless passion for pushing the boundaries of musical expression.”

String Theory (for live electronics and paetzold contrabass recorder) (Mark Oliveiro)

Program Note:

“String Theory”” is an interactive concert work that intertwines the resonant tones of the paetzold contrabass recorder, live electronic music featuring sub bass frequencies, and immersive video projections inspired by Galileo Galilei’s celestial research. Designed using MaxMSP, this multidimensional experience takes the audience on a captivating journey through the harmonious realms of both music and astronomy.

The paetzold contrabass recorder, renowned for its deep, resonating timbre, serves as the centerpiece of ““String Theory””. Its commanding presence and virtuosic expressions evoke a sense of wonder, embodying the cosmic vibrations that once fascinated Galileo. Through MaxMSP, the recorder’s melodies and textures blend seamlessly with live electronic manipulations, where sub bass frequencies merge with the organic sounds, blurring the boundaries between the earthly and the ethereal. “

Bio:

“Dr Mark Oliveiro is a graduate and distinguished alumnus of the Sydney Conservatorium, the College of Music, the University of North Texas and the School of Music of Indiana University.

As well as working as an academic lecturer at AIM, Mark is a composer with diverse extra-musical interests including history, mythology and ancient literature.

At present, he has an interest in exploring, by way of conceptual abstract and musical aesthetic, the notion of reconstructing lost or imagined performance traditions. Dance and movement, theatrics and technology, language and social media, are just some of the non-musical solutions most apt for his ever expanding, contemporary composer tool belt.

With a keen and equal interest in acoustic and electronic music as well as interactive media, Mark’s music has been represented at national and international conferences and festivals including the World Saxophone Congress, the International Horn Society, the International Computer Music Association, the Society of Electroacoustic Music, Electronic Music Midwest and Vivid Music.”

Earcandles (Rodney Berry)

Program Note:

It’s a guy with a modular synth on a guitar strap making droney ambient noise music using a mixture of digital and analogue sources and processors.

Bio:

Rodney bought a second-hand Atari ST in1989 and became a computer musician. Before that, he made do with drainpipes and pieces of wood. Perhaps best known for his installation works exploring artificial life and augmented reality technologies, lately he is enjoying live performance with a wearable modular synthesiser as well as designing affordable microtonal instruments.

Fox n Drum (John Drummond )

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Modular synthesisers intertwine with the enchanting sounds of acoustic sounds and instruments.

#FoxAndDrum #ModularSynthesis #KochiBells #LiveStudioEP #SonicJourney #MusicalExploration

Bio:

https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/jon-drummond

https://www.foxcontrolmusic.com/bio

Nik Nak (Nik Nak - Nick Wishart)

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NikNaK creates electronic music and immersive live visuals using Round Sounds, an exciting new motion controlled instrument. With a practice that jumps freely between Creative Coding and Circuit Bending, ṈìkṈáK is also known as the evil genius behind the Sydney-based cult band Toydeath.

Bio:

I am an interdisciplinary artist and musician with a focus on light, sound and interactivity. Over the past 25 years, my practice has revolved around writing, playing, and recording music for live theater and moving image. In addition to my work in music, I also delve into video production, coding, and embedded electronics.

Recently, I have been deeply engaged in research and development, exploring the realm of individual wireless, MIDI-controlled instruments. These instruments utilise gyroscopes and accelerometers to translate human movement into sound and music. What sets them apart is their unique ability to also control DMX lighting, video, and virtual reality. The Round Sounds are innovative touch-activated, MIDI motion controller that fits comfortably in the hands. By manipulating this device, performers can effortlessly create a wide range of intuitive compositions, sounds, and syncopated rhythms. Designed with physical performers in mind, the Round Sounds serve as the ideal bridge between musicians, dancers and jugglers. In 1995, as one of the founding members of the band Toydeath, I embarked on a journey of crafting distinctive electronic instruments using circuit bending techniques. Toydeath, which remains active to this day, has graced stages across Australia, including notable performances at the Sydney Biennale, Big Day Out, and The Great Escape Festival. Additionally, we have embarked on international tours throughout Europe, the USA, and Asia. I’ve continued to develop this element of my practice, adapting and re-purposing existing domestic technologies and intuitive physical interfaces to create new audio-visual devices for performances and multimedia installations. For example the use of embedded electronics, sensors, and programming to create interactive devices for the Bio-luminescent jellyfish in ERTH’s Prehistoric Aquarium. Overall, my work seamlessly merges various artistic disciplines, pushing the boundaries of sound, technology, and performance to create immersive experiences for audiences.

Lowkey Austin presents Superette (Lachlan Austin)

Program Note:

Artist: Lowkey Austin (Lachlan Austin) Performers: Lachlan Austin Songs: 89 Cressida by Lachlan Austin Take the Ride by Lachlan Austin NewTech by Lachlan Austin Show me Luv by Lachlan Austin Stadius by Lachlan Austin

Bio:

Lowkey Austin has in the past played his unique cruise faced glitch, electronica at shows in notable venues, such as Oxford Art Factory, and Knox Bar Underground supporting talented groups such as Spirals and Ears. After a few years hiatus living in Asia, he’s back with more energy and punch, ready to bring justice to the world once again, being a graduate of SCU Contemporary Music, Bachelot, and having extensive time playing in bands and producing his of the infectious works are sure to be unforgettable.

Pieces and Paper

Approaches to Spatial Audio for Audiences of All Types of Hearing (Jesse Austin-Stewart)

Abstract:

“Spatial Audio is a field of music that relies on audiences having equal and full range amplitudinal and spectral hearing in both ears in order to accurately perceive spatialisation. In acknowledging this issue, the author has engaged with the hard of hearing and d/Deaf music community and created various compositional strategies that can be used to aid spatial audio composition for audiences of more broad types of hearing.

The paper presented will outline previous work within the field, summarise interviews with the d/Deaf and hard of hearing community, discuss the new strategies developed and new works developed based on those strategies, and the responses from the d/Deaf and hard of hearing community to the newly developed works based on those strategies. The works ‘Spatial Vibrations’ and ‘Music for PlayStation’ will be exhibited alongside the paper as installations exhibiting some of the spatial strategies developed. “

Bio:

“Jesse Austin-Stewart (he/him) is a sound artist based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. He is a composer, sound artist, producer, and academic and is currently a lecturer at Massey University in the School of Music and Creative Media Production Te Rewa o Puanga.

As a sound artist, Jesse creates works that explore ways to make the field of spatial audio more inclusive. This creative practice often explores the intersection of spatial audio and disability and hearing, while also acknowledging barriers of finance and education. He has written works for contemporary dance and film and composed and curated performance art works and sound installations, among other works which have been exhibited in Aotearoa New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Czech Republic, Greece, Sweden, and France.

As a producer and audio engineer, he has recorded work for short films, orchestra, solo artists and bands, small ensemble, opera, and various other configurations. Jesse’s songwriting and production work has received over 2,00,000 streams online and has been award nominated.

As a person with a disability, accessibility is core to Jesse’s work and his artistic curation.”

A new ecosystem for microtonal computer music exploration and composition (Warren Burt)

Abstract:

Over the past year or so, a number of new programs have emerged which make the composing and exploring of microtonal music much more easy and efficient. In the interaction of these programs, a new eco-system to support microtonal music has come together, and these, with the tools and abilities they imply have greatly expanded the possibilities for microtonal performance, especially in real-time. This paper looks at several of these programs, and how they interact to create a new, more powerful composing environment. The principal programs that allow this program to flourish are MTS-ESP by Oddmusic, Wilsonic by Marcus Hobbs, and VCV-Rack Pro by Andrew Belt and associates. As more developers have come on board supporting the MTS-ESP standard, the number of instruments that are now microtonally capable has expanded greatly. Also, “framework” programs, such as Ableton Live, Bitwig Studio, and Reaper, make the implementation of this ecosystem quite easy.

Using the Pentadic Diamond page of the Wilsonic computer music program, with three instruments, Arturia DX7, Pianoteq, and Surge XT, playing a 3 voice random walk canon made with Algorithmic Arts MusicWonk. The first minute uses the 21-note master set, then we get 10 sections of 30 seconds each going through the 10 five-note subsets, then a final minute of all 21 notes again.

Bio:

Warren Burt is an independent composer based in Ararat in Western Victoria. He has performed his music all over the world in a career spanning more than 50 years. He is currently involved in beta testing a number of microtonal music programs.

Zen of Aggression - Composing the Transformational Hybrid (Berk Yagli)

Abstract:

The talk/presentation will focus on musical hybridity and critical methods developed for the hybridization of electroacoustic and metal music (a part of the presenter’s Ph.D. research). These methods are formed to build a blueprint for hybrid composers (ultimately not only specific to metal and electroacoustic but for other genres as well that combines spectromorphological focused music with harmony and rhythm-based music since this type of hybridity requires a unique set of challenges and complexities). Hybridity in music is a well-established and vibrant contemporary scholarly topic. Even though the current literature provides many useful terms and strategies regarding different types of hybrids, the methods for building hybrids are rare. The talk will specifically focus on the piece ‘Zen of Aggression’ and discuss the fruitful and problematic methods when approaching to compose a transformational hybrid (a hybrid where both genres affect each other at the deepest level in which the resulting hybrid would not sound like each of the genre-hence transformed) between electroacoustic music and metal. Different excerpts from the piece will be played when discussing the techniques and methodologies. The talk shall also briefly discuss different types of hybridity (transformational hybrid, eclecticism, polystylism, and so on), genre and its notions (their problems, their significance, and their contemporary uses), and the notion of fluidity when approaching the hybridity in music to set the context. As technology increases at a rapid rate and postmodern conditions only grow stronger as lines get blurry, hybridity has been more than a prominent musical power to embrace this current condition and reflect through what is considered music and art in the 21st century (and challenge the notions of high art and low art).

In a world where saturation becomes the norm, little to no values left without being commoditized, and opinions start to get one dimensional, the people living in the society evolve to become numb and alienated from overstimulation. Zen of Aggression deals with these emerging conditions and topics to produce an electroacoustic/metal hybrid piece as aggressively as possible. The composer intends to present this new way of living without compromising on the details of chaos.

Bio:

Berk Yagli (born 1999) is a Cypriot guitarist, composer, and producer. His mission with his music has been to talk about social, political, and philosophical matters interestingly to invite the listeners into reflecting on the topics. He has been active in the UK for the past six years due to his education in Music and Sound Technology (University of Portsmouth), Masters in Composition (University of Sheffield), and currently at the University of the Arts London working under Adam Stanovic for his Ph.D. topic hybridity between metal and electroacoustic music. During his master’s, his main focus has been electroacoustic music composition, and currently, he is studying and working on the potential hybridity of electroacoustic music with metal music. He also composed, produced, and released a cinematic/epic social commentary progressive metal album ‘Symphony of Humanity’ in 2021. His works have been presented in Europe, Asia, North and South America including Espacios Sonoros (Salta, Argentina), New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (New York, US), International Computer Music Conference (Limerick, Ireland), Seoul International Computer Music Festival (Seoul, South Korea), Sound Junction (Sheffield, UK), Convergence-De Montfort (Leicester, UK), BFE/RMA Research Student’s Conference (Plymouth, UK), Research on Contemporary Composition Conference 2022 (Georgia, US), Sonic Matter Festival 2022 (Zurich, Switzerland), International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (Krakow, Poland), WOCMAT Conference 2022 (Taipei, Taiwan), SEAMUS (New York City, US), MOXSonic Festival (Missouri, US), Earth Day Art Model Festival (Indianapolis, US), Vu Symposium (Utah, US), Unfolding Narratives (London, UK), NoiseFloor (Staffordshire, UK), Perspectivas Sonoras (Morelia, Mexico), Audiomanzia Festival (Padova, Italy) and more. He is regularly invited to compose his music in studios throughout the world including VICC-Visby International Centre for Composers (Visby, Sweden), CMMAS- Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (Morelia, Mexico), and Studio Kura (Fukuoka, Japan). He also recently won the 2022 18th WOCMAT Phil Winsor International Youth Computer Music Competition Award.

Sonic Crucible: a new materialist exploration of the quartz singing bowl. (Jordan Lacey & Toby Gifford)

Abstract:

This piece & paper applies a new materialist examination of New Age claims regarding Quartz singing bowls. These claims include a belief that the bowls’ resonant properties, when tuned to the Western Major scale, activate chakra points. We discuss some issues surfaced by this claim: 1/. it connects two distinct cultural practices: the Western tonal system and embodied chakra systems; 2/. it appropriates ancient Buddhist rituals; 3/. the actual history of the Quartz singing bowl is ignored. The true history of the quartz bowl is its role as a crucible, with which the Czochralski Method was applied to fabricate silicon microchips for the 1980s computer industry. The subsequent discovery of its resonant properties (by persons unknown) and adoption by the New Age industry saw its reinvention as a highly profitable ‘healing’ tool. While this paper does not doubt Quartz singing bowls affect the human body, it critiques New Age theoretical conflations in three ways: 1/. it describes the embodied practice of phonetic chanting though which the ancient Vedic system identifies the location of the chakras; 2/. it maps the notes of these chants and the notes of traditional singing bowls and compares those to the Major scale ascribed to Quartz singing bowls; and, 3/. through a conference-based performance (to be discussed in the paper) the authors will present the Quartz singing bowl as an installation entitled the Sonic Crucible. The purpose of the performance is to explore the materiality of the object in relation to its original status as a tool for silicon microchip production. The paper concludes by arguing the New Age is the natural spiritual expression of Capitalism, insofar as it blends spiritual need with the neoliberal elevation of the economic individual. It then uses the installation-performance to argue that when materiality is met body to body, affective experiences can occur without the need for economic, historical and cultural appropriation.

Bio:

“Dr Jordan Lacey is a sonic thinker, creative practitioner and transdisciplinary researcher who specializes in sonic theory, soundscape design and the creation of public sound art installations. He is based in the School of Design at RMIT University, where he teaches into speculative design studios and postgraduate creative practice research programs.

During his academic career he has established himself as an internationally respected innovator in the area of creative-practice approaches to sound studies and urban soundscape design. He has written two respected books with Bloomsbury on the topic, has produced multiple urban sound installations and has been invited to present internationally at artistic and scientific conferences and symposiums. A comprehensive list of his works can be found at jordan-lacey.com

His first book Sonic Rupture: a practice-led approach to urban soundscape design (2016) had a significant and enduring impact on thinking and practice in the field. It develops a creative-practice methodology that challenges and advances existing acoustic ecology approaches by applying affect theory to soundscape and design practice.

His second book Urban Roar: a psychophysical approach to the design of affective environments (2022) develops new philosophical approaches to artistic practice by integrating affect theory and sound studies with the ‘Jungian’ turn in Deleuze Studies. The book also advances ambience theory and practice, and proposes methods for integrating artistic practice with design programs.

He has been the recipient of two highly competitive research grants: the Vice Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2016-18) at RMIT University during which he completed two high-profile industry-funded projects to advance new thinking and practice in sonic placemaking and the Australian Research Council DECRA Award (2019-2022) in which he developed the theory and practice of biophilic sound design, which tests the possibilities of combining natural sounds and plants with urban installations.

He curated the Translating Ambiance exhibition at Yarra Sculpture Gallery (2019), which is discussed in a special journal edition he edited for Unlikely - Journal of the Creative Arts (2020) which provided opportunities for local and international artistic researchers to participate in a unique research project. The exhibition invited 12 artists to create 9 works that tested the idea of translating experiences of natural environments into urban spaces. See: translating-ambiance.com. This work went on to inform the ongoing urban sound installation, Sonic Gathering Place, which combines sound art and landscape approaches to create a serene space in inner city Melbourne.

He is the Associate Editor and lead Book Review editor for the highly respected international, open access Journal of Sonic Studies where he undertakes reviewing, networking and editorial responsibilities. He is also a regular reviewer for the academic book publishers Routledge, Rowman and Littlefield, Bloomsbury and a variety of academic journals including Loci Communes.

Jordan is also a practicing musician, songwriter, bass guitarist and singer. He is presently planning his third book for Bloomsbury, which will explore the importance of developing sensorial relationships with vital objects.

Toby Gifford is a sound technologist, with a diverse array of research interests under the banner of ‘sonic environments’. As a sound-artist and musician he works with multichannel, binaural and ambisonic sound for virtual and augmented reality, immersive installation, and live performance. His practice utilises generative algorithms alongside field recording, with application in bioacoustics, aural architecture and computational creativity.

He is on the boards of both the Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology, and the Australian Ecoacoustics Society, and was general chair of the 2016 New Interfaces for Music Expression international conference. He holds a PhD in computer music & AI from the Queensland University of Technology, a Masters in pure mathematics (hypercomplex analysis on manifolds) from Washington University in St. Louis, and a first class honours in mathematics & physics (quantum field theory, astrophysics, and hypercomplex analysis) from the Australian National University.”

Transient Performance: Jingyin He

Program Note

“transient is a human-mecha performance featuring three human performers with mechatronic sound machines (MSMs). The MSMs and their sonic manifestations draw upon the concept of ensemble and instrumentality in their development. Musically, the piece focuses on the jeu of each mechatronic sound machine (via material and motion) — reflecting and exploring the sonic interaction(s) among themselves and with the environment.

Each mechatronic sound machine focuses on a unique sound-producing mechanism. kinetic.bowls involves the creation of spatial trajectories with custom-made kinetic loudspeakers. spectra uses motion and deformation to explore audiovisual relationships. stratum utilizes a rotating acrylic disc and solenoid to render audible the latent sonority of a planar material object.”

Bio

“Blake Johnston is a sound artist, technologist, academic, and composer from Aotearoa, New Zealand. His practice sits at the intersection of experience design and emerging forms of technology, synthesising these fields to explore the perception of the audience. His work adopts new forms of technology to create environments and experiences across multiple disciplines including live performance, kinetic sculpture, musical mechatronics, wearable technology, and installation art.

Bridget Johnson creates immersive sound installations and performances that heighten the audiences’ experience and perception of space. Her work focuses on exploring the way sound can move through space and developing new interfaces to allow composers and performers to further explore expressivity through real time spatialisation in their work. Her installations explore these themes in combination with site-specificity and abstraction of time. Her works have been shown in the United States, Europe, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Jon He is an experimental sound and integrated media artist, and researcher. He draws upon ancient Chinese sound practice and emerging technologies to explore the frontiers of sonic expression and experience. Jon’s works bring ancient sound worlds to contemporary practice by re-visioning them as gestural controllers, interactive systems and mechatronic musical instruments for installations and live performances.”

SHOALZ Performance: Matt Bray

Program Note

SOUND IN COLOUR: is a 30 minute live Telematic Music Performance (TMP), between London (UK), and either Perth (Aust) or on location at the conference (if feasible). Two musicians located continents apart, co-create a `comprovised’ Electro Dub piece that also generates an immersive, reactive visual feed that can be viewed through a VR headset or an online stream. The ethos of the piece is to demonstrate the capacity to create immersive, paradigm shifting artworks together, despite disparate locations. Performers share performance data over The Internet to co-create a singular piece of rhythmically syncopated music, complimented with a detailed visual feed available to remote viewers. The aesthetics are aqua, ether, unity and transcendence. Telemidi is a targeted approach to MIDI network design with an explicit aim to minimise the obstruction of latency within live TMP events across a Wide Area Network (WAN i.e. the Internet). Undertaking PhD research at WAAPA (ECU, Perth, Aust.), Matt Bray has developed a live performance environment that also harnesses the MIDI to generate hi resolution reactive visuals that can also feed into VR headsets in real-time. This research seeks to identify the process of cross-cultural cooperation within the emergent TMP paradigm. Critically, the process of sharing time sensitive music performance information over The Internet exposes data to latencies that disrupt the millisecond timing of human-to-human musical intercourse, therefore attaining successful TMP environments has proven to be overwhelmingly elusive. Telemidi networks exchange only MIDI information to benefit from the relatively miniature data packet sizes and the multifaceted capacity of this digital protocol.

Bio

Matt Bray has operated as a professional musician (drummer, singer, guitarist, MIDI performer) since 1996 playing over 3,300 gigs, composing over 170 musical pieces (listed with Australian Performing Rights Association) including a piece performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and song writing credits on an Australian top 40 album and top 20 single. Using MIDI technologies in live environments since 1998, Matt has developed a range of methods for incorporating sample and synth based performance/composition in live performance, leading towards his 2018 Masters research demonstrating how MIDI can be exchanged over the internet to facilitate musicians performing with each other in real-time from any location on the globe. Currently completing PhD at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Matt is researching further measures to reduce the obstruction of network latency, to increase Telepresence between performers and to harness latency artefacts to deliver ambisonics. Matt is also investigating pathways to present Network Music Performances to audiences within virtual environments.