Special Sessions - Innovation In Music 2013
Innovation In Music 2013 is pleased to be able to present and number Special Sessions which include demonstrations of equipment, systems, processes and procedure all dealing with Innovation in our field. Please contact us should you have a proposal for this. The sessions on this page include:
Opening Concert - IMPRINTS (Wednesday 4th December)
TouchKeys with Andrew McPherson
'LOLA Rehearsal' with Paul Ferguson
'Collabhub' Fostering Enterprise in Music Technology
Focusrite CEO Phil Dudderidge speaks about partnerships
Novation's Head of R&D Dave Hodder will present a session on unexpected innovation
JAMES - Panel on Music Technology and Knowledge Transfer
Theremin Bollards - A Concept from David Young
Practical Applications Using Wave Field Synthesis In live Performance -
Jeff Levison, Executive VP, IOSONO
Jerry Fleming - 'Tweeting Machines'
InMusic '13 will feature an installation by sound artist Jerry Fleming.
'Tweeting Machines' is an interactive, robotic rhythm generator.
Driven by an easy-to-use syntax, it utilises the flexibility of the Twitter platform to trigger custom designed mechanical percussion. As much an experiment into code-driven music as rhythmical interactivity, 'Tweeting Machines' is a sandpit for exploring the work of mechanical rhythm generation.
Its operating modes will allow for:
- - Work for solo Tweet
- - Duet for Tweets
- - Trio for Tweets and Markov Chain
InMusic'13 attendees are invited to view and control 'Tweeting Machines' by sending Twitter messages from their phones, creating an interactive human-computer performance.
View Jerry's website here.
TouchKeys multi-touch keyboard with Andrew McPherson
The TouchKeys are an augmentation of the piano-style keyboard which add multi-touch sensing to the surface of every key. On traditional keyboards, once a note is played, the performer has limited opportunities to shape its sound before it is released. The pitch and modulation wheels found on many keyboards require an entire hand to play, and aftertouch (key pressure) presents ergonomic challenges. By contrast, the TouchKeys measure the position of the fingers on the key surfaces, allowing the performer to add vibrato, pitch bends and timbre changes to each note independently just by moving the fingers on the keys during performance.
The mappings between touch data and sound have been designed to avoid interference with traditional keyboard technique, so the TouchKeys can build on the expertise of trained pianists with minimal relearning. Additionally, the TouchKeys are designed to work with existing keyboards. Thin sensor overlays attach to each key to measure the finger position while maintaining the familiar action of the keyboard.
In Music is pleased to present a hands-on demonstration in which attendees can play the instrument. The talk will also discuss a recent successful crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter which raised support for producing and distributing TouchKeys instruments. .
LOLA Rehearsal
InMusic '13 is delighted to announce that there will be a live demonstration of the LOLA audio-visual system.
An open rehearsal will be staged featuring live musicians in York and others in Edinburgh, demonstrating the possibilities of interacting both verbally and crucially, musically whilst physically separated by large distances, yet connected over the internet. Currently, other internet communication systems impose too much delay (latency) for musicians to interact in real time. LOLA technology is groundbreaking by providing lower latency than any other audio-video system developed for this application so far. With bidirectional high-quality audio and video feeds, LOLA is able to reduce the latency down to under 10 milliseconds. Musically, this translates to the delay incurred by the propagation of sound over a distance of about 35 feet, which is equivalent to musicians playing together on either side of a stage.
InMusic '13 attendees will be able to join the York event as observers in order to see how musicians interact, perform and react in this progressive paradigm.
LOLA likely represents a future working method that will be widely embraced, reducing the need for physical rehearsals, revolutionising studio recording and opening up new modes of recital.
The session will be introduced by Dr. Paul Ferguson of Edinburgh Napier University, a leading expert in LOLA who has previously presented on this topic to the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in Rome.
An opportunity for questions and discussion will also be provided.
Fostering enterprise in music technology
InMusic '13 welcomes a special session from Collabhub about enterprise and innovation in music technology
At the University of Huddersfield Liz Dobson has been exploring extra-curricular approaches to learning in music and music technology, by developing an interdisciplinary collaboration hub. This special session outlines some questions raised through her PhD research on longer-term undergraduate and interdisciplinary collaboration, and the theoretical principles that led to developing this approach. The majority of the session will focus on student perceptions of what this extra-curricular forum offers. Some students were interviewed by their peers and some by Liz, however, there will also be a number of students present to talk about their experiences and answer questions about this approach to fostering enterprise and innovation in music technology. The session will end by identifying salient issues that require closer scrutiny, opening possibilities for further investigations that might help to quantify how extra-curricular activities can begin to foster innovation amongst undergraduates, in and around music technology.
Theremin Bollards
David Young (York St John University) demonstrates the Theremin concept adapted for the 21st Century
Theremin Bollards are a fun interactive sound sculpture that anyone can play.Accessible and innovative experience for music creation - Designed for multiple creative uses, these amazingly inspiring instruments produce a rich tapestry of expressive sounds and will blow your mind...
Designed to be a creative music-making device activated by gestures, Theremin Bollards can be used for performance art, music composition, education, music therapy; commercial advertising and practically any event you want to add something different.
David Young is behind the project, he is a music technologist, music educator with a interest in sound design, both acoustic and electronic.
Focusrite - CEO Phil Dudderidge
Phil will present a talk on successful collaborations entitled 'Planned collaborations – when two minds meet and actually agree!'
Novation's head of Research & Development Dave Hodder
Dave Hodder will present a a talk on unintended, unexpected and diverse innovations that have followed in the wake of Launchpad entitled
"Unplanned collaborations – creating the foundations for unexpected and diverse innovation"
JAMES - Panel on Music Technology and Knowledge Transfer
Dr Rob Toulson will chair a panel including JAMES Chairman and Producer, Phil Harding, Melvyn Toms and some academic partners to discuss the position our universities can plan in aiding innovation in the industry.
Special Performance - IMPRINTS
Imprints started as an experimental studio project, focusing on live sound manipulation and mass sonic textures within a custom-built surround sound environment. These sessions culminated in an album, Inside Every Second, a 32-channel live recording, capturing a single 50-minute take without any overdubs.
Imprints has since evolved into a fully-fledged band, incorporating an ever-expanding range of influences and musicians, all seeking to explore and expand upon the boundaries of noise, electronic and ambient sound. You can expect to hear sounds that blur the lines between the acoustic and the electronic, with one eye on the past and the other on the future.
Grainy, tape-saturated atmospheres merge with pedal-steel-guitar, circuit-bent machines and synthesisers. Double bass and live acoustic drums underpin the controlled chaos. The band also present live visuals that change and evolve according to the performance, providing an all encompassing aural and visual experience. The new album from IMPRINTS is forthcoming on Serein in 201.4
Practical Applications Using Wave Field Synthesis In live Performance by
Jeff Levison, Executive VP, IOSONO China, Shanghai
In October 2013 two live concert events were staged in Shanghai. Modern Kunqu opera performer Zhang Jun performed in the round to an intimate audience as part of the annual Shanghai International Arts Festival and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra held an outdoor concert of popular classics on the waterfront. Though seemingly unrelated due to their genres, these two events had audio technology in common as they both used Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) to drive the PA and modify their sense of acoustic space elecrtroacoustically. Both used an WFS rendering system feeding a set of conventional speakers.
Zhang Jun performed for an audience of 95 within a 103.4 sound system that included a WFS ring at ear height, a triangulated ceiling array and mid height ring rendering in VBAP. Zhang's voice was strong enough for the small space at the Shanghai Conservatory Of Music and his wireless microphone was used for adding reverberation using a multi-tap convolution engine. Other live soloists joined him in performing within the prerecorded WFS accompaniment.
Two days later, an eighty member Shanghai Symphony Orchestra performed European and Chinese compositions with the Shanghai skyline as its backdrop for an audience of 700 people. By careful microphone placement and a multi-layer approach to building a WFS ring plus speakers suspended over the audience, the power of the orchestra - usually only realized indoors – was recreated in this unconventional venue nested between new highrise buildings.
The acoustic performance of both systems was unique in its ability to overcome imaging difficulties frequently encountered at similar presentations. Jeff Levison will discuss the design goals, system installation details, problems encountered, and the audience reaction.