It’s Just Muzak: Music, Activism, and Advertising.

This thesis builds on recent scholarship explaining the relationships between music, advertising, and society through a series of focused case studies in the clothing industry. Globally ubiquitous and reaching all socioeconomic strata, the fashion industry offers a useful focus because, in addition products, it also sells identity. Fashion is a means for individuals to create and express identity by associating themselves with certain brands and styles that help express social, political, economic, and ethical standings as well as gender, sexuality, race, and religion. This thesis considers the ways that sound and music influence the aesthetic and mood of recent fashion industry commercials. Focusing mainly on North American commercials and video advertisements (including those airing on television and across internet streaming services), it explores the various methods and approaches to contemporary commercial music that the fashion industry uses to craft careful messages about environmental sustainability, social power dynamics, and contemporary politics, explaining the ways that these issues are linked. Eschewing an Adornian critique of the culture industry and instead considering all music and sound to be important, regardless of how utilitarian or commodified it may appear to be, this thesis suggests that music plays a key role in linking social issues to music in fashion industry commercials

Contribution to the problem of computer-aided orchestration with the support of audio descriptors

Orientadores: Jônatas Manzolli, Stéphan Oliver SchaubTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ArtesResumo: Dentro da linha de pesquisa em Suportes instrumentais e materiais para composição e, em especial, à orquestração assistida por computador, a Tese descreve um estudo sobre o processo de combinação instrumental utilizando-se um ambiente computacional projetado com descritores de áudio, o qual denominamos como "Sound Shizuku Composition" ou SSC. Para tanto, implementamos o SSC em Pure Data (PD), utilizando a biblioteca de funções "PDescriptors" para analisar as características sonoras de um banco de dados de arquivos de áudio com diversos instrumentos musicais e técnicas expandidas. A pesquisa apoia-se, principalmente, em três aspectos fundamentais: a) o estudo de descritores de áudio como ferramenta de análise sonora à orquestração musical assistida por computador; b) a análise de obras e procedimentos desenvolvidos por compositores que servirão de referência para o desenvolvimento de modelos de escritura e; c) a criação de estudos composicionais, nos quais serão testadas as hipóteses de orquestração. A partir do estudo sobre os descritores de áudio como ferramenta de análise, item "a", a etapa centrou-se na geração de um universo de combinações instrumentais descrito a partir de suas características sonoras. Tal procedimento auxilia a tomada de decisão relacionada à orquestração e técnicas expandidas. Com relação ao item "b", utilizamos os descritores de áudio para analisar as características sonoras das seguintes obras: o Primeiro Movimento das "Quattro Pezzi per Orchestra", de Giacinto Scelsi; as três peças solo "Guero", "Pression" e "Dal Niente - Interieur III", de Helmut Lachenmann e; "Reflexões", de Jônatas Manzolli. No que refere-se ao item "c", apresentamos um portfólio de composições musicais, cujo planejamento orquestral baseou-se no diálogo entre os resultados obtidos a partir dos estudos dos descritores de áudio com as análises das obras dos compositores de referência. Espera-se que todo o processo de pesquisa aqui reportado contribua com o desenvolvimento na área de orquestração musical assistida por computador, estabelecendo uma mescla mais refinada da diversidade sonora enquanto um método de combinação de instrumentos musicais e técnicas expandidasAbstract: This Thesis describes an investigation into the instrumental combination process using a computing environment designed with audio descriptors, which we refer to as Sound Shizuku Composition or SSC. To this end, we implemented the SSC in PureData programming language (PD) using the library of functions "PDescriptors" to analyze the sound characteristics of a sound database with a myriad of musical instruments and extended techniques. The research relies mainly on three fundamental aspects: a) the study of audio descriptors such as sound analysis tool for computer-assisted musical orchestration; b) the analysis of works by composers and procedures developed to serve as a reference for the development of compositional models; c) the creation of compositional studies, in which the orchestrations will be tested. From the study on the audio descriptors as an analytical tool, item "a" focused on the generation of a universe of instrumental combinations described from their sonic characteristics. This procedure helps the decision making related to the orchestration and extended techniques. Regarding to item "b", we use the audio descriptors to analyze the sound characteristics of the following works: the First Movement of "Quattro Pezzi per Orchestra" by Giacinto Scelsi; the three solo pieces "Guero", "Pression" and "Dal Niente - Interieur III" by Helmut Lachenmann and "Reflexões" by Jônatas Manzolli. As refers to the item "c", we present a portfolio of original musical works, whose orchestral planning was based on the dialogue between the results obtained from studies of audio descriptors with the analysis of the works of reference composers. It is expected that the whole process of research reported here will increase the field of computer-assisted musical orchestration research area, establishing a more refined blend of sound diversity as a method of combination of musical instruments and extended techniquesDoutoradoProcessos CriativosDoutor em Música2011/23972-2FAPES