Redesigning a Performance Practice: Synergising Woodwind Improvisation with Bespoke Software Technology.

This research examines how the designing of a new performance practice based on the incorporation of custom digital signal processing software impacts on solo improvised woodwind performance. Through the development of bespoke software, I investigate how these new technologies can be integrated into solo woodwind performance practice. This research presents a new improvised music practice as well as a suite of new software tools and performance techniques. Through a workshop and performance-­‐based research process, a suite of software processors are developed which respond, and are complementary, to a personalised style of improvised performance. This electronic augmentation of the woodwind instrument (clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone and xaphoon) is tested over the course of thirty solo improvised performances. These performances are documented as audio files and analysed using methods derived from electroacoustic music practice. This research represents an important development in the emerging field of improvised music performance engaging with new digital technologies. The research is practice-­‐led from the viewpoint of an experienced performer and tested in real-­‐world situations, resulting in a useful research outputs embedded in the peer community. Examining the history of live electronic performance practice, this research situates itself within the field of expert performers who use digital processing in free improvisation contexts. A critical understanding of the processes involved allows this researcher to design a new performance practice more effectively. While research necessarily draws on my own performance practice, the knowledge generated will have broad relevance in the field and much of this work is applicable to non-­‐woodwind instrumentalists and singers. The research outputs include freely distributable software created during this project

Building Mobile Instruments for Improvised Musical Performance

This paper explores an approach to building electronic musical instruments for use in improvised music that I have found to be particularly effective for developing flexible, dynamic, and versatile instruments well adapted to the improvised context, and a resultant set of suites of solo improvised character pieces. The lessons learned from this research can be useful beyond the scope of this particular instrument design philosophy. In Part I, I present the foundations of my approach to instrument design, based on my past experience and the technological environment in which electronic music has developed. I discuss the values that guide me in the creation of instruments for use in improvised performance, and describe the development tools iRTcmix and Nikl, and Dixey, an instrument I have created with those tools and hardware devices using the Apple iOS operating system. Part II discusses the musical issues related to the creation of Character Weekend, a set of solo recordings produced with the tools described in Part I

A study, exploration and development of the interaction of music production techniques in a contemporary desktop setting

As with all computer-based technologies, music production is advancing at a rate comparable to ‘Moore’s law’. Developments within the discipline are gathering momentum exponentially; stretching the boundaries of the field, deepening the levels to which mediation can be applied, concatenating previously discrete hardware technologies into the desktop domain, demanding greater insight from practitioners to master these technologies and even defining new genres of music through the increasing potential for sonic creativity to evolve. This DMus project will draw from the implications of the above developments and study the application of technologies currently available in the desktop environment, from emulations of that which was traditionally hardware to the latest spectrally based audio-manipulation tools. It will investigate the interaction of these technologies, and explore creative possibilities that were unattainable only a few years ago – all as exemplified through the production of two contrasting albums of music. In addition, new software will be developed to actively contribute to the evolution of music production as we know it. The focus will be on extended production technique and innovation, through both development and context. The commentary will frame the practical work. It will offer a research context with a number of foci in preference to literal questions, it will qualify the methodology and then form a literature & practice review. It will then present a series of frameworks that analyse music production contexts and technologies in a historical perspective. By setting such a trajectory, the current state-of-the-art can be best placed, and a number of the progressive production techniques associated with the submitted artefacts can then by contextualised. It will terminate with a discussion of the work that moves from the specific to the general

Pushing the boundaries : digital impacts upon jazz

The rapid development of audio technology, particularly in the last fifty years, has changed the way music is composed, produced, consumed and received. The domination of the traditional meta-genres, classical, jazz and folk, is increasingly challenged by postmodern thinking and new methodologies. Centuries of development in techniques, education, culture and practice are in danger of being rendered obsolete. Changing practices for musicians raise philosophical arguments touching on the meaning of the musical work, authenticity and genre itself. This research project is a creative practice-led exercise in applying digital audio technology within the restraints of jazz as a genre. Recordings of works including harmonic, rhythmic and timbral characteristics typical to a broad definition of jazz, have been manipulated digitally with synthesis, looping and sampling. Results have indicated the importance of the timbral voice in signifying genre but the creative application of harmonic and rhythmic factors can allow new timbres to express generically. The success of the hybrid approach to the music also lies in the definitions used to describe the basic comparative criteria, which are themselves contestable. Philosophical considerations can open space for new timbres, new ways to contextualise, and new ways for musicians to interact and improvise against the language of genre

Doing It to Death: An investigation into a session musician’s migration

This doctorate dissertation is about the guitar and technology in a creative perspective – about a change and transformation in musical direction. Dreyer's quest is to clarify how technology can help break new ground for a former session musician with ambitions to deepen and create a more distinctive personal expression. Through different angles and with an exploratory approach, Dreyer is searching for his own personal sound, using improvisation, composition and sound manipulating tools. Dreyer is an experienced session guitarist now exploring creating his own music using technology. He has participated in more than 160 released albums, and toured with numerous Norwegian and international artists. He also has released four albums with three different self-initiated music projects, two of which combine music and sound art. This text is an autoethnographic depiction of the quest for a personal change in musical direction and a need for a strengthened profile as a performer and composer. The reader can acquire an insight into Dreyer’s search for, and aim at a clearer idiom and sound, using technology.publishedVersio

Live electronics in live performance : a performance practice emerging from the piano+ used in free improvisation

This thesis explores a performance practice within free improvisation. This is not a theory based improvisation – performances do not require specific preparation and the music refrains from repetition of musical structures. It engages in investigative and experimental approaches emerging from holistic considerations of acoustics, interaction and instrument, and also philosophy, psychology, sociopolitics and technology. The performance practice explores modes and approaches to working with the given potentiality of an electronically augmented acoustic instrument and involves the development of a suitably flexible computerised performance system, the piano+, combining extended techniques and real-time electroacoustic processes, which has the acoustic piano at its core. Contingencies of acoustic events and performance gestures – captured by audio analysis and sensors and combined to control the parameter space of computer processes – manipulate the fundamental properties of sound, timbre and time. Spherical abstractions, developed under consideration of Agamben’s potentiality and Sloterdijk’s philosophical theory of spheres, allow a shared metaphor for technical, instrumental, personal, and interpersonal concerns. This facilitates a theoretical approach for heuristic and investigative improvisation where performance is considered ‘Ereignis’ (an event) for sociopolitically aware activities that draw on the situational potentiality and present themselves in fragile and context dependent forms. Ever new relationships can be found and developed, but can equally be lost. Sloterdijk supplied the concept of knowledge resulting from equipping our ‘inner space’, an image suiting non-linearity of thought that transpires from Kuhl’s psychological PSI-theory to explain human motivation and behaviour. The role of technology – diversion and subversion of sound and activity – creates a space between performer and instrument that retains a fundamental pianism but defies expectation and anticipation. Responsibility for one’s actions is required to deal with the unexpected without resorting to preliminary strategies restricting potential discourses, particularly within ensemble situations. This type of performance embraces the ‘Ereignis’.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A PERFORMER’S GUIDE TO ADAM CUTHBÉRT’S WORKS FOR SOLO TRUMPET AND ABLETON SOFTWARE

Adam Cuthbért has established himself as a composer worthy of study through his prolific interactions with a wide range of performers and organizations of national and international renown. High profile groups such as the Friction String Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, and Bang on a Can All Stars have performed his works, and the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and National Public Radio have reviewed his compositional output. Also a trumpeter, Cuthbért has composed four works for solo trumpet and Ableton Live software, with the most significant of these works being an interactive sonata over 35 minutes in length. However, the unique nature of these works provides challenges for an interested performer. This will address Cuthbért’s works through providing a historic context for the pieces, an in depth guide to the physical setup as well as the software used in performance, analysis of the works themselves, and interviews with several performer of these works in addition to an interview with the composer. Analysis will include pedagogical and technical demands for the performer as well as musical analysis using Brian Fennelly’s XYE system of analysis of sound in order to garner an understanding of the structure of these works

ENGINEER, PERFORMER, PRODUCER: NEGOTIATIONS OF CONSTRUCTED ELEMENTS OF SOUND AND PERFORMANCE OF A JAZZ RECORDING.

This dissertation investigates the relationship between the engineer, the performer, and the producer in the creation of a jazz CD, first by laying a foundation for the need to study how a commercial recording is made, then by defining, in historical context, the development of the work of the engineer and the producer. Concepts for defining the performer are also discussed. The roles of engineer, performer, and producer are compared according to the author`s modus operandi, which is based on a thirty-year involvement in the recording industry in all of these positions. The literature review examines how physics, psychology, aesthetics, and music relate to recording processes and personnel and shows how art and science intersect and become inexorably linked during the creation of a jazz CD. An ethnographic analysis, from the time of the inception of the CD through the first two days of recording, follows the processes, procedures, and interactions between the engineer, the performers, and the producer. Problems and resolutions of session planning, studio logistics, musical goals, and personnel are discussed. Problems and resolutions during the edit sessions are also covered. With experimental data, the limits of performance acceptability of time differentials between entrances are tested. Altering improvisations through pitch and time manipulation and complete phrase alteration are considered. Because this CD was constructed, issues of perspective are at the forefront of the discussion in the mix portion of the recording process. Perspective, both left to right and front to back, sonic quality, and perceived acoustic--the room--are discussed. Finally, events create unexpected twists, and necessary changes are made to resolve these circumstances

Live Electronics in Live Performance: A Performance Practice Emerging from the piano+ used in Free Improvisation.

This thesis explores a performance practice within free improvisation. This is not a theory based improvisation – performances do not require specific preparation and the music refrains from repetition of musical structures. It engages in investigative and experimental approaches emerging from holistic considerations of acoustics, interaction and instrument, and also philosophy, psychology, sociopolitics and technology. The performance practice explores modes and approaches to working with the given potentiality of an electronically augmented acoustic instrument and involves the development of a suitably flexible computerised performance system, the piano+, combining extended techniques and real-time electroacoustic processes, which has the acoustic piano at its core. Contingencies of acoustic events and performance gestures – captured by audio analysis and sensors and combined to control the parameter space of computer processes – manipulate the fundamental properties of sound, timbre and time. Spherical abstractions, developed under consideration of Agamben’s potentiality and Sloterdijk’s philosophical theory of spheres, allow a shared metaphor for technical, instrumental, personal, and interpersonal concerns. This facilitates a theoretical approach for heuristic and investigative improvisation where performance is considered ‘Ereignis’ (an event) for sociopolitically aware activities that draw on the situational potentiality and present themselves in fragile and context dependent forms. Ever new relationships can be found and developed, but can equally be lost. Sloterdijk supplied the concept of knowledge resulting from equipping our ‘inner space’, an image suiting non-linearity of thought that transpires from Kuhl’s psychological PSI-theory to explain human motivation and behaviour. The role of technology – diversion and subversion of sound and activity – creates a space between performer and instrument that retains a fundamental pianism but defies expectation and anticipation. Responsibility for one’s actions is required to deal with the unexpected without resorting to preliminary strategies restricting potential discourses, particularly within ensemble situations. This type of performance embraces the ‘Ereignis’

“Time Is Not Real”: Revitalizing Vintage Recording Techniques for the Here and Now

This project aims to revitalize vintage recording techniques in the contemporary hybrid model of music production. Modern popular music has become increasingly electronic. While the current trend is to do everything “in the box”, this project seeks to find the best balance between analog and digital. Two full length albums will be recorded and mixed focusing on blending old and new. The coloration of tape machines, analog consoles, and vintage outboard gear will collide with modern immersive audio techniques and digital editing within ProTools and Ableton Live. The first album is a 13 song collection of jazz fusion compositions performed live in studio with the MarcO Poingt Trio and was recorded on a vintage Neve console. The second album is a 9 song psychedelic rock odyssey under the name Cloudgazer, which was initially mixed in the box but finalized through a 24 track tape machine, SSL console, and various hardware compressors. The author performed on, engineered, and mixed both albums and also produced one music video to accompany one song on the Cloudgazer album. Hopefully this project will inspire fellow musicians to look back in time to find new inspiration.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1305/thumbnail.jp