In the 1970s, composers such as Gottfried Michael Koenig, Herbert Brün, and Iannis Xenakis independently developed sound synthesis methods, which were not derived from acoustic, harmonic, or mathematical theories but from compositional principles. These composers sought radical new ways of describing sound, the composition of sound instead of with sound, and strove for extending compositional control to the lowest possible level. By treating the digital sample (instantaneous sound pressure level) as an elementary material for musical composition and by composing sonic micro-fluctuations with stochastic means, they laid the foundations of microsound and blurred the distinction of sound and music. These systems and aesthetic position still constitute a challenge today. On a technological level, the difficulties involved in implementing many of the non-standard synthesis methods disclose implicit limitations and presuppositions of today’s computer music systems. On a conceptual level, they challenge the inherently positivistic attitudes present in much contemporary research on sound synthesis.

This seminar will explore the history of non-standard synthesis, the developer’s aesthetico-political positions, as well as possibilities of implementing non-standard synthesis methods in SuperCollider. Moreover we will present contemporary extensions of non-standard synthesis and will try to provide the participants with the possibilities to continue to experiment practically.

Level: Intermediate

Instructor: Luc Döbereiner

Luc Döbereiner composes instrumental and electronic. He studied Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and computer music at the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics in Graz. His compositions have been performed by among others the ensemble Modelo62, ensemble Vortex, Akane Takada, Jasper Vanpaemel, Martin Lorenz, Sond‘Ar-te Electric Ensemble and the ensemble unitedberlin. His electronic works have been performed at the ISEA 2010 (Ruhr), the SuperCollider Symposium, Computing Music V (Köln) and on the GRM Acousmonium. Döbereiner has given lectures at among others the Sound and Music Computing Conference (Berlin, Porto), next generation (ZKM, Karlsruhe), the ICMC (Huddersfield) and the Nederlands Muziek Centrum (Amsterdam) and he has recently published an article in the Computer Music Journal. Döbereiner is currently a doctoral candidate at the artistic doctoral school of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. His research project is concerned with compositional models and explores the relationship of sound and sound description in musical composition.

Dates: Friday 14.12.2012, 18:00-22.00h Saturday 15.12.2012, 11:00–14:00h, 16:00-19:00h Sunday 16.12.2012, 11:00–14:00h, 16:00-19:00h

Location: Fabra i Coats – Fàbrica de Creació. Sant Adrià, 20. Barcelona. Metro Sant Andreu.

Price: 90€

+info: lullcec.org

This activity is organized by l’ull cec in collaboration of OSIC, Institut de Cultura de Barcelona and Fabra i Coats – Fábrica de Creació.