Synthesis and Composition
8 sessions, June xx - July xx 2024
10am to 5pm (1hr lunch break)

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The synthesis and composition workshop is designed to reflect the tools and methods of sound synthesis, electronic music composition, and performance in the context of our student's artistic work and contemporary developments in music, art, and media technology. Each session comprises a three-hour synthesis workshop, a three-hour composition workshop, and a one-hour lunch break. Individual mentoring sessions are part of the workshop and ensure that adequate attention is paid to the individual needs and questions of all students. Attendees will be given the opportunity to analyze and enhance their technical setup, workflows, and aesthetic methodologies in exchange with the tutors and each other for a comprehensive reflection of their work and a profound contextualization of the workshop material to their practices. The workshop is suitable for artists and researchers with intermediate to established practice in sound and electronic music, musicians/composers who intend to extend their repertoire into the electronic/electro-acoustic and computer-aided domain, prospective and alumni students of related academic courses, sound designers for film and media, sound artists and performance artists with any level of experience.


Synthesis Workshop (Benjamin Flesser)

The synthesis workshop is designed to convey the knowledge and skills to effectively work with analog and digital audio synthesis in environments such as modular synthesizers and hardware and software synthesizers, digital audio workstations, in the studio, and for performances. Practical exercises will supplement the theoretical tutorials with first-hand experiences in working with small and larger ensembles of electronic music instruments. Preliminary knowledge is not necessarily required as the workshop begins with fundamentals in audio synthesis and basic knowledge about electronics and electronic music instruments.

The material advances at an intermediate pace and will be elaborated in detail to eventually exceed well beyond the basic repertoire. Beginners will have the opportunity to approach audio synthesis in a supportive environment thanks to our small-sized groups, and intermediate to advanced students are provided with material that helps solidify their fundamentals as well as adopt and develop sophisticated methods and techniques. WS1 - Studio and Stage Basics for Electronic Music WS2 - Machine Communication WS3 - Algorithmic Sequencing WS4 - Audio Reactive Patches, stochastic/probabilistic/chaotic systems 

WS5 - Synthesizer Architectures and Advanced Signal Flow
WS6 - Continuum1 - Modulation Synthesis (Ring, AM, FM)
WS7 - Continuum2 - Wavetable Synthesis and Sampling
WS8 - Continuum3 - Granular Synthesis and Spectral Synthesis


Composition Workshop (Gabriel Lemos)

The composition workshop is designed for individuals interested in contemporary electronic music creation and development. It delves into the compositional craft, offering techniques and exercises for structuring your own creative methods in dialogue with electronic music theory, psychoacoustics, semiotics, philosophy of language, information theory, and cybernetics. Lectures integrate critical listening, repertoire analysis, and reading material to contextualize discussions in relation to techniques learned in the synthesis workshop. The composition sessions respond to key material organizing strategies and aesthetics in the field, offering insights from diverse artists, musicians, and composers. During the course, participants will engage in compositional exercises and apply learned concepts in their own work.

WS1 - Finding “semiotic oppositions” and developing self-reflection vocabulary
WS2 - “Complex” Music made from “Simple” Means
WS3 - Algorithmic thinking and rule strategies before digital computers
WS4 - Structuring a morphology of sounds
WS5 - Composing systems and structuring rules
WS6 - Computational models for time and frequency domain
WS7 - Incorporating referential sounds, recordings, sound events, and loops
WS8 - Expanding your morphological method from particles to masses

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booking plugin?/ paypal Details

8 x 6 hrs workshops 1hr lunch break between the two blocks, communal lunch provided One hour of individual mentoring included

Required materials
Laptop
VCV Rack free installed LINK
SuperCollider 3.1.3 installed LINK
Some DAW (ideally Ableton Live 11 or 12) installed
Headphones