Marguerite
Smith BA MA MSc
52.68N 8.59W
35 Kilbane
Castletroy
Co. Limerick
Mobile 087 6521977
email: marguerite.smith@ul.ie
Biography:
Recently qualified with an MSc in Music Technology from the University of
Limerick, with past music-related qualifications in Music History and Ethnomusicology.
Interested in the coordination of music and software, with particular emphasis
on the development of storage and format exchange programs.
Fractal Audio Compression is a method of storing high-quality audio data in a very small amount of disk space. Software is used to determine repeated patterns in sound data and then manipulate these patterns so that fewer data bits are required to reconstruct the original sound. This project explores the current research into fractal compression, including its existing use in image compression, and attempts to further the body of software available to those interested in using this technology.
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Seán O'Leary
52.68N 8.59W
email: oleary_sean@hotmail.com
Biography:
Stately, plump Seán O'Leary is a person who enjoys writing about himself
in the third person, in fact he is really enjoying writing this now. Having
graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science from DIT, Sean spent a number
of years working in the IT industry. Sean brings a physicists approach to
his study of music technology, probing the quantative nature of sound in his
quest to explore music and listener expectation. His celebrity life influences
include Frank Black and Matt LeTissier.
In an effort to take advantage of some of the possibilities opened by the use of modern technologies in music he has tried to build on his musical influences thus far. Interested in the natural structure of sound, his composition includes experimentation with just intonation and varying tempos dependent on pitch inside a steady global rhythm in an attempt to relate the two.
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Fiona nÌ Lionn·in
52.84N 8.97W
email: fionani@e-merge.ie
Biography:
A native of County Clare, Fiona grew up surrounded by music. Consequently
she undertook a degree in music in UCC, graduating in 2000. Her main interest
developed in popular musical culture, resulting in her dissertation on the
impact of the Beatles. During her time in Cork she worked for the Cork International
Choral Festival. Presently, she is a volunteer for Regional Hospital Radio
in Limerick where she presents her own weekly radio show. Other relevant work
includes her contract at Lyric FM, a national music and arts radio station
and part-time work at the RTE regional studios in Limerick. Future aspirations
tend towards sound editing and production in a broadcasting environment.
Musical instruments make an infinite number of sounds outside what is normally expected of them. The project is a composition consisting of these sounds and exploring the relationship of the musician with their musical instrument. The instruments used are those most familiar to the composer. There is an aleatoric element to the composition - the piece is split into 12 sections and the order of these sections is random, resulting in a different performance each time it is played.
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Deirdre Johnson BA.Mus,
52.28N 9.70W
46 Oakpark Demesne,
Tralee,
Co. Kerry.
Mobile: (+353) 087 - 2373485
Email:deirdrejohnson@hotmail.com
Biography:
A professional musician and secondary school music teacher undertaking a Masters
Degree in Music Technology at the University of Limerick. A multi-instrumentalist
singer/songwriter with a major in piano performance at undergraduate level,
aims to broaden professional involvement in music and access a career in radio
through the attainment of a technological qualification. Particular interests
are in recording, production and electroacoustic composition.
Electroacoustic composition offers new and exciting expressive possibilities, unfettered by the lattice rhythmic and melodic dictates of mainstream classical or art music. This new art form forces the composers to look beyond rhythmic and melodic structures for means of achieving coherence in a vast sonic realm. The basis of the composition lies in the human voice, male and female, and in the original sound objects that can be achieved through processing.
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Donagh O'Shea, Bmus (MA soon).
52.46N 8.11W
Ballyphilip
Monard
Co. Tipperary
Mobile 087 3500996
email: 0006785@student.ul.ie
Biography:
A session musician and composer working in the fields of radio, theatre, and
live bands, is also involved in ongoing recording projects as engineer, producer
and sometimes guest performer. Also involved in teaching and youth oriented
musical projects.
Acousmatic composition based on soundfiles generated from a small (3") child, in his interaction with the world around him over the course of his short (1.5year) life, so far.
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Karen Barry, BSc.
51.91N 8.42W
45 Beaumont Drive
Blackrock
Cork
Mobile 087 9956463
email: karenbarry@ireland.com
Biography:
Karen graduated from University College Cork in 2000, with a degree in Computer
Science. Following a year out to travel, she is currently studying Music Technology
at the University of Limerick to consolidate her personal strengths of Maths
and Music. She has experience in several programming languages, namely C,
C++ and Java, and hopes to use these languages to program in an audio environment.
She has a keen interest in graphics and her final year project at UCC developed
3D graphics using Java.
Karen's thesis is part
of a UL venture to build an online psychoacoustic experiment generator. Coded
in Java, the experiment generator will provide a platform independent program
through which sounds can be synthesised and manipulated. Psychoacoustic experiments
that relate to these sounds can subsequently be generated.
The design critique behind the project is that the user should be allowed
to control as many variables as possible in fine detail. Karen's thesis comprises
of the audio synthesis and manipulation layer, including additive and subtractive
synthesis, ring, amplitude and frequency modulation, filters and delays. Her
primary interest lies with Digital Signal Processing and audio programming.
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Regina Ryan
52.26N 7.14W
Dromana
Cappoquin
Co. Waterford
Mobile 086 3092173
email: regryan@yahoo.com
Biography:
Having studied composition as the main focus in her degree, the composer was
introduced to various techniques of composing, adding contemporary elements
to an already traditionally based motivation. This combining of traditional
and contemporary made the composer more curious into the avenues that musical
composition was taking, and the possibilities encountered by composers by
the application of technology to music. The composer sees technology as a
medium with which she can develop her musical expression.
This composition is an exploration of space and its relationship with and between the elements within the space. The elements, which make up the physically perceived space, are the air molecules that can either work together or in conflict with each other, a relationship that is represented by the movement of the musical elements. Using spatial techniques on audio, which is instantly recognisable as being of air origin, the piece aims to transport the movement of the elements into the listeners space.
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Conor O'Sullivan B.A.
53.23N 6.70W
13 College Grove
Newbridge
Co. Kildare
Mobile 087 2914090
email: osconor@hotmail.com
Biography:
Music Technology has been an important part of his life and an interest he
has enjoyed for as long as he can remember. A Bachelors Degree in Music and
Mathematical Studies laid the groundwork for entry onto the Masters programme.
Primary areas of interest lie in audio programming and explorations of novel
and relevant sound synthesis techniques. Enjoys the infinite possibilities
proposed by technology and its mapping to the musical and sonic domains.
Inspired by the sound of rain hitting leaves, this technique of sound synthesis takes existing work accomplished in digital audio methods and uses it in a fresh exciting way. Previous research carried out in the fields of chaos, digital synthesis, waveguide mesh algorithms and HRTFs is applied to create a type of holophonic sound synthesis. An implementation using programmed MSP objects is offered.
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Bob Jackson
51.91N 8.42W
5 Buxton Terrace
Sundays' Well Rd
Cork
mobile: 087 958 2143
E mail: jackbobson@yahoo.com
Biography:
An aspiring recording producer and electroacoustic performer with extensive
experience as a recording artist and performer in a diverse range of musical
styles. He uses his new found grasp of technology to create a performance
which incorporates real time mixing to create a new dimension in percussion
performance.
For this project a real
time electroacoustic performance will be implemented which follows the evolution
of a weekend night in a city. The piece, titled "Nightlife" captures
the essence of the different stages of a busy night in a city in all of its
transient moods, from exuberance and excitement to violence and despair.
The piece will be performed on the drum kit with several accompanying musicians.
In essence, the performance is intended to create a new paradigm in the performance
of the drums through the use of existing technologies in a way that they have
never been used before. This project will use technology in a way that will
allow the drummer - a musician who has traditionally served the role of timekeeper
and accompanist - to take control over the mix of the entire performance through
the use of a digital mixing desk. In this regard the system will facilitate
real-time control over the sounds produced by the instrument and control the
relationship between other musicians in an ensemble.