New Sonic Practice

Workshop content

Introduction to Contemporary Sound Practice

John Cage and his Influence, Impact of Technology, Minimalism (La Monte Young)

Workshop: discuss and recreate "The Romantic Symmetry" installation, discuss Just Intonation and tuning in general.

Revealing Resonance: Alvin Lucier

Workshop: recreate "I am sitting in a room" and "Quasimodo the Great Lover"

Field Recordings

Listening: Luc Ferrari, Far West News, David Dunn, etc.

Film Sound

Interpretations of several classic films: The Conversation, Nashville, Breathless, etc.

Microphones and their use

Types of Microphones: Condenser, Dynamic, Lavalier, Ribbon, Polar Patterns, their relationship to frequency.
Phase and its importance in recording sound.
Stereo recording techniques & beyond stereo: ambisonics.

Signal Processing

Compression, EQ, reverb, FX.

Sound Walk

Take a walk around Brussels, listening to special places, inner spaces, transitions between spaces, etc. Make field recordings which will then be listened to.

Sound Art

Its history with examples; a theory as to WHY?
Diapason, history with examples, and other galleries.
The question of selling sound art: a particular approach.

Multi-channel sound

Speaker configurations: stereo, quad, 5.1, ambisonic, wave field synthesis, point-source; panning, interaction with room acoustics, relation to pitch and envelope, how the ear functions (how we perceive space), examples of MJS's music, opportunity for participants to play with multi-channel system.