Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Electroacoustic music is music that uses electronic technology for the compositional manipulation of sound, and is a unique genre of music for many reasons. Analyzing electroacoustic music requires special measures, some of which are integrated into the design of a preliminary percussion analysis tool set for electroacoustic music. This tool set is designed to incorporate the human processing of music and sound. Models of the human auditory periphery are used as a front end to the analysis algorithms. The audio properties of percussivity and self-similarity are chosen as the focus because these properties are computable and informative. A collection of human judgments about percussion was undertaken to acquire clearly specified, sound-event dimensions that humans use as a percussive cue. A total of 29 participants was asked to make judgments about the percussivity of 360 pairs of synthesized snare-drum sounds. The grouped results indicate that of the dimensions tested rise time is the strongest cue for percussivity. String resonance also has a strong effect, but because of the complex nature of string resonance, it is not a fundamental dimension of a sound event. Gross spectral filtering also has an effect on the judgment of percussivity but the effect is weaker than for rise time and string resonance. Gross spectral filtering also has less effect when the stronger cue of rise time is modified simultaneously. A percussivity-profile algorithm (PPA) is designed to identify those instants in pieces of music that humans also would identify as percussive. The PPA is implemented using a time-domain, channel-based approach and psychoacoustic models. The input parameters are tuned to maximize performance at matching participants’ choices in the percussion-judgment collection. After the PPA is tuned, the PPA then is used to analyze pieces of electroacoustic music. Real electroacoustic music introduces new challenges for the PPA, though those same challenges might affect human judgment as well. A similarity matrix is combined with the PPA in order to find self-similarity in the percussive sounds of electroacoustic music. This percussive similarity matrix is then used to identify structural characteristics in two pieces of electroacoustic music. / text

This dissertation contains seven works from the last 5 years, from solo works to large ensemble, as well as works with electronics. Composing for me is the result of an imaginative attitude, an alert intuition and a suitable use of technique. It originates from reality, followed by singling out one or more musical ideas, and ends up, as Gustav Mahler puts it, in "building a new world with every available technical means." What drives my compositional interests, and represents the core of the works presented here, is the desire to shape and reify these musical worlds. I strive to find and detail the qualities of these worlds through an approach to composition that is based on "sculpting" gestures, figures and colors, contextualized in a form that is as controlled and thoughtful as possible. I also pursue a distinctive vision of the relationship between microtonal and tempered harmony, mixing the two in a harmonic domain that produces an extremely attractive and worth exploring musical ambiguity, enriched by a systematic approach to timbre. This dissertation offers different examples on this exploration, where musical parameters from an ever-changing palette as well as extra-musical element such as visual arts and literature contribute in offering an image of the gradual unfolding of my "voice," a search that is the core of my daily composing and represents a never-ending process. N.B. One of the works, Winds, is a solo electronic multi-channel soundfile, and a paper version of the works does not exist and cannot be included. / Music

Graduate

Echoes is an interactive composition for amplified chamber ensemble and computer. The entire research that led to this piece was based on the exploration of the evolution of the sound produced initially by the acoustic instruments and then interpreted by the computer. Why "Echoes"? / As a sonic phenomenon the echo has several fairly distinct dimensions. These are commonly understood to include the following: the repetition of a sound by reflection of sound waves from a surface; any repetition or imitation of words, style or ideas; the sympathetic sound response; and, in music, a soft repetition of a phrase. Note that these standard definitions include the figurative dimensions, as in the 'imitation of style or ideas.' This is no coincidence, since I am very much intrigued by the idea of a computer first imitating the actual instrument and then expanding that instrument's possibilities far beyond its timbre.

WITHIN ECHOIC CHAMBERS: for small orchestra and tape is based on the integration of 3 major concepts: 1) Structural 2) Psychological 3) Technical. These individual concepts represent areas in which the composer has concentrated the majority of his research over the last 2 years. It is the incorporation of these concepts which form the basis of the creative project.Through the application of arc acoustical design, the entire work is given thematic and structural unity. This acoustical design is based or the onset, steady state and decay characteristics of complex tones and is incorporated into the work as a compositional tool from which a number of musical dimensions are controlled. Since the onset, steady state and decay characteristics of complex tones determine the way we perceive sound, it acts both as a common link between the 3 concepts and the entire structural basis of the creative project. Used in this way the acoustical design became a catalyst from which musical sound structures crystallized as opposed to being a mere theoretical algorithm for autonomous music composition. / School of Music

The Crying Wave is a twenty minute music composition for an amplified ensemble of fifteen instruments combined with a prerecorded electroacoustic audio component and live signal processing. The composition explores the use of fundamental electroacoustic music techniques such as additive, subtractive, and granular synthesis as models for the creation and manipulation of materials and structure in both the instrumental and electroacoustic aspects of the work. Two series of harmonies underlie the piece and serve as both harmonic and melodic resources. Procedures including additive/subtractive durations, palindrome and canon, the Fibonacci series, and antiphonal alternation of instrumental groups are used throughout the composition to provide structural coherence. The MIDI data processing software Max is employed to control a number of aspects of the work during performance, including playback of prerecorded electroacoustic audio segments on compact disc, changes of effects algorithms for digital signal processing modules, and the generation of a click track for synchronization. The following dissertation presents an analysis of the work in terms of the aforementioned concepts and techniques.

Tiempos del caos is a composition in five sections for chamber orchestra (28 players) and real-time computer-generated sounds, with a duration of approximately 15 minutes. A performer is required to control the computer-generated sounds which are produced using the software jMax. The inspiration for the form of the piece comes from my reading of the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The harmonic material is derived mainly from analyses of the acoustical properties of recorded instrumental sounds.

No description available.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2004. / Printout. Includes abstract. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, together with Still and Aesthetic differences : instrumental and musique concrète traditions. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-50).