http://www.digitalartistshandbook.org/node/17

Digital Artists’ Handbook
The Digital Artists Handbook is an up to date, reliable and accessible source of information that introduces you to different tools, resources and ways of working related to digital art.

The goal of the Handbook is to be a signpost, a source of practical information and content that bridges the gap between new users and the platforms and resources that are available, but not always very accessible. The Handbook will be slowly filled with articles written by invited artists and specialists, talking about their tools and ways of working. Some articles are introductions to tools, others are descriptions of methodologies, concepts and technologies.

When discussing software, the focus of this Handbook is on Free/Libre Open Source Software. The Handbook aims to give artists information about the available tools but also about the practicalities related to Free Software and Open Content, such as collaborative development and licenses. All this to facilitate exchange between artists, to take away some of the fears when it comes to open content licenses, sharing code, and to give a perspective on various ways of working and collaborating.

On sound:

http://www.digitalartistshandbook.org/sound

And a list of software, mostly free …

http://ardour.org

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

http://www.baudline.com

http://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/snd

http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software

http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu

http://www.csounds.com

https://devel.goto10.org/puredyne

http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat

http://freesoftware.ircam.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=14

http://www.ladspa.org

http://lilypond.org

http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtfft

http://puredata.info

http://www.rosegardenmusic.com

http://64studio.com

http://www.sonicvisualiser.org

http://soundlab.cs.princeton.edu/software/sndpeek

http://www.speech.kth.se/wavesurfer/index.html

http://supercollider.sourceforge.net

http://taps.cs.princeton.edu

http://ubuntustudio.org

http://www.vorbis.com

From September 2008 we will be offering a new Composition MA, available in
three routes:

MA Composition
MA Composition (Audio Technologies)
MA Composition (Audiovisual)

The Audio Technologies route is likely to be of most interest to readers on this list – we were initially planning to call this route ‘Sonic Art’, and it still represents a broad-ranging approach across experimental technology-based work. The ‘straight’ Composition route is broadly intended for acoustic (instrumental/vocal) composition, though there will be plenty of opportunities for crossover into technological/multimedia areas as appropriate.  The audiovisual route is perhaps the most innovative – it remains composition-based and sound-focused, but will focus on work in a
multimedia context.  We will be looking at Visual Music from the likes of Oskar Fischinger onwards and working in areas such as experimental music videos, live audiovisual work, and interdisciplinary practice.

Anyway, there’s detailed information on our School website, at:

http://www.bathspampa.com/view-course.php?location=%2Fcourses%2Fcourse15

Meantime, do get back to me with any informal enquiries:

j.hyde@bathspa.ac.uk

All the best,

Joseph

—
*******************************

Dr Joseph Hyde
Creative Music Technology
School of Music and Performing Arts
Bath Spa University
Newton Park
Newton St. Loe
Bath
BA2 9BN

The Sonic Residues festival will develop subtle and complex spaces of auditory experience, organized loosely around the theme of the remainders left by vibrations in time and space. It is concerned with sound as a medium of artistic expression that encompasses performance, sculpture, phonography, experimental notation, and installation. To this end, the festival combines a concert performance, a gallery exhibit, and provocative lectures as different mediums of access to “sonic residues.”

This call is for short form works which will be presented at the gallery on portable audio players, and available for download as .wav, .aiff, and .mp3 formats in conjunction with the exhibition. These works should take into consideration the differential specificity of these devices, and the roles that they have come to play in contemporary culture. They should consider sound as material, as something which can index space, evoke landscape, or translate history into the present.

The contemporary sonic landscape is increasingly punctuated by the singing beeps of cellular telephones and quick snips of overheard chatter. It is shaped by the aural experience of the mp3 player—the hierarchy of track listings, and the unexpected occurrences of randomization. We are constantly enveloped by sound—to such an extent that the particular textures of it often disappear, receding into what information theory might term noise. A residue draws a pattern. It can trace an evolving process, recreate an experience, or reimagine a prior event. It can weave pattern, both absent and present, into meaning.

Please send an email containing the following to sonicresidues@gmail.com by April 25th, 2008:

1. A short bio.
2. A short (100-word) project description.
3. The completed piece in mp3, aiff, or wav format. Completed work must be less than 15 minutes, and designed with portable audio players in mind.

Works will be judged by a panel of Stony Brook University professors in the Music, Art, and Computer Science departments including Christa Erickson, Zabet Patterson, Margaret Schedel and Daniel Weymouth.

Sonic Residues Festival
April 29th, 2008 – May 12th, 2008