Fourm - Week 9 - Masters of Music Technology

Seb Tomczak presented his work on electronics and of course his work in the Milkcrate sesions. Something I have found strange about Milkcrate is the seemingly exclusive invitation list, which (perhaps unintentionally) restricts the attendance to the 2005 graduates. It is unfortunate that such an interesting concept will not be passed on to future generations of EMUers.

Darren Curtis updated us on his research into medicinal music, space music, vibrational research and... other stuff. The other stuff involved ancient architecture and their auditory properties, the most interesting being the temple that has a bird call "stored" within its design, which can be recalled with a simple clap. I would have thought this concept had been thoroughly explored already considering the advanced technology available today, however it seems to be a rather untapped field of exploration.

Forum - Week 8 - Peter Dowdall and Sound Engineering

This week took me back to the glories of first year, where Forum involved industry professionals presenting their work and experience to us. It was a most welcome flashback, particularly with Peter being so experienced and successful in the industry. His work for Pepsi's Superbowl advertisement exemplified the exorbitant amount of money and effort that can be required for a simple 30 second advert. It was also a little disconcerting, as the complete commercialisation of music apparently results in the removal of many the musical or lexical normalities that we as students have been trained to pay special attention to retaining. In the Pepsi example, there was basically no dynamics of sound, with horrific over-compression present throughout, and some of the singing had the ends of words cut off, just to appease the music. While the money would be lovely, I would feel as if I had sold my soul should I ever participate in such a blatantly non-musical music industry.

Dowdall, Peter. “Sound Engineering and Session Management.” Lecture presented at EMU space, University of Adelaide, level 5, Schultz Building, 8th of May 2008.

Forum - Week 7 - Tristram Cary

First there was nothing...

This week's forum was devoted to Tristram Cary, electronic artist and founder of the Electronic Music Unit we all know and love. Tristram's contribution to the world of electronic music is immeasurable, so I was glad we paid tribute to him after his passing. I thought if would be fitting to do a photoshoppery featuring the man himself in his rightful place, considering that's all I'm good at. I have since been informed the concept of this picture may be somewhat taboo, but until I'm asked to remove it I think it'll stay up.

Whittington, Stephen. “Tristram Cary.” Workshop presented at EMU Space, Level 5, Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 1st of May 2008.