Professional Practice Masterclasses

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

We are happy to launch our series of masterclasses for this semester with talks and hand-on presentations on music production, arts curation, sound design and composition for theater, dance, film and radio. Most importantly, for this first round of sessions we focused on bring back alumni of the DMSA course who have succeeded in the professional world along with current students and members of the newly established Creative Sound & Music Research and Enterprise Group.

DMSA Feature: PJ Davy

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

PJ Davy’s ‘Heads In The Cloud 2.0’ opens tomorrow at The Basement in Brighton as part of the Exploring Boundaries exhibition, Brighton Digital Festival. We briefly talk to PJ about his background, his creative vision and projects his is currently working on.

DMSA: Where do we find you now?

PD: I recently moved to London where I’ll be starting a new role as a Production Technician Intern at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. I’ll be helping the production team provide sound and lighting for contemporary dance, orchestras, and operas. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into London, for a while. I miss the sea and fresh air, already, though.

DMSA: Three important words that represent you as a creative person

PD: Always be yourself.

DMSA: When did you start working with sound and music?

PD: I started working with sound and music, electronically, when I was 14 years old. A friend introduced me to Fasttracker 2, and I was hooked. It’s interface looked like the Matrix. You had to program in volume, panning, and other effects by sequencing numbers that scrolled up or down the screen. It forced some pretty nifty creativity within its limitations, but that’s always where the good stuff comes from.

DMSA: In what ways has the DMSA course supported or helped you to develop into who you are today creatively and professionally?

PD: DMSA opened up my eyes and ears to areas of sound and music I’d not yet explored. It broadened my horizons and opportunities to work with amazing artists I never thought I’d be working with, in worlds I’d never associated myself with. It challenged me to focus my time and effort into projects in a professional way, but always with experimentalism at its heart, and never in a direction that felt forced upon me. I feel like the course has developed my creativity to push my own work within the global art and music community.

DMSA: Other plans for the future? projects, events, visions?

PD: I’ll be with Trinity Laban until next September, so I’m currently looking for a masters program to continue studying in 2019. I have some projects I’m currently working on that I’m really proud of, something very personal, and some others I look forward to being able to share, nearer completion. On the 4/5/6th of October, I’ll be exhibiting my multichannel sound and light installation, Heads in The Cloud 2.0, for Exploring Boundaries at The Basement, in Brighton, at part of Brighton Digital Festival 2018. This second iteration of my installation will focus more on the traces of memories left behind once time has passed since originally posted. It’s easy to forget what of ourselves we’ve submitted onto the world wide web, but we leave behind our ghosts in the machine, possibly forever.

I aim to remain focused, be productive, and keep learning.

Heads In The Cloud 2.0 opens tomorrow and will be running till Saturday 6th.

PJ’s website: www.pjedavy.com

Workshop with Ingrid Plum

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

Composition techniques for electronic and acoustic ensembles, structured improvisation and score notation techniques
Thursday 27th September 2018
11:30-6:30
Performance Studio, Grand Parade

We are happy to have Ingrid Plum back to give a workshop to our students.

About the workshop

A workshop led by Ingrid Plum exploring composition techniques for electronic and acoustic ensembles, structured improvisation and score notation techniques. In this workshop you will learn a range of listening exercises to benefit composition, production and performance skills. Following this we will explore structured improvisations and students are welcome to bring any acoustic instrument of their choice or use their voice. After a break for lunch we will work in groups on compositional techniques and explore this through practical workshopping. By the end of the workshop participants will have a ‘tool kit’ of exercises they can work with to expand their own practice.
This workshop is suitable for all levels of experience and is best suited to those with an interest in sound art, experimental music, composition and improvisation, but previous practice in those fields is not necessary.

About Ingrid Plum

Ingrid Plum uses her voice with extended technique, improvisation, field recordings and electronics, to create layered soundscapes, spoken word and songs. Described by The Guardian as “gorgeously atmospheric vocal techniques woven around field recordings & electronics” she has performed and exhibited installation art internationally since 2002, creating work that sits between sound art, improvisation, multi-media installation, neo-classical and contemporary Nordic folk music. Incorporating her research into folk traditions with field recordings and studying directly with Meredith Monk her recent performances have been described as “succinct and nourishing… a luxuriant space between almost excessive precision and looser improvisation” by The Wire.

Distant Animals (Hallow Ground Records) to perform at ID Spectral Soft-Launch

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

We are incredibly proud to announce that Distant Animals (Hallow Ground Records) will be performing at the ID Spectral soft-launch event, to be held in the Grand Parade Performance Studio, Brighton on Wednesday 26th September.

Distant Animals has continually refused to conform. Being label mates with
The Dedekind Cut, Siavash Amini and Kali Malone – he has produced, written and engineered a plethora of contemporary projects and socially-oriented sound works across Europe, often choosing to work with a diverse range of collaborators, including visual artists, choreographers, theologians, lawyers, and political activists.

Link :
https://hallowground.bandcamp.com/album/distant-animals-lines

His critically-acclaimed LP ‘Lines’ employs a highly conceptual approach to its genre, incorporating the notion of the drone as both a compositional method, a spiritual approach, and a participatory tool for engaging its audience.

Facebook Event :
www.facebook.com/events/300183130772731

Hands-On Workshop With Guoda Dirzyte

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

EXPERIMENTAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT BUILDING AND FREE IMPROVISATION
Friday 28th September 2018
12-6pm
Performance Studio / Grand Parade

We are happy to have Guoda Dirzyte back to give a hands-on workshop to our students. The workshop is free to students of all levels.

OVERVIEW

This workshop will concentrate on using actions, concrete sounds, and random things, rather than being represented in an illusionist/harmonic manner. Intention is to rise awareness of sounds’ potentiality and create work that retains a sense of immediacy, corporeality, and curiosity. Instrument building and preparation session will be based on transforming the identities of seemingly familiar sounds, found objects and instruments.

In the improvisation session students will be encourage more to listen and communicate rather then show they technical musical abilities. Concert will be based on playing with trash (or any found objects) and deformed or handmade musical instruments brought by students or created during preparation session. Challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Intend to lean towards developing non-verbal communication skills, and strengthens inter-human, intra-human and trans-human relations, which is far more than conventional music based on consumption can offer.

PROGRAMME

First Part {JO 序}: Introduction Talk {30 min}

Second Part {HA 破}: Instrument Building and Preparation Workshop {2 h}

[short break]

Third Part {KYŪ 急}: Do It Yourself Concert (Improvisation Session) {1 h 30 min}

Digital Gestures | Human Contact Exhibition at ONCA Gallery

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

24-25 September 2018 | 24th Sept: Launch 6-8pm / 25th Sept: 12-5pm
ONCA
4 St George’s Pl,
Brighton
BN1 4GB
[map]
[Facebook Event]

We are happy to be supporting the upcoming exhibition titled ‘Digital Gestures | Human Contact‘ at ONCA gallery for Brighton Digital Festival.

The exhibition features works developed by 2nd year students in our course. The works have been developed in partnership with Fab Lab (University of Brighton) and Mi.Mu.

The two installations on display in Digital Gestures, Human Contact offer an inspiring, surprising and mesmering journey through digital motion sensor technologies, music and visuals where the audiences become interchangeably performers and observers.

54 Bones is a gesturally based performance art installation for an audience of one. It uses gestural glove controllers to trigger and manipulate sounds, using a series of gestures and movements inspired by British Sign Language. The work aims to extend the ephemeral moment at which sound, language and meaning collide, resulting in a truly intimate, human experience for each person who takes part, leaving them free to interpret what the interaction means to them.

Cogflux.01 is an interactive audio-visual installation by PRTCL Collective aiming to break the barrier between audience and performer through the use of motion sensor technology, generative audio and visuals. The piece aims to conceptually adopt the headspace one obtains whilst traveling long distances, which was inspired by Kaihōgyō, a walking meditation process used by Buddhist monks for more than 1000 years.

Artists exhibiting:
54 Bones – Duncan Cabral, Olivia Louvel, Jamie Moore, Dominic Rae
Cogflux.01 – PRTCL Collective are Jedd Winterburn, Tarek El Goraicy, Matt Were, Louis Sterling, Jack Cleary, Visuals: Joe Wheater

Poster and Banner Design: Jedd Winterburn

ID Spectral Soft Launch Event

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

Thursday 26 September 2018, 6:30pm
Performance Studio, Grand Parade Campus,
University of Brighton
[map]
[Facebook Event]

We are very happy to be hosting a special “soft launch” event of the student-led ID Spectral imprint. Our students will have the opportunity to meet the label team, learn more about the project, its partners, official distribution contract, IDS radio and future plans as well as experience two unique live electronic music performances from the label’s artists. Students are invited to submit demos for consideration.

The event is scheduled for Wednesday 26th of September at 6.30pm in the Grand Parade campus performance studio.

Live (A/V)

RHGT (Opal Tapes/Panatype)

Luke Vosper (IDS)
https://soundcloud.com/idspectral/2-martia-granulated

You can listen to the label’s radio programmes on Resonance Extra.

DMSA Alumni featured at Fort Process Festival.

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

DMSA alumni Jeph Vanger, Jack Lister, Jordan Edge and Guoda Dirzyte will present work as part of this year’s Fort Process Festival.

The line-up is exceptional featuring music, talks and installations by Rhys Chatham, Aja, UKAEA, David Thomas Broughton, Kyoka, Grischa Lichtenberger, Max Eastley and more!

You can check out the full line-up here.

A nice feature of the festival can be found over at The Quietus.

Olivia Louvel to headline Synth Remix UK Tour

Posted on by Maria Papadomanolaki

DMSA student Olivia Louvel will be headlining the Synth Remix 2018 UK Tour, a project presenting music by musicians including Delia Derbyshire, Daphne Oram, Laurie Spiegel and Éliane Radigue.

Olivia will be touring the UK. Below are the dates:

08.11 – London @ 93 Feet East + @ Resonance Extra
09.11 – Manchester @ Anthony Burgess Foundation
10.11 – Leeds @ Belgrave Music Hall
11.11 – Birmingham @ Ikon Gallery
Featuring Jo Thomas, Olivia Louvel (Data Regina AV), Benjamin Tassie

Tickets on sale: 28.08
More info: https://www.classicalremix.org/synth-remix/