2022 DMSA graduate Esme Wright joins us for this month’s feature to discuss sound ecology and audio forensics.

Three words that describe you as a creative person?

EW: Wistful, curious and weird

When did you start working with sound and music?

EW: I got curious when I was about 11 or 12, mostly about rhythm which kickstarted my drumming career, but in terms of the more experimental sounds, that became rooted when I was about 15 and gradually flowed throughout my life. When I began pursuing an interest in technology, that began pushing boundaries of what I could make with sound. Artistically, music has been a journal for me for a long time and a form of self soothing, and I feel lucky that working with sound has satisfied many facets of my mind.

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

EW: DMSA gave me a lot of freedom to create projects that would push me in new directions, while also retaining some realism about what I could achieve within limits. I found a good balance on the course and a new confidence as a result, I also treat my ideas with more attention now, and solve problems with creativity.

Can you tell us a few words about VivaSonar?

EW: I’m still imagining my final project, and ways to take it further or create sub-projects. As I found so much comfort in creating a safe reactive space, I feel that exploring sensory dimensions and sound ecology offers endless possibilities.

I’d like VivaSonar to be a more immersive living and breathing environment, which must be maintained, but in turn offers a peaceful meditative space for the participant. I can use the same functions for that while also developing it with additional code. This is to support the integration of technology to assist our living and our planet, and prevent an overcrowded soundscape.

What are your plans for the near future?

EW: As well as VivaSonar, I’d like to form a project around Audio Forensics. I work in CyberSecurity, and I feel there is an interesting crossover there. There are numerous threats existing under the surface or visual sphere. Audio Steganography and using soundwaves to alter accelerometer readings are viable ways to disrupt data, and deep fakes are becoming difficult to distinguish between. To follow on from VivaSonar in regards to how sound can help us appease or find balance in our environment, I’d like to explore ways that sound may corrupt our environment or understanding.

Joe Gilling graduated in 2021 with a Final Research Essay ‘Haunted by Glitch: Technological Malfunction – Critiquing the Media of Innovation‘ that was selected for publication as part of the ARTECH 2021, and a Final Project ‘Spectres of the New Realm‘ that explored the nostalgic relationship with analogue sound and image through digital glitch aesthetics, projected onto a large screen set inside a spatial 6.1 speaker array.

We talk to Joe this month about where his career took him since graduating.

Three words that describe you as a creative person?

JG: Indecisive, Abstract, Conceptual

When did you start working with sound and music?

JG: I learnt the guitar from an early age and in my teenage years began to explore the world of digital composition and sampling. I found this kind of creativity more fulfilling and intuitive – you don’t need to be a professional at any instrument to be able to produce interesting sounds on a digital interface. The endless opportunities of digital music creation were exciting to me over the restrictiveness of a single instrument. However, I do feel my early years of performing an instrument informed my musical theory knowledge and ear for tonality which helped me later on.

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

JG: The course opened up avenues for deep thinking and creative musical composition outside of any traditional sense. DMSA showed me the ways artists had used and continue to use sound in forms I could never have imagined. The course pushed me out of my comfort zone on numerous occasions to take my work in audio to the very edge, which isn’t always enjoyable at the time, but I am endlessly grateful for it, making me a more critical thinker and adventurous person creatively today. I learnt so much about different concepts and ways of thinking about sound arts which have assisted me within my career now.

What are your plans for the near future? 

JG: Since graduating from the course, I acquired a role in the sound design industry and now manage over 90 independent labels producing sample packs for a music technology company. I love the work I do, getting hands-on with audio every day and working with some of the top producers and labels from around the world. In the coming months, I’m looking to launch my own sound design brand called Rewind Samples (@rewindsamples), representing some of the most talented producers from the underground UK bass music scene.

Can you tell us a few words about your experience of navigating life after university?

JG: Whilst it was extremely daunting to finish on the high of 3 years of inspiring learning and creativity, the reality that the time has come to venture out into exploring the market and finding a job which will be fulfilling and continue to support personal musical interests is a tough one (especially as the world is just recovering from a pandemic). I found that however bleak and difficult the industry may look from the outside to enter, if you show enough passion and excitement for it, even if you may be underqualified for certain roles, many will be willing to give you a shot to prove yourself. 

This month, we catch up with Wolfgang Dubieniec who graduated from DMSA in 2022.

Three words that describe you as a creative person?

 WD: Intuitive, ardent & inspired

When did you start working with sound and music?

WD: As a practitioner I don’t think I started until maybe the end of my teens, but I remember the point where I decided I wanted to make it. I had been jumping on tours taking photos, videos and selling the odd bit of merch when I was around 16 or 17 for bands on the ‘Raygun management’ roster and I definitely remember a turning point where I decided I wanted to be the one making the sound not listening to it night after night.

I think I was given a tiny interface shortly after that and it’s been pretty constant in my life since.

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

WD: This is an odd one because I definitely wasn’t expecting to study anything sound related until DMSA. I was always a bit more inclined to go the film route as I love the visual side of things too. I guess that’s where DMSA pushed me as a creative, in giving me the freedom to explore all my creative interests and make me realise I didn’t need to settle on the audio or the visual, I could do both.

Can you tell us a few words about your debut EP from last year ‘You Are Vulnerable In What You Love’?

WD: I think the EP was a real shell breaker for me in terms of getting over any anxieties about people’s expectations of what I make and put out into the world. It came together from having sent a few home demos to a good friend of mine Kristian Bell (‘The Wytches’) and he offered to release the EP for me on a DIY label he was starting up. I’m really thankful for that, it definitely started something up in me.

What are your plans for the near future?

WD: God who knows what will happen! I’ve been writing new songs, some of which are collaborations, and making alot of music videos for projects that arent my own. I think the plans for the year ahead are to bring those two interests closer together with a short film. Though the plan is really just to keep creating. I’m also waiting on some soundtrack work from last year to come to fruition so we’ll see. I think it’s sensible to set an easily achievable goal, because then the rest is all bonus.

Instagram- Wolfgang Dubieniec (@wolfgangdubieniec) • Instagram photos and videos

Wolfgang Dubieniec – You Are Vulnerable In What You Love Cassette | Cable Code Records (bigcartel.com)

We catch up this month with VASCHA who is in the 3rd year of the DMSA programme to discuss with their work, influences and process.

Three words that describe you as a creative person?

AL: Resourceful, impulsive, perfectionistic

When did you start working with sound and music?

AL: In 2012 I got this Yamaha keyboard and by using the 3-track ‘record’ setting, I would recreate entire EDM tracks (drum kit, bassline, synth) by artists ranging from Swedish House Mafia to Lady Gaga. It wasn’t until 2015 when I found myself in the vortex of the micro-genre and internet movement ‘witch house’, when I released an original song on Soundcloud for the first time. This genre was based around occult imagery, wobbly bass, trap beats, sawtooth synths and seering, delayed vocals with unintelligible lyrics. Producers like S4LEM and Ritualz blew my entire perspective of music out of the window because so much emphasis was put on texture and atmosphere. I had no technical or academic knowledge about music production, which meant slowly teaching myself as I went along, dealing with musical ideas that were way too ambitious for my mixing and mastering skills. During this time, Soundcloud offered a more communal and democratic platform that allowed musicians to find and connect with each other through ‘groups’. Living in a lonely village outside of Colchester, various spaces like this on the internet became a safe space to kind of express my ideas and make connections with like-minded people. When I moved to Brighton 2 years later, I took a course in art foundation which is where I made my short film ‘Dead as Night’, whilst simultaneously creating the soundtrack which became my first EP. This was an exciting moment where my confidence in my craft was validated and solidified. However, my technical skills I mentioned before were still underdeveloped, leading to some messy first live shows. Learning some of these skills during the Sound Art course has been a joyous experience. Since then I have worked with some some of my favourite local and international artists such as Satvrnxx, Diana Starshine, Oscar Cheung, An Nguyen and Charlie + Jenny from ZLUTZ.

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

AL: The DMSA course has enriched my senses in the very fabric of electronic sound. This new perspective has given me a voice and a freedom to expand my artistic boundaries. It has introduced me to such an eclectic mix of artists and tutors. The facilities have allowed me to learn new skills (shoutout to Bob and Paul) and has opened my eyes to the ways in which this passion is of use to the world around me. Becoming friends with fellow course mates and performers (such as IAMFYA and CURRENTMOODGIRL) has been a wonderful experience. It shows me that although Brighton’s electronic scene often lacks space for queer live performance, something super special is happening in DMSA and change is upon us. This is so much more than just a music course.

Can you tell us a few words about VASCHA?

AL: VASCHA is an alias that landed with my the aforementioned EP ‘Dead as Night’. It is a an unintentional outlet to express my anger, pride and grief in which I have not found anywhere else in life. Some people claim to see her as a character, a mysterious pop star with an imprinted sonic identity. This identity is inspired by things like David Lynch films, euro-dance, outer space and the sounds of London Underground trains.

What are your plans for the near future?

AL: I’m currently expanding my sense of performance, and incorporating a more physical, live element into my work ready for my final DMSA project here in Brighton. I aim to learn fearlessly by embracing everything I still do not know yet as a challenge. My goal is to branch out to audiences in places like London and Bristol and to release my next musical project which embraces a much more personal presence than my previous music, with each track based on a different Hieronymus Bosch painting.

Hal graduated from the DMSA BA in 2022 and presented for their Final Project ‘Listen to your World’, an hour-long theatrical gig infused with mindfulness and ecstatic dance. We catch up to discuss what they have been doing since completing the course.

Three words that describe you as a creative person?

HK: Explorative. Intuitive. Strange

When did you start working with sound and music?

HK: I taught myself piano in my teens and also did Music GCSE. The first music I made for myself was in GarageBand using a free synth plugin I downloaded off the internet – quite interesting but terribly produced! Then, after I left school, a friend of mine showed me the joys of Ableton Live, and I began using it for theatre shows and to make the soft experimental electronic music that would form my first album, Like a Liquid.

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

HK: DMSA opened my eyes to the vast range of interesting and experimental music that’s been made over the course of the last century, but more importantly it gave me the creative freedom to explore my own practice, try out different styles and eventually produce a final project that I’m proud of. Without the support of the tutors and technicians I would not have been able to create a performance I’m so happy with.

Can you tell us a few words about your recent project ‘Listen to Your World’?

HK: Listen to Your World is the performance I developed for my final project. Somewhere between a gig and a piece of theatre, it is best described as a mindfulness experience through sound and music. In the show I portray an alien who has come to Earth from their home planet and is amazed by all the beauty they find here. Realising that the humans don’t always see things this way, they attempt to encourage the audience to pay more attention to the beautiful sights and sounds to be found on this planet, before ending with ecstatic dance.

What are your plans for the near future? 

HK: I have just moved to Bristol and am planning to split my time between freelance music and theatre work, and climate activism. This year I developed a new musical called Armageddon Attenborough with my collaborator, poet Chris White. We will be performing it in the South West this September before developing it further and touring it next year. I also intend to pursue my solo music career, releasing my new album at some point next year.