Sound Studies Lecture am 17. Januar 2011
Bret Battey discuss about his recent audiovisual compositions, looking at both the technical means (custom generative systems for sound and image) and some theoretical considerations (what he is calling „Isomorphism of Complex Gestalts“).
Dr. Bret Battey is a Senior Lecturer in Music, Technology and Innovation at Department of Performance & Digital Arts / De Montfort University, Leicester (England). He came from the United States to join the De Montfort team in 2004. Prior to coming to De Montfort University, he spent a year in India engaged in research as a Fulbright Fellow and two years as a Research Associate with the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has degrees in electronic music and music composition from Oberlin Conservatory (BMus) and the University of Washington (MMus, DMA).
He creates electronic, acoustic, and multimedia concert works and installations, synthesizing a diverse professional and educational background in music composition, computer science, graphic and web design, and electronics. He pursues research in algorithmic music, digital signal processing, image and sound relationship, and expressive sound synthesis. His passions for Indian classical music, contemplative practice, and feedback systems, chaos, and complexity have had strong impact on his research and artistic work.
His areas of teaching emphasis include computer programming, synthesis design, algorithmic compositional techniques, sound and image relationships, physical computing and interactivity, and philosophical and cultural contexts for music composition.
His sound and image compositions, which involve custom-programmed video and sound algorithms, have achieved widespread international attention and recognition, with over 70 screenings since 2004 and prizes and honours from the Abstracta Festival (Rome), Punto y Raya Festival (Madrid), Bourges Concours International de Musique Electroacoustique (France) and Prix Ars Electronica (Austria). He has published research in Computer Music Journal and Organised Sound.
Dr Battey has supervised and examined postdoctoral research in the areas of sound and image composition, Indian classical music, programming and interactive design, installations, and complex systems and feedback, and he also welcomes research in other areas of composition, algorithmic techniques and synthesis design.