IMM Chronicle January 2012

 

IMM goes Network Music

At the Network Music Festival declared this year by the University of Birmingham, there will be not just one but two projects presented by IMM students and alumni.

Jonas Hummel, graduate of the Audio and Video Engineering program, will be opening the festival by presenting his video installation [pb_up] ; a patchwork portrait. The installation was created as a final year project under IMM Professor Manfred Waffender, and accompanied the live-coding ensemble PowerBooks UnPlugged at concerts. Lukas Truniger and Jonas Hummel will represent the Translokalen Rundfunkorchesters with an improvisation performance using modified transistor radios that have been connected with computers in a wireless network. The ensemble came into being as a result of a seminar held by IMM assistant professor Hannes Hoelzl.

 

Theatre music

IMM student Felix Rösch will be at the theatre in Konstanz from February to mid-April 2012, participating as the composer and musical director in the production of the Brecht play Round Heads and Pointed Heads by director Martin Nimz. The format of the piece is comparable with Brecht’s Threepenny Opera. The 150 pages of original score were written in 1929 by Hanns Eisler, and have now been radically reworked, adapted or completely rewritten for electronics (Max MSP, Ableton, etc.), live instruments and singers. The work will be premiering on 23 March 2012 at the theatre in Konstanz. The contact was found by IMM Professor Phillip Schulze.

 

Video diary in Lille

Since September 2011, IMM student Lilia Dornhof has been spending a year abroad in France. Alongside her studies of Classical Singing at the conservatoire in Lille, partner university of the Robert Schumann School of Music and Media, she has been producing a video diary under the supervision of IMM Professor Dr Heike Sperling for her Video 2 exam. Thanks to the support of her course mates from Düsseldorf, new episodes are being produced each month. Lilia Dornhof is supported by IMM students Robert Keilbar (sound design / mixing) and Alexander Moyerer (music), the Audio and Video Engineering graduate Stefan Jähner (special effects / colour correction) and by Laurids Pech from the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, specialist for design (animation).
The trailer for the video diary, the short film Erasmus Traum Detektor, won the students the third prize in the short film competition of the Erasmus foundation by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The video diary of Lilia Dornhof is also being published by the joint initiative of DAAD and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) go out! studieren weltweit.

 

Visual Music in the NRW Forum

BYOB - Bring your own beamer is a series of one-night-exhibitions organised by people around the world. Thanks to the simple principle of bringing your own projector, artists in the respective city are provided with an uncomplicated opportunity to present their work. The Institute for Music and Media will also be represented on 20 January at BYOB Düsseldorf in the nrw-Forum, and will be projecting video clips produced by students majoring in Visual Music on the walls. The exhibition, organised by Thomas Spallek, will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight, entry is free of charge.

 

Guest lecture at the Ateneo de Manila University

On 12 January, Florian Essig, graduate of the Audio and Video Engineering program, is holding a guest lecture at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. The lecture is entitled Audiovisual Concepts – The relationship between audio and video in film.

 

Exhibition opening performance

IMMATÉRIEL DE PROJET is the name of an exhibition being held on 10 January in the Galerie BEX in Paris, displaying a variety of works by young artists from various countries.
Taiwanese actress Vera Chen and IMM student Lukas Truniger have developed a performance for the opening of the exhibition. The work plays with simple possibilities for linking the movements of the actress with electronic sounds. A morbid world of sound is created from dislocated city noises, in which the performer attempts to orient herself.
The exhibition is being organised by Chun-Chi Wang, a curator and artist from Taiwan who lives in Berlin.

 

Zima at the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012

The experimental film entitled Zima by KHM graduate Katarina Stanković will celebrate its international premiere in January 2012 as part of the Spectrum Shorts programme at the Rotterdam Film Festival. The film already won the Golden Eye cinematography prize in Batumi, Georgia, in October 2011.
IMM students were involved in all parts of the audio production for the 50-minute film: Sophie Körner and Torsten Lang were responsible for the original sound recording during shooting, while the audio editing and cinema edit were handled by Robert Keilbar.

 

 

 

From the IMM majors

 

Major Classical Music Recording:

Recording of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra
Together with a team from the IMM, Jonathan Natzel, a student on the Audio and Video Engineering program, recorded the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra playing the Sternzeichen 6 concert series at the Tonhalle between 11 and 16 January. The concerts, which were conducted by general musical director Andrey Boreyko, included Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, and the suite by Dmitri Shostakovich for the Hamlet film score.
Jonathan Natzel will be producing a mastered version of the recordings within the framework of his Audio 2 exam. To this end, pretakes were recorded already during the dress rehearsals that will be cut together with the best of the concert takes. The purpose of this cooperation with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra is the publication of the concert series on CD.

 

Major Media Composition:

Film score dramaturgy in theory and practice
Within the framework of the major Media Composition, the Munich film and TV composer Andreas Weidinger will be holding a workshop on 7 February entitled Principles of film score dramaturgy in theory and practice. The workshop will focus in particular on the observation of the interplay between the compositional levels of video, sound design, original sound recording and music.
Weidinger is the author of the standard textbook Komposition für Musik und Fernsehen, and was for many years an assistant professor and holder of a vice-professorship in the program Music for Film and Television at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.

 

Major Music Informatics:

~ An electro-acoustic evening
On 12 February at 6 p.m., at the close of the winter term, the Filmwerkstatt Düsseldorf will be the venue for the premiere performances of electro-acoustic works by IMM students Gabriel Denhoff, Paul Große-Schönepauck, Dennis Jüngel, Henrik Plünnecke, Lennart Saathoff, Peter Thoma, Stephan Vester and Florian Zeeh, supervised by IMM Professor 
Phillip Schulze. Visitors can listen to and watch electro-acoustic compositions for 8 speakers, live performances and sound installations.

 

Major Music Production:

Copyright law in the age of sampling and downloads
Under the supervision of IMM Professor Werner Roth, a music business seminar on the subject of Copyright and publishing law was held on 24 January as a part of the major Music Production. The speaker was the Frankfurt music manager and publisher John Ruhrmann, who explained current copyright law in the age of sampling and downloads, the business model of the music publisher, and the outlook for newcomer producers and musicians.
For many years, Ruhrmann was the A&R manager of the Frankfurt record label 3p, Pelham GmbH, and was responsible for acts such as Glashaus, Moses Pelham, Sabrina Setlur, Cassandra Steen, etc. Since March 2005 he has been working as A&R manager in the music publishing house Melodie der Welt in Frankfurt/Main, and label manager at Musik für Massen.

 

Major Music and Audiovisual Media:

Show reels

At the close of the semester, on 15 February, the students majoring in Music and Audiovisual Media will be presenting show reels of their finished work from three semesters: The works will include excerpts from montage films, concert recordings and from music@studio1, an internet music broadcast.

 

Major Music and Media Management:

Law and insurance
In the current semester, the students in the classes of IMM assistant professor Stephan Benn in the major Music and Media Management are dealing with publishing contracts on the one hand, and on the other with the principles of copyright and ancillary copyright law, trademark law, and social security insurance for artists.

 

Major Music and Text:

Workshop with audio artist Gabi Schaffner

On 27 January, the audio artist and radio presenter Gabi Schaffner will be a guest at IMM, in order to hold a block seminar for the major Music and Text together with IMM assistant professor Marc Matter. The subject will be different text forms in conjunction with sound.
Within the framework of the student lecture day of the cooperation project RESONANZRÄUME on 2 February in the Salon des Amateurs, students majoring in Music and Text will also be participating with reports, lectures and presentations alongside students from the Heinrich-Heine University.

 

Major Visual Music:

Visual Music Evening during Cologne Music Week

On 18 January, starting at 9 p.m., the IMM Visual Music Evening will be held for the second time during Cologne Music Week in the music club Zum Scheuen Reh in Cologne. This year, the evening will be held in collaboration with the legendary Cologne record shop and label a-musik. The event will be presenting The Allophons (live), Frank Dommert, Wan-Tan-B and Barack Podolski. Support in the form of posters and room design is being provided by students majoring in Visual Music under the supervision of IMM assistant professor Christian Schäfer.

IMM Chronicle December 2011

 

Christmas greetings

The Institute For Music And Media wishes all students, associates, partners und friends a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

 

Open day

On the occasion of the open day at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, the Institute for Music and Media will also be holding an open day on 18 January 2012. In addition to guided tours of the Institute and presentations of the work of students, all those interested can learn about the Bachelor programs available at the IMM from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

 

Sonification Handbook

Contributions to the Sonification Handbook recently published by Thomas Hermann, Andy Hunt and John G. Neuhoff were made by Till Bovermann, IMM professor Julian Rohrhuber, and Alberto de Campo, with a chapter on Laboratory Methods for Experimental Sonification. The book is a comprehensive introduction to the field of sonification research, the analysis of data with the aid of sound.

 

WDR radio broadcast about Granular Synthesis

On 14 December at 11:05 p.m., WDR 3 will present the premiere broadcast of Sebastian Meissner’s piece Von der Körnigkeit des Klanges – Granularsynthese [On the granularity of sound – Granular Synthesis]. Excerpts to be heard include those from Iannis Xenakis, Curtis Roads, Barry Truax, Paul Lansky, Granular Synthesis and IMM professor Phillip Schulze. Click here for the live stream and further information.

 

Oskar Sala and Pierre Schaeffer on 100th birthday

The radio play The Godfathers by IMM professor Phillip Schulze, Jan Sieber and professor Nathalie Singer can be heard from the Musée Réattu in Arles and on sonosphere as a live stream. In the summer of 1910, two key figures in the world of electro-acoustic music were born: Oskar Sala, the first virtuoso and further developer of the trautonium; and Pierre Schaeffer, founder of the musique concrete movement, radio-maker and writer. The authors follow the tracks of Sala and Schaeffer in the contemporary sound art scene, and look back on their lives and work.

 

Sprechmusik, Festival of Spoken Music

IMM assistant professor Marc Matter is curating and organising the Sprechmusik Festival in the Düsseldorf Salon des Amateurs. The festival, being held for the first time this year, is dedicated to an experimental intersection of literature, music, sound art and performance.
IMM professor Phillip Schulze is representing the musical manifesto of the pop duo WEISSER WESTEN on 8 December at 10:30 p.m.
Click here for the entire programme.

 

Momentum for Change for the United Nations

IMM assistant professor Jan Höhe was responsible for the editing of the film Momentum for Change. Momentum for Change was produced on behalf of the United Nations by Lars Heller, Heller&C., and is being shown as part of the climate conference in Durban. The film presents ten small, practical projects to help improve the climate. The film music was composed by Philip Glass (part 1) and Andreas Reihse (part 2).
On 6 December at 5:30 p.m. CET, the event at which the film will be premiered can be viewed live on the United Nations website. Ban Ki-moon, General Secretary of the United Nations, will also be present at the premiere.

 

Circle of Life for Mercedes

Aleksander Bach, graduate of the Audio and Video Engineering diploma program, directed the advertising film Circle of Life (produced by Erste Liebe Film, Hamburg) for Mercedes Benz. The television commercial is part of the B-class film concept and is already being shown on television around the world.
W&V writes, "No young person (and very few middle aged people) wants to become like their own parents. But most of us turn out that way anyway. This is because studying, working and having children ensure that we move within certain rules. This is amusing, we feel we have been caught out, and the musical selection is first-class."

 

 

 

From the IMM majors

 

Major Classical Music Recording:

Live recording in Düsseldorf Tonhalle

On 1 December, a team of students majoring in Classical Music Production recorded the orchestra of the Robert Schumann School of Music and Media in the Düsseldorf Tonhalle, under the supervision of production director Michael Hohnstock. Within the framework of the BigBang concert series, works by Beethoven and Haydn, Xenakis and Lachenmann were played.
During these live recordings, the newly designed broadcasting van was used, as was equipment from the IMM sound equipment library. The project was supervised by IMM professor Dagmar Birwe, who, together with the students, had previously compared and selected various surround microphone arrangements during the rehearsals.

 

Major Media Composition:

From notation programs to the big band stage

IMM assistant professor Thomas Forkert combines three different subjects in his course: compositional principles for the four-piece brass band in jazz, the implementation of pieces using notation software and conducting an ensemble playing the different drafts. In January 2012, the students majoring in this subject will have three opportunities to rehearse the works they have composed and arranged during the winter semester with the Big Band of the Clara Schumann Music School, whose conductor Romano Schubert will literally be surrendering the baton for the duration of the project.

 

Major Music Informatics:

Grand piano installation

Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel, students in the Audio and Video Engineering program, call themselves grandbrothers, and have made it their objective to use experimental playing techniques to coax new sounds and rhythms out of the grand piano.

Alongside the grand piano and a laptop, amongst other things they are working with twenty electromagnetic hammers they developed themselves. These hammers can be individually controlled using the laptop, and are either mounted in fixed positions, or are suspended on pendulums. They do not only strike piano wires, but also certain resonance areas of the grand piano, producing both notes and percussive sounds.
The project is being supervised by IMM professor Phillip Schulze within the framework of their Audio 2 exam.

 

Major Music Production:

3D audio recordings

In the Music Production major, there will be a seminar on 11 January with Chuck Plaisance on the subject of Sampling in the Field of Surround Sound. As early as 1987, Chuck Plaisance was a world leader in 3D audio recording. During his career as musician and vocal coach, he worked with artists such as Michael Jackson, Dianna Ross and Alice Cooper.

 

Major Music and Audiovisual Media:

Forename Surname in 3 Minutes

In the major Music and Audiovisual Media, currently 26 students are working to complete six artist portraits. The protagonists of the portrait films are the photographer Susanne Diesner, the musicians Martin Sasse, Sebastian Grams and Christoph Adams, and the visual artists Jan Wagner and Anatol. Alongside this team project, each participant in the module has been assigned the task of presenting themselves as an artist in a brief portrait: Forename Surname in 3 Minutes. The works will be presented at the end of the winter semester during a miniature film festival.

 

Major Music und Media Management:

Commercial ideas in the form of Business Plans

As part of the major Music and Media Management, this winter term will again see innovative commercial ideas being developed by multiple study groups in the form of Business Plans. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Klinkenberg, business models will be generated, paying particular attention to the possibilities resulting from the digital revolution, and will be optimised in terms of business economics. Examples include Newspaper 2.0, a film production company for a clearly defined target group, and a Film Portal.

 

Major Music and Text:

Resonanzräume research project

Since the beginning of this semester, the IMM (and especially the majors Music and Text and Music Informatics) has been cooperating in the teaching and research project entitled Resonanzräume: Medienkulturen des Akustischen [Resonance Rooms: Acoustic Media Culture] at the Institute for Culture and Media of the Heinrich-Heine University. Alongside a series of lectures by different speakers (held in the Salon des Amateurs), exchanges have also begun amongst the students. Individual students of the university seminar have already been visiting IMM courses and vice versa.
IMM students majoring in Music and Text will be delivering papers, short lectures and presentations on 2 February in the Salon des Amateurs.

 

Major Visual Music:

Excursion to Berlin

At the start of 2012, students of the course Music Visualisation in Moving Pictures will travel to Berlin under the supervision of IMM assistant professor Tristan Thönnissen in order to visit agencies and artists that work successfully in the still young medium of Visual Music. Berlin is the location in Germany where the variety of international influences from art, industry and marketing leads to the creation of interesting new solutions. Multimedia projects stray off the beaten path and seek out fresh approaches to communication.