Announcements
ICMC 2004 in Miami
The University of Miami School of
Music, in conjunction with the Inter-
national Computer Music Associa-
zione, has announced that the 2004
International Computer Music Con-
ference (ICMC) will take place 1–6
novembre 2004 at the University of
Miami in Coral Gables, Florida,
USA. The conference will feature
multiple daily concerts of a variety
of computer music and multimedia
works along with a daily multitrack-
session technical program of papers,
demonstrations, posters, and exhibi-
zioni. Pre-conference workshops will
be held 31 ottobre.
This year’s conference explores
the theme of ‘‘Expanded Horizons’’
in its creative and technical exami-
nation of the confluence of music
and technology. The organizers par-
ticularly welcome music and re-
search that address the expanded
horizons offered by new musical in-
terfaces, expanded aesthetic and mu-
sical embraces, and ways in which
our field can grow by bringing its
music and technology to new audi-
enze.
The general call for submissions of
music, papers, videos, demonstra-
zioni, booths, and exhibitions can be
found at the conference Web site,
www.icmc2004.org.
ICMC 2005 in Barcelona
IL 2005 International Computer
Music Conference will be held in
Barcelona, Spain, during the first half
of September 2005, under the theme
of ‘‘Free Sound.’’ The venue will be
the Escola Superior de Mu´ sica de Ca-
talunya (ESMUC) in the new prem-
ises at the Barcelona Auditorium.
The organizers are Phonos Founda-
zione, Audiovisual Institute (IUA) Di
the Pompeu Fabra University, E
ESMUC; the responsible persons are
Xavier Serra (IUA) and Gerard Claret
(ESMUC).
Additional information can be
found on the Web at www.icmc2005
.org/, or from the executive director
of Phonos Foundation, Andres
Lewin-Richter, at alewin@iua.upf.es.
Information about the Barcelona Au-
ditorium is at www.bcn.es/english/
turisme/llocs/08.htm.
New Interfaces for Musical
Expression—Hamamatsu, Japan
IL 2004 International Conference
on New Interfaces for Musical Ex-
pression (NIME 04) will be held 3–5
Giugno 2004 in Hamamatsu, known as
Japan’s ‘‘city of musical instru-
ments.’’ It will be hosted by Shizu-
oka University of Art and Culture
(SUAC) (www.suac.ac.jp/index-e
.html).
NIME 04 follows the initial NIME
workshop at the Computer-Human
Interaction conference (CHI 2001) In
Seattle, Washington, USA; the NIME
02 International Conference, held at
the Media Lab Europe, in Dublin,
Ireland; and the NIME 03 Interna-
tional Conference held in Montreal,
Canada.
4
Computer Music Journal
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gestural control in musical perfor-
mance; mapping strategies and their
influence on digital musical instru-
ment design; sensor and actuator
technologies for musical applica-
zioni; haptic and force feedback de-
vices for musical control; real-time
software tools and interactive sys-
tems; pedagogical applications of
new interfaces; courses and curric-
ula; and performance rendering sys-
tems (RENCON).
The conference chair for NIME 04
is Yoichi Nagashima (SUAC), the re-
search paper program chair is Mi-
chael Lyons (Advanced
Telecommunications Research Insti-
tute International, Kyoto, Japan), E
the artistic program chair is Atau Ta-
naka (Sony Computer Science Labo-
ratory, Paris).
The conference has received offi-
cial recognition by the Japan Founda-
zione, which means that attendees
from overseas are eligible to apply
for travel support (see www.suac.net/
NIME/NIME04/found.html for infor-
mation on how to apply).
Further information about NIME
04 is available at the conference Web
site (www.suac.net/NIME) or by con-
tacting the conference secretariat by
electronic mail at nime04@suac.net.
LEA Educators Initiative
The Leonardo Electronic Almanac
(LEA) is pleased to announce that it
is creating an abstracts index listing
of Masters and PhD theses in the art/
science/technology field. Students
interested in contributing should
contact LEA at leo@mitpress.mit
.edu. LEA also maintains a discus-
sion list open only to faculty in the
field. Faculty wishing to join this list
can contact LEA at the aforemen-
tioned address.
The main goal at the NIME 04
conference is to blend high-level sci-
entific and technological research on
the development of new interfaces
for musical expression and high-level
artistic performances using such in-
terfaces. IL 2004 conference will
consist of a three full-day event
where research papers, demonstra-
zioni, and performances will be pre-
sented that relate to the state of the
art in new interfaces for musical ex-
pression.
The organizers state that ‘‘In re-
cent decades computers and related
electronic technology have come to
play a nearly ubiquitous role in every
aspect of music making, including
composition, apprendimento, instruction,
performance, recording, and distribu-
zione. But the computer itself is
hardly a musical instrument. Usual
means of human-computer interac-
tion are extremely limited in terms
of their use of expressive human ac-
zione, and there is much room for cre-
ative research and design work. For
this reason, the NIME conference fo-
cuses primarily on questions at the
interface between technology and
human musical expression.’’
Topics of interest include, but are
not restricted to, the following: Di-
sign reports on novel controllers and
interfaces for musical expression;
surveys of past work and ideas for fu-
ture research; reports on live perfor-
mance and composition using novel
controllers; controllers for virtuosi,
novices, formazione scolastica, and entertain-
ment; perceptual and cognitive is-
sues in the design of musical
controllers; music and motion; mu-
sic and emotion; visual and physical
expression with sonic expressivity;
musical mapping algorithms and in-
telligent controllers; novel control-
lers for collaborative performance;
interface protocols (per esempio., MIDI) E
alternative controllers; artistic, cul-
tural, and social impact of new per-
formance interfaces; real-time
Announcements
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Dolby 5.1-Channel Music
Production Guidelines
Three years after the launch of the
new multichannel music delivery
formats, many artists, engineers,
and producers are still looking for
fundamental information on how to
best mix and manage music in the
multichannel environment. Now
available, Dolby Laboratories has au-
thored a primer for the professional
music production community on
best practices for this rapidly devel-
oping market. Available as a free
PDF download, ‘‘Dolby 5.1-Channel
Music Production Guidelines’’ pres-
ents a technical blueprint for creat-
ing music in 5.1 channels. IL
document guidelines can be found at
www.dolby.com/tech/Multichannel_
Music_Mixing.pdf.
The publication covers a range of
topics such as proper equipment and
speaker placement, calibration for
proper monitoring, metadata plan-
ning and implementation, program
interchange guidelines, and an expla-
nation of the many new terms
spawned by 5.1-channel production.
It also provides accurate information
that dispels myths concerning both
center and LFE channel usage. Mix
and mastering data sheet templates
for 5.1-channel projects are also in-
cluded.
According to John Kellogg, general
manager for multichannel music at
Dolby Laboratories, ‘‘This document
gives a well-rounded technical over-
view for those producing music for
5.1-channel delivery to consumers.
Dolby will update it regularly as new
and better techniques for creating
surround music mixes evolve.’’
Workshop in Algorithmic
Computer Music—Santa Cruz,
California
The second annual Workshop in Al-
gorithmic Computer Music will take
place from 21 June–9 July 2004 at the
University of California, Santa Cruz
(UCSC). David Cope, Paul Nauert,
and Peter Elsea will be among those
on hand to teach and advise work-
shop attendees. Participants will
take classes each morning and early
afternoon on the basic techniques of
algorithmic composition and algo-
rithmic music analysis, learning and
using the computer programming
language Lisp. Participants will cre-
ate three significant software pro-
jects: a Markov-based rules program,
a genetic algorithm, and software
modeled on the Experiments in Mu-
sical Intelligence program. Music
analysis software and techniques will
also be covered in depth. Composi-
tional approaches will be discussed
in detail, including rules-based tech-
Carino, data-driven models, genetic
algorithms, neural networks, fuzzy
logic, mathematical modeling, sonifi-
catione, and others. Software pro-
grams such as Common Music, Max,
Open Music, and so on will also be
presented and used.
Each participant will receive a free
class reference manual, class soft-
ware in source code, and various
other associated printed and software
tools and guides relevant to the
workshop’s goals. Access to UCSC’s
computer music facilities will allow
performances and special lectures by
invited guests. Each of the three in-
struction weeks will include five
hours of individual computer time
(with an advisor close at hand) E
each week will culminate in perfor-
mances of participant works and pre-
sentations of analysis and
composition software. By the work-
shop’s end, each participant will be
expected to have gained facility with
Lisp and to have written composi-
tional and analytical software pro-
grams. Participants will receive a CD
of their compositions.
Prospective students must be able
to read music and understand basic
music theory as well as have at least
a basic facility with computers (per esempio.,
text editing). Students need not be
active musicians nor programmers.
The fee is US $1750. Room and
board are available on campus, if de-
sired. For more information, Vedere
summer.ucsc.edu/wacm. (David
Cope’s Web site is arts.ucsc.edu/
faculty/cope, and Experiments in
Musical Intelligence scores are avail-
able from www.spectrumpress.com.)
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Computer Music Journal
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