Key E-Journals
- Computer Music Journal (MIT Press)A quarterly journal that covers topics related to digital audio signal processing and electroacoustic music.
- Electronic Musician (Opens in new window)A professional magazine with interviews that cover technique, instruments, culture, lessons and lifestyles.
- Journal of New Music Research (Opens in new window)Articles about music and musical processes by systematic, scientific and technological means.
- Leonardo Music JournalAn annual multimedia publication of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology and the MIT Press. It publishes the work of artists who are inventing media, implementing developing technologies and expanding the boundaries of radical and experimental aesthetics.
- Organised Sound (Opens in new window)An international peer-reviewed journal which focuses on the rapidly developing methods and issues arising from the use of technology in music today. (Online and in print at F. W. Olin Library, Oakland)
- Perspectives of New Music (Opens in new window)Published material includes theoretical research, analyses, technical reports, position papers by composers, sociological and philosophical articles, interviews, reviews, and, for special purposes, short musical scores or other creative productions.
Streaming Electronic Music
- Free Music Archive (Opens in new window)An international interactive library of high-quality audio downloads for personal use or in media projects. Founded by WFMU, maintained by Tribe of Noise.
- Last.Fm. (Opens in new window)Recommends music, videos and concerts based on what you listen to.
Additional Online Resources
- Analogik Produced by industry professionals who provide quality content and online resources in fields of electronic music, multimedia, visual arts, science, technology and culture.
- ARS Electronica Archive Possesses one of the world’s most extensive archives of digital media art from throughout the last 25 years. It consists of the Catalog Archive and material documenting the Ars Electronica Festival (from 1979), the Archive of the Prix Ars Electronica (from 1987), material on Ars Electronica projects as well as biographies of the artists and theoreticians who took part in them.
- EARS: ElectroAcoustic Resource site Provides resources for those wishing to conduct research in the area of electroacoustic music studies. It is based at De Montfort University, UK.
- The Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic/Music (IRCAM) IRCAM, in Paris, France, is one of the world’s largest public research centers dedicated to both musical expression and scientific research.
- SEAMUS: Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States. A non-profit national organization of composers, performers, and teachers of electro-acoustic music representing every part of the country and virtually every musical style.
- Sound and Music Promotes challenging contemporary music and sound art through a range of projects, incorporating live events, learning, artist development, and digital platforms.
- STEIM: Studio for Electo-Instrumental Music An independent live electronic music center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands dedicated to the performing arts.
Scores and Archive Material
- Center for Contemporary Music (Mills/Northeastern Oakland Campus) (Opens in new window)CCM's archives include an extensive collection of recordings made at Mills and the San Francisco Tape Music Center. These rare recordings of influential works and interviews from an earlier era of electronic music represent a valuable piece of musical history. The archives also contain a large collection of technical journals, periodicals, and books. Contact Lawral Warnek, Music Librarian at F. W. Olin Library, Oakland, for assistance.
Select Books
Beyond the Dance Floor by
A pathbreaking study of the women who create electronic dance music, Beyond the Dance Floor focuses on the largely neglected relationship between these women and the conceptions of gender and technology that continue to inform the male-dominated culture surrounding electronic music. In this volume, Rebekah Farrugia explores a number of important issues, including the politics of identity and representation, the bonds formed by women within the DJ community, and the role female DJs and producers play in this dance music culture as well as in the larger public sphere. Though Farrugia primarily focuses on women's relationship to music-related technologies--including vinyl, mp3s, and digital production software--she also deftly extends her argument to the strategic use of the Internet and web design skills for purposes tied to publicity, networking, and music distribution.
ISBN: 9781841505664Publication Date: 2012-08-13
DJ Culture in the Mix by
The DJ stands at a juncture of technology, performance and culture in the increasingly uncertain climate of the popular music industry, functioning both as pioneer of musical taste and gatekeeper of the music industry. Together with promoters, producers, video jockeys (VJs) and other professionals in dance music scenes, DJs have pushed forward music techniques and technological developments in last few decades, from mashups and remixes to digital systems for emulating vinyl performance modes. This book is the outcome of international collaboration among academics in the study of electronic dance music. Mixing established and upcoming researchers from the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Australia and Brazil, the collection offers critical insights into DJ activities in a range of global dance music contexts. In particular, chapters address digitization and performativity, as well as issues surrounding the gender dynamics and political economies of DJ cultures and practices.
ISBN: 9781623564377Publication Date: 2013-10-24
Pink Noises by
Pink Noises brings together twenty-four interviews with women in electronic music and sound cultures, including club and radio DJs, remixers, composers, improvisers, instrument builders, and installation and performance artists. The collection is an extension of Pinknoises.com, the critically-acclaimed website founded by musician and scholar Tara Rodgers in 2000 to promote women in electronic music and make information about music production more accessible to women and girls. That site featured interviews that Rodgers conducted with women artists, exploring their personal histories, their creative methods, and the roles of gender in their work. This book offers new and lengthier interviews, a critical introduction, and resources for further research and technological engagement. Contemporary electronic music practices are illuminated through the stories of women artists of different generations and cultural backgrounds. They include the creators of ambient soundscapes, "performance novels," sound sculptures, and custom software, as well as the developer of the Deep Listening philosophy and the founders of the Liquid Sound Lounge radio show and the monthly Basement Bhangra parties in New York. These and many other artists open up about topics such as their conflicted relationships to formal music training and mainstream media representations of women in electronic music. They discuss using sound to work creatively with structures of time and space, and voice and language; challenge distinctions of nature and culture; question norms of technological practice; and balance their needs for productive solitude with collaboration and community. Whether designing and building modular synthesizers with analog circuits or performing with a wearable apparatus that translates muscle movements into electronic sound, these artists expand notions of who and what counts in matters of invention, production, and noisemaking. Pink Noises is a powerful testimony to the presence and vitality of women in electronic music cultures, and to the relevance of sound to feminist concerns. Interviewees: Maria Chavez, Beth Coleman (M. Singe), Antye Greie (AGF), Jeannie Hopper, Bevin Kelley (Blevin Blectum), Christina Kubisch, Le Tigre, Annea Lockwood, Giulia Loli (DJ Mutamassik), Rekha Malhotra (DJ Rekha), Riz Maslen (Neotropic), Kaffe Matthews, Susan Morabito, Ikue Mori, Pauline Oliveros, Pamela Z, Chantal Passamonte (Mira Calix), Maggi Payne, Eliane Radigue, Jessica Rylan, Carla Scaletti, Laetitia Sonami, Bev Stanton (Arthur Loves Plastic), Keiko Uenishi (o.blaat)
ISBN: 9780822346616Publication Date: 2010-03-23
The Synthesizer by
Electronic music instruments weren't called synthesizers until the 1950s, but their lineage began in 1919 with Russian inventor Lev Sergeyevich Termen's development of the Etherphone, now known as the Theremin. From that point, synthesizers have undergone a remarkable evolution from prohibitively large mid-century models confined to university laboratories to the development of musical synthesis software that runs on tablet computers and portable media devices.Throughout its history, the synthesizer has always been at the forefront of technology for the arts. In The Synthesizer: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Programming, Playing, and Recording the Ultimate Electronic Music Instrument, veteran music technology journalist, educator, and performer Mark Vail tells the complete story of the synthesizer: the origins of the many forms the instrument takes; crucial advancements in sound generation, musical control, and composition made with instruments that may have become best sellers or gone entirely unnoticed; and the basics and intricacies of acoustics and synthesized sound. Vail also describes how to successfully select, program, and play a synthesizer; what alternative controllers exist for creating electronic music; and how to stay focused and productive when faced with a room full of instruments. This one-stop reference guide on all things synthesizer also offers tips on encouraging creativity, layering sounds, performance, composing and recording for film and television, and much more.
ISBN: 9780199334858Publication Date: 2014-01-01
