UNews - Arlan Schultz

Innovative audio creation technology a first of its kind for Faculty of Fine Arts

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:14:13 +0000

An innovative device developed by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge music professor Dr. Arlan Schultz that can move sound in two or three dimensions with human gestures is garnering interest from some of the largest technology companies in the world. The AuraWand is the first commercialization project of its kind to be developed out of the Faculty of Fine Arts and is built as a world-class, cutting-edge professional audio device for use on the stage and in the sound studio.

Dr. Arlan Schultz

“Being able to mix and move sound around in three dimensions — up, down, and closer/further from you — is very different than mixing in a stereo format,” says Schultz, who works in the fields of composition and music technology, researching immersive audio and how it can be incorporated into music composition. “Our device allows individuals to seamlessly interact with spatial audio and it puts the focus back on listening and physically engaging with the art of immersive sound design.”

The AuraWand and AuraWave Technologies has earned more than $250,000 in funding support from investors and non-dilutive grants and its technology is now on the radar for some of the largest companies in the world, including Dolby, Apple, Google, Microsoft and audio content creators involved in making or mixing spatial audio in professional and home studios.

The AuraWand Gen 2.0 at the 64-channel MMR Space in the CIRMMT at McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Montreal.

Schultz says the idea for the device evolved from recognizing a lack of specialized technology for digital audio creation. The AuraWand allows the user to conduct with space and leverages a musician’s natural desire to physically engage with sound production. The AuraWand is meant to make the process of mixing and composing in spatial audio environments technically transparent. The device places the audio engineer’s emphasis more on listening, nuanced trajectory creation and on human interaction with the sonic environment, as opposed to technical engineering.

ULethbridge’s Office of Research Services supported Schultz for the provisional IP filing and encouraged him to commercialize his technology by connecting him with imYEG (Innovation Masterminds Edmonton).

“ULethbridge is home to some of the world’s brightest minds and most accomplished researchers, and their work is innovative and impactful,” says Vice-President (Research), Dr. Dena McMartin. “It’s exciting to help our researchers convert their incredible ideas into commercial products that can really advance the sectors within which they are working. Dr. Schultz’s technology has the potential to make a huge difference in how people approach and create with digital audio technology.”

Schultz initially pitched his idea to imYEG, a pre-accelerator program funded through Brass Dome Ventures Ltd. (BDV). They work to connect innovators to experienced entrepreneurs to commercialize innovative technology, providing mentorship from industry experts and entrepreneurs. While Schultz was initially not accepted by the program, Kelly Micetich, VP Operations of Brass Dome, was intrigued by his pitch.

“There was something about Arlan and his idea that caught my attention as being unique and potentially very promising, so I followed up personally for a second look,” says Micetich. “After doing so, I was sold, as was our entire BDV team. Not only has Arlan now successfully graduated from imYEG, he has received both funding and business support through Brass Fund One.”

The unique technology breaks barriers not only for the business world, but also highlights the value of commercializing research in the fine arts. AuraWave’s mandate, beyond the development of AuraWand, is to bring digital audio research from the most innovative labs in the world to an industrial level so it can be utilized by creators and sound artists.

“We’re looking to develop interactive digital audio technologies for music composition, audio engineering and live performance that are currently lying dormant on innovators’ shelves. Our goal is to determine if they hold commercial value, see whether we can develop them to an industry standard, and gauge whether there is traction to bring them to market,” says Schultz.

“There are so many amazing new technologies out there right now that people would absolutely love to be able to use, but they’re just not available because they’re sitting on researcher’s shelves. In the long term, our goal is to become a digital audio technology platform company.”

More about Schultz’s project: https://stories.ulethbridge.ca/aurawave-technology-project-first-of-its-kind-for-fine-arts

MusiCounts Scholarship provides music student with week-long mentorship program

trevor.kenney — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 19:49:02 +0000

Digital Audio Arts (DAA) student Kierian Turner will kick-start his career in the music industry this fall when he joins five other senior post-secondary music students for a week-long mentorship program in Toronto, ON, after being named a recipient of the 2019 MusiCounts Scholarship.

Presented by the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artists Project, Turner was nominated for the scholarship by Drs. Arlan Schultz, Amandine Pras and D. Andrew Stewart, all DAA faculty members.

Digital Audio Arts (DAA) student Kierian Turner will kick-start his career in the music industry after being named a recipient of the 2019 MusiCounts Scholarship.

“Kierian’s very high GPA, multidisciplinary achievements and leadership experience make him the ideal candidate for this significant scholarship program,” says Pras. “I have had the pleasure of observing Kierian in many different roles – a student, a researcher, a collaborator, and a leader. I appreciate his dedication, communication and interpersonal skills, and his efficiency in organizing and promoting events. The MusiCounts Scholarship will offer a highly valuable opportunity as he continues his education and pursues a career in the music industry.”

The MusiCounts Scholarship was launched in 2018 and is awarded annually to up to six senior post-secondary “high-potential” music students to help launch their careers through a $4,000 financial contribution and a week-long intensive mentorship program. From September 30 through October 4, Turner will have the opportunity to network with students and industry professionals including Marianas Trench guitarist, Matt Webb; Nathan Wiszniak, Head of Canada Artist and Label Marketing for Spotify; Anne Strik, Artist and Label Manager for Spotify; Margaret McGuffin, Executive Director of the Canadian Music Publishers Association; and more.

“I’m hoping I can make some lifelong connections who I can collaborate with in the future, both through the cohort of students and industry professionals,” says Turner. “Since I am graduating next spring, I would like to start exploring opportunities available to me after graduation. I hope this program will give me confidence in my ability to get out there and pursue a full-time career in music.”

From the beginning of Turner’s student experience, he has excelled at every project he’s tackled, inside the classroom and out. From planning small concerts, to taking on the Jamboree and Events Coordinator position for Fresh Fest, a two-day music festival, managing a student-run record label and taking on the role of student representative for the Students’ Union and the Department of Music, Turner has embraced each opportunity to get involved and build his resume.

Inside the classroom, Turner has taken on substantial research projects including the Joyce & Ron Sakamoto Prize for Research and Development in DAA funded research, and the creation of an augmented drum kit along with classmate Carter Potts (supervised by Stewart). He also presented a paper on binaural spatialization in relation to hip-hop music at the Exploring Sound DAA Student Symposium in March 2019. The paper, Is Binaural Spatialization the Future of Hip-Hop, was co-authored by Pras and has been accepted for presentation at the 2019 Audio Engineering Society (AES) Conference in New York in October.

With a jam-packed CV and one year of study to go, Turner is looking forward to narrowing his career aspirations and finding his fit in the industry. His current goal is to work as an artist manager or agent, getting involved in the business side of the music industry. His varied skill set will enable Turner to offer clients a complete package by assisting in the creative, recording and production processes while also understanding the legal side of contracts, financial management and business law.

“I know that I have a lot to learn about the industry and this mentorship week will serve as a major step in the learning process,” continues Turner. “I believe it is important to collaborate with, get feedback from, and learn from industry professionals, and also from peers. The financial award will allow me to pursue professional development opportunities in the music industry and contribute to my further education such as a second bachelor's degree in management, or an M.B.A.”

Herperger using Sakamoto research prize to design and produce analog oscillator

trevor.kenney — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 20:16:32 +0000

Keegan Herperger plans to design an analog oscillator with functional eurorack modules and enough tweaks that it constitutes an original design, now that he has received the 2017 Joyce and Ron Sakamoto Prize for Research in Digital Audio Arts.

The prize is awarded to a second or third-year Bachelor of Music, Digital Audio Arts (DAA) student or a team of students working within a collaborative framework.

“An oscillator is essentially what generates the sound in a synthesizer, and analog just means that they won't use any computer programming,” explains Herperger. “Eurorack is a standard format for modular synth gear, with specific requirements on how the circuit should operate in order to properly interface with other eurorack modules. What I build will be up to code and ready to integrate into a modern commercial synthesizer system.”

Herperger gets to follow through with his ambitious goals thanks to the generosity of Joyce and Ron Sakamoto and their annual research prize. The prize is awarded to a second or third-year Bachelor of Music, Digital Audio Arts (DAA) student or a team of students working within a collaborative framework and being led by a B.Mus DAA student. The award provides $5,000 in research funding.

“Since the nature of the project is the creation of a physical thing, I'll be using the grant money to purchase the necessary components to build the various circuits required,” says Herperger. “It'll also help out with procuring access to some diagnostic equipment and specialized textbooks, and take some of the pressure off my tuition so I can focus on my research.”

Supervised by Dr. Arlan Schultz (Music), the final results of Herperger’s research will be presented next spring along with a research report outlining his findings, conclusions and future directions.

“Arlan is a near-infinite well of knowledge and a fantastic teacher, so I'll be going to him for guidance and to make sure I stay on the right track,” says Herperger. “I'm going after a fairly broad topic, so it can be easy to fall down rabbit holes and stray from the important stuff. He's been an excellent sounding board for any questions I've had so far, and always leads me [in the right direction].”

Pianos as you've never heard, or seen, before

trevor.kenney — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 17:03:42 +0000

Hear two pianists, with very different backgrounds and styles, coming together on two grand pianos integrated with electronics and computers - a chance to see each pianist shine and to see the synergy of live collaboration.

Aaron Collier will perform a set of piano improvisations utilizing live sampling, looping and layering techniques with a computer. Jesse Plessis will play a handful of modern works, some with computer, by electronic-music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen, one of Canada's greatest composers, Ann Southam, the young American, Nico Muhly, and one robot-inspired work by Radiohead. The duo appear in Two Pianos + Computers, Saturday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall Atrium.

Two Pianos + Computers promises to be one of the more unique musical offerings to hit the stage this year.

The duo will wrap up this unique evening with what they describe as a “turbo-rad collaborative piece”.

Aaron Collier

Aaron Collier may be known as one of Atlantic Canada’s most consistently innovative keyboardists, but the Prince Edward Island native is most recently calling Lethbridge home. Collier studied the piano privately in Prince Edward Island until his graduating year of high school before embarking on 14 years of national and international touring and recording with various rock, pop and jazz artists.

In 2001, Collier became the keyboardist for international touring and recording artists The Jimmy Swift Band. In the following decade the group released four studio albums and two live recordings. In 2006, Collier along with JSB frontman Craig Mercer created the “looping madness duo” Scientists of Sound, a theatrical and high-energy electro project which continues to create intense live shows for eager audiences worldwide.

In 2008, Collier released his first full-length album of electronic music, Love, and in September 2010 he released the improvised piano+computer recording Neo.

Collier is an award-winning sound designer in theatre and recent credits include the world-premiere of Daniel MacIvor’s I Animal at the Supernova and Summerworks festivals in Halifax and Toronto, as well as Jay Whitehead and Daniel Judes’ UNSEX’d in Lethbridge, Dublin, and Halifax. He is presently creating a new show called The Myth of Canada under his alter-ego Chandelier, and is workshopping the work as one of CASA’s inaugural resident artists in November.

www.aaroncollier.ca

Jesse Plessis

Pianist and composer Jesse Plessis recently obtained a Master of Music degree (Performance and Literature) from Brandon ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ where he studied piano with Megumi Masaki and composition with Patrick Carrabre. His Bachelor of Music degree is from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge where he studied piano with Deanna Oye and composition with Dr. Arlan Schultz and Dr. Rolf Boon.

Plessis has been awarded prizes both in piano and composition. His own works have been broadcast on CBC, and he has performed as a guest artist with several ensembles including the Musaeus String Quartet, the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, and the International Piano Ensemble. He was recently one of 12 pianists admitted to the London Masterclasses, a program held each July at the Royal College of Music.

He has had the opportunity to give the Canadian premieres of works by Marcel Bergmann, Kaija Saariaho, John Corigliano, Nico Muhly, and Kjartan Olafsson. Recent performances include those with New West Theatre, at the Casalmaggiore Festival in Italy, the Dark Music Days Festival in Iceland and at the Banff Centre.

Plessis is also one half of the Hansen-Plessis Piano Duo (alongside Bente Hansen, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge) which explores the possibilities of popular music in the concert hall alongside the classical repertoire.

A sometime conductor, Plessis has directed performances with the Brandon ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ New Music Ensemble (BUNME), the Brandon ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Orchestra and several musical theatre productions.

Tickets to Two Pianos + Computers are available by calling the Box Office at 403-329-2616 or online at www.uleth.ca/tickets.

5 Questions with Dr. Arlan Schultz

trevor.kenney — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:26:25 +0000

Dr. Arlan Schultz is an assistant professor of music, composition and theory and the head of the composition area within the Department of Music in the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Schultz's music has been broadcast on Radio Canada, in France on CBC's sister network, and has been heard at performances in Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Austria and Hungary. He has also been commissioned by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the McGill Concert Choir, the Stuttgart Wind Quintet with Canadian pianist Louise Besette, Hungarian violinist János Négyesy, Canadian pianist Sandra Brown, Ensemble Resonance, Calgary and New Works Calgary, among others.

In addition to his creative work, Schultz is active in several areas of research related to the field of composition. He is implementing software algorithms for real-time audio spatialization in live performance, and designing symbolic computational algorithms for computer-assisted composition and audio synthesis. As well, he is developing tools for electroacoustic composition in the form of audio-spatialization software and unique audio-sample databases.

Dr. Arlan Schultz uses technologies such as real-time spacialization techniques in his studies.

What first piqued your interest in your research discipline?

At a young age, I was fascinated with the structure of music and the techniques involved in its composition. Although I was a pianist, the act of performance was somehow unsatisfying and I found myself increasingly involved in performative situations where improvisation and creativity were required. This engagement with creative music making is what directly led to my desire for more in-depth study of how music was put together.

Along this path, I discovered that, in addition to the traditional tools offered to a composer by historical (and newer) models for realizing a musical composition, there were significant technologies which could enhance the composer's expressive palette – such technologies include real-time spatialization techniques; interactive and computer mediated performance techniques; symbolic computational models; algorithmic composition; and new real-time techniques for audio synthesis.

How is your research applicable in "the real world"?

My current research is engaged with creating music and configuring it for transmission to an audience. When I consider the relevance of my research to the world at large (beyond the academic walls), I ask myself, "What role does music play in my daily life?"

Music is ubiquitous, but is it all meaningful? I view my research as a means for differentiating levels of meaning and for creating an aesthetic experience that goes beyond the background noise of daily living.

What is the greatest honour you have received in your career?

I have been fortunate to receive many grants and awards for my creative work, among them our current ACDI Grant from the Canada Council. However, the most important honour I have received in my career has been the great privilege of working with world-class performers on the production and performance of my work.

My wife, soprano Martha Renner, is a frequent collaborator on my vocal music and my more recent work has involved the inclusion of ritual Tibetan music. The Monks of the Drepung Gomang Monastery in South West India have honoured me by allowing the recording of their ritual music for study and inclusion in my creative work.

How important are students to your research endeavours?

To be a concert-music composer is to be a teacher – students are central to the survival of concert-music and to the continued advancement of, and experimentation with, musical discourse. The art of composition has always been passed on through apprenticeship models of teaching and my students play a central role in my creative life. My students have been actively involved with my musical productions and have been able to benefit from utilizing new technologies and hearing new ways to organize sound.

If you had unlimited funds, which areas of research would you invest?

I would invest in those forms of endeavour that keep us more fully human. Many have said that art fulfills this criterion, but in my view artistic endeavor informed by and combined with scientific research is among the most exciting fields for future research.

Each month, the Legend will present 5 Questions With . . . one of our researchers. For a look at the entire catalog of 5 Questions With . . . features, check out the Office of Research and Innovation Services website at www.uleth.ca/research/research_profiles. If you'd like to be profiled, contact Penny Pickles at pickpj@uleth.ca

This story first appeared in the December 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the entire issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Rubbing Stone Ensemble to perform on campus

trevor.kenney — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:06:57 +0000

Calgary's prestigious Rubbing Stone Ensemble visits the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Recital Hall Oct. 19 for an 8 p.m. performance of selections from their soon-to-be-released and tentatively titled album, Rubbing Stone Ensemble: The Lethbridge Sessions.

Recorded at Studio 1, in the Faculty of Fine Arts, the album features new music composed for Rubbing Stone Ensemble by seven Canadian composers, including U of L music faculty member, Dr. Arlan Schultz.

Versatile and dynamic, this resident ensemble for New Works Calgary is making a name for itself performing a wide array of new Canadian music, including pieces that incorporate electronics.

Studio 1 has hosted a number of talented musicians since opening in the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Ensemble members include Jeremy Brown (saxophone), Gianetta Baril (harp), Donovan Seidle (violin) and Eric Bumstead (percussion). Special guest performers joining Rubbing Stone for the Oct. 19 concert include music faculty, Dr. Deanna Oye (piano) and Martha Renner (soprano).

Schultz, whose work Ikos is on the evening's program and on the CD, is proud of the upcoming album and thrilled the ensemble is giving Lethbridge audiences a preview.

"The album is set to be released on CD worldwide and for download on iTunes in the spring of 2013. The concert features stunning new works by Laurie Radford, David Eagle, Nova Pon, Alain Perron, and Anthony Tan," he says.

The concert features the acoustic ensemble seamlessly blended with surround computer facilitated audio.

Tickets, priced at $15 regular, $10 seniors/students, are available at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Box Office or online at www.uleth.ca/tickets

This story first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the Legend. To see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Sakamotos show support

trevor.kenney — Thu, 26 May 2011 19:47:29 +0000

Curtis Litchfield and Calvin Shiu are the inaugural winners of the Joyce and Ron Sakamoto Award for Research and Development. Open to continuing students in the Bachelor of Music program with a declared major in Digital Audio Arts, the awards amount to a $5,000 scholarship for each recipient.

"Considering the outstanding quality of the 12 submitted proposals, it was the unanimous decision of the committee to select two Sakamoto Award recipients this year," says Dr. Rolf Boon, Chair of the Music Department.

The selection committee consisted of Boon, Dr. Arlan Schultz, Thilo Schaller and Ian Burleigh.

The eight-month long proposal projects start in September and feature a public presentation component upon completion.

Curtis Litchfield and Calvin Shiu, the inaugural winners of the Joyce and Ron Sakamoto Award for Research and Development.

"The Sakamoto research grant gives me the great opportunity of collaborating with The Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble to present ethnic music in a new surround sound listening experience," says Shiu.

The Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble is an internationally recognized ensemble that performs traditional Chinese and contemporary compositions with a wide repertoire of fine Eastern instruments.

"My project will be carried out in three stages: research into traditional Chinese instruments and their recording techniques, organizing a public performance by the ensemble in Lethbridge and the production of a 5.1 surround sound album in the Digital Audio Arts Studio 1 facility," says Shiu. "I would like to express my gratitude towards the DAA faculty and Dr. and Mrs. Sakamoto for providing me with the resources and support to make my dream of working with this ensemble come true."

Litchfield intends to create a set of audio filters for use when wearing headphones.

"These filters will create the illusion that the sound a person is listening to is coming from outside of their head, in the space around them, rather than from inside their head somewhere between their ears," explains Litchfield. "This concept is similar to wearing glasses to watch 3D movies, but with more variables to account for. In the end I hope to create a program that will allow people to create their own 3D sonic space to listen to, using headphones."

These two projects are just the start of many creative opportunities for students in the future thanks to the generous support of Joyce and Ron Sakamoto.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Campus Kudos - November

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:20:57 +0000

Congratulations to the group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumni who was successful in earning Lethbridge City Council seats in the recent municipal election. The group includes Lethbridge mayor Rajko Dodic (BASc '78), and aldermanic members Jeff Carlson (BFA '92), Liz Iwaskiw (BASc '77), Joe Mauro (BASc '83) and Bridget (Pastoor) Mearns (BA '95).

Dr. Josephine Mills (U of L Art Gallery director/curator) presented, Deaccessioning: The Root of All Scandal, as part of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery's Art Appreciation series Articulations III: Scandals, Scoundrels, Capers, and Cons.

Dr. David Renter's (Music) quartet performed in Southminster United Church's Jazz Vespers series.

Annie Martin's (Art) sound installation, Listening Space, opened Nov. 5 at Contrary Projects Gallery in Regina. The installation is a version of the Listening Room Series Martin has developed since 2006 and uses lo-fi audio technology deployed to "open" the architecture of the space, creating an unfiltered audio environment.

Emily Luce's (New Media) exhibition Parallel Park (Lab Space) is in the Helen Christou Gallery until January 14.

A distinguished group of alumni from the Faculty of Education recently received nomination for the Edwin Parr Award in Zone 6. Awarded by the Alberta School Board Association (ASBA), the Edwin Parr Awards single out professionals in their first year of teaching for their talent, commitment to students and contribution to education. Shelley Kirkvold (BA/BEd '09, Catholic Central High School, Lethbridge), Qian Zhang (BSc '04, BEd '09, DA Ferguson Middle School, Taber), Grant Bertamini (BEd '09, Fleetwood Bawden Elementary, Lethbridge), Alli Martin (BA/BEd '09, Stavely Elementary), Travis Curliss (BA/BEd '09, Crescent Heights High School, Medicine Hat) and Donna Jean Wilde (BA/BEd '09, Magrath High School) all earned nominations.

Rumi Graham (librarian) defended her PhD thesis, A Multiple Case Study Exploration of Undergraduate Subject Searching, at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto. Her thesis looks into subject searching and information literacy in the undergraduate context.

Taras Polataiko (Art) had new work displayed in the exhibition, Video Lounge, at the Toronto International Art Fair, Oct. 28 – Nov. 1.

Janet Youngdahl (Music) directed and sang in a staged production of the Ordo Virtutum, a 12th Century Music Drama by Hildegard von Bingen, at the Cleveland Institute/Case Western Collegium. She also presented a paper entitled, Identifying Musical Gestures in Bach Choruses: An approach for Singers and Conductors, at the Alberta Choral Federation Symposium in Red Deer.

Lisa Doolittle (Theatre & Dramatic Arts) presented, Negotiating First Nations rights in Canada – What does dancing have to do with it?, at a Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs special session.

Gail Hanrahan (Theatre & Dramatic Arts) directed the world premiere of, In Flanders Fields, at Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary.

Dr. Arlan Schultz (Music) just returned from Drepung Gomang Institute in Louisville, Ky., where he met with eight Tibetan Buddhist Monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in southwest India. Schultz has been conducting research into the spectral content of Tibetan ritual music and was able to record 12 different ritual chants in a special recording session set up by the monastery. The chants will be used in a new electro-acoustic work for 8-channel computer processed audio.

Dr. Ken Allan (Art) presented his paper, Marshall McLuhan, N.E. Thing Co. Ltd., and the Counter-Environment, at a Nov. 25-27 conference at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto. His talk was associated with the exhibition, Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada, 1965-1980, currently on view in Toronto. He also spoke at the regular session of the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs.

Katie Klingvall (BFA '04) is off to Macau, China to work in the Wardrobe Department for Dragone Theater Company.

For a look at the full issue of the November Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Campus Kudos

trevor.kenney — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:51:13 +0000

Shelley Scott (Theatre & Dramatic Arts) is presenting a paper called Asian Canadian Women Playwrights: The Ties that Bind at the GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference, May 3-9 in Toronto. The conference is the first of its kind in Canada.

Three U of L alumni have made the long list (Prairies and North region) for the 2010 Sobey Art Award. Daniel Wong (BFA '03) and Mary-Anne McTrowe (BFA '98), as The Cedar Tavern Singers AKA Les Phonorealistes, and Robyn Moody (BFA '00) are all in the running for this prestigious award.

Deric Olsen (New Media) has been invited to be an artist/filmmaker-in-residence at the New Media Studio Laboratory (NMSL) at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Regina, July 5-9. While there he will work on high definition post-production and delivery methods, and present New Format, New Challenges: Exploring Techniques in High Definition Disc Authoring and Design.

Alumnus Zoran Rajcic (BMgt '94) won the Western Hockey League's 2009-10 Marketing/Public Relations Award. Rajcic is the director of business operations for the Everett Silvertips.

The Faculty of Fine Arts video site (www.lethbridgefinearts.ca) is a finalist in the Best Non-Commercial Website category of Digital Alberta's Media Fresh awards. The web designer was New Media major Jesse Johnston and the advisory committee included:
Dr. Desmond Rochfort, Emily Luce, Chris Morris, Venkat Mahadevan and Katherine Wasiak.

Dr. Ed Jurkowski (Music) presented a paper entitled, How Formal Function Theory can inform Nineteenth-Century Deformed Sonata Designs: A Case Study using Bruckner's Symphonies, at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Arizona (Tucson, Ariz.) during the annual joint meeting of the Rocky Mountain Societies for Music Theory and Musicology.

Dr. Arlan Schultz (Music) had his composition Ikos-kun tu 'bar ba premiered by The Rubbing Stone Ensemble at a concert at the Rozsa Centre in Calgary.

Karen Mahar (dean's office) received a $3,000 scholarship from Alberta Advanced Education in recognition of her exceptional work in her first year as a graduate student. Mahar is now in her second year of an MA in English.

Deanna Oye (Music) and Peter Visentin (Music) presented recitals of solo and duo music at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba and Canadian Mennonite ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Winnipeg last month. They also conducted master's classes and lessons in the areas of collaborative piano and violin. Visentin gave a lecture on his research into musicians' injuries to the Medical Rehabilitation Faculty of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba, and Oye also played a solo recital in Brandon, Man. following a week as senior piano adjudicator at the Brandon Festival of the Arts.

Creating a space unlike any other

trevor.kenney — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:30:45 +0000

The tag line, "If you build it, they will come," doesn't exactly work for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Digital Audio Arts (DAA) program. They (as in the students) are already here, and they can't wait for it (the new Digital Audio Arts Studio) to be unveiled.

"It will definitely be the crowning jewel of the program," says Chris Morris, the technical specialist with digital audio arts. "It will be a state of the art recording facility as well as a critical listening and practice facility. It will be a collaborative environment for the Faculty of Fine Arts."

Digital audio arts is in just its second semester. With a full complement of 32 students and a healthy waiting list of applicants, the program is off to a rousing start. Dr. Rolf Boon and Dr. Arlan Schultz started the process six years ago. The program was created with an eye to the future, and students have definitely responded.

"Dr. Boon likes to say, 'We're preparing people for careers in music technology that may not even exist yet,'" says Morris. "Right now we're finding a lot of students are mostly interested in music production and working in a recording studio. But it's not just a music production program – it's defining audio research for the future.
"When you really open your mind, the sky's the limit in terms of what you can do. Media is everywhere and wherever there is media, there's audio, there's sound, so there will always be an opportunity with this kind of degree."

The studio is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in late March or early April. An entirely custom built facility, it has transformed what was once a static, drab, concrete-walled area into a dynamic teaching and recording space complete with hardwood floors, custom speakers and a top shelf audio console.

"Basically the whole place is custom except for the console itself," says Morris.

California-based studio designer Jay Kaufman, a specialist in working with odd spaces, was brought in to recreate the area. The result is a studio that will allow students the opportunity to learn in a professional setting, and similarly attract outside labels and recording artists.

"In terms of post-secondary education, nobody has what we'll have. We're definitely on the cutting edge of everything," says Morris. "It'll position us in a way where this is a showpiece that will attract a lot of attention."

Internally, the studio will benefit the entire faculty. Besides the hands-on learning opportunities for DAA students, new media students will be able to use it for audio work on film, the art department can utilize it for sonic art studies and music students will walk off campus and into the job market with professionally-mastered portfolios.

Externally, Morris says positioning a recording studio in an educational facility
allows recording labels to bring in artists for extended stays, housing them on campus to complete projects quickly. This opens up internship opportunities for DAA students.

"Labels always want to bring their own engineers in to work with their artists," says Morris. "To use the space, it will be mandatory that they take a few of our students as assistant engineers so that they can get experience in the studio with real engineers and real artists."

Already off to a flying start the new DAA studio promises to set the U of L apart from other music programs in the country.

"The first semester of the program was an absolute success," he says. "The feedback from the students has been great, and they love to be able to use the audio research lab we have. Once the new studio is on board, it will be that much better."

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• The DAA studio is described as a room within a room within a room. The centre room is pressure-fitted and the entire facility "floats" on neoprene pucks at all points within the concrete cavity of the space.

• The recording area is designed to be completely soundproof with lead-lined walls that are 18 inches deep and floors made of an extra-thick hardwood.

• All the walls, including the glass and the roof, are angled. "There are no parallel walls in the space," says Morris. "It's all about not having any standing waves that would be bouncing back and forth. They'll get scattered in all directions, and therefore create an acoustically sound space."

• The studio's console is the latest from Solid State Logic. The 48-channel Duality allows students to work with both analog and digital audio.

• The entire studio will be connected to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Recital Hall via 16 channels of audio, a CCTV camera and LCD screens. This allows for the recording of concerts and performances or the use of the hall as a larger recording venue for larger groups of artists, such as orchestras.

UNews - Arlan Schultz

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