UNews - Digital Audio Arts Studio

Major classical CD released out of Studio 1

trevor.kenney — Tue, 13 May 2014 21:12:37 +0000

The first major classical CD recorded in Studio 1 at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has just been released, and it features collaborative work from faculty, staff and students alike.

Rubbing Stone Ensemble: The Lethbridge Sessions was recorded in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Digital Audio Arts Studio 1 and funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Production funding was provided in partnership with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary and New Works Calgary. The CD has been released on the Canadian Music Centre’s Centrediscs label with worldwide distribution by Naxos Canada.

Dr. Arlan N. Schultz’s (music faculty) latest work Ikos: kun tu ‘bar ba for soprano, chamber ensemble and computer processed audio is on the album. The work features Lethbridge soprano Martha Renner and the Monks of the Drepung Gomang Monastery from South West India.

The CD was co-produced by Arlan N. Schultz and Thilo Schaller (Music), who also engineered and mixed the CD with production assistance by Chris Morris (Technical Specialized) and DAA student engineer Nicholas Goodman.

The CD has been released for sale on the CMC website at https://www.musiccentre.ca/node/75960 and worldwide on iTunes.

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.

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."

GET THE FACTS

• 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 - Digital Audio Arts Studio

Major classical CD released out of Studio 1

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Sakamotos show support

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Creating a space unlike any other

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