The Art and Technique of Electroacoustic Music

Book excerpt: Electroacoustic music is now in the mainstream of music, pervading all styles from the avant-garde to pop. Even classical works are routinely scored on a computer and a synthesized demo is a powerful tool for previewing a piece. The fundamental skills of electroacoustic composition are now as essential to a music student as ear training and counterpoint. The Art and Technique of Electroacoustic Music provides a detailed approach those fundamental skills. In this book Peter Elsea explores the topic from the fundamentals of acoustics through the basics of recording, composition with the tools of music concreté, and music production with MIDI instruments, softsynths and digital audio Workstations. Later sections of the book cover synthesis in depth and introduce high powered computer composition languages including Csound, ChucK, and Max/MSP. A final section presents the challenges and techniques of live performance. This book can be used as a text for undergraduate courses and also as a guide for self-learning.