Andrews, Richard richard@cnmat.berkeley.edu
Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
1750 Arch Street
Berkeley, CA 94709
USA
phone (510) 643-9990, fax (510) 642-7918
ICMC97 Studio Report Proposal
Content Area: Studio Report
Resources Required: overhead projector, DAT machine
The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), founded in 1987, is a multi-disciplinary research center within the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. Our special interest is in the innovative application of technology to musical composition and performance, with emphasis on interactivity, real-time processes, and new instruments that combine exceptional quality with high degrees of expressive control. Recent activities include concerts by students, faculty and invited performers, lecture/demonstrations by CNMAT researchers and guests from outside the university, undergraduate and graduate course work, and a vigorous research program pursuing sound analysis, synthesis, rhythm, sound diffusion, and instrument-specific projects.
Several new developments at CNMAT have added significantly to our facilities, our range of production capabilities, and our archives. New equipment and infrastructure, new software innovations, new staff, and new music projects and live recordings have all contributed to the Center's expansion.
The CNMAT facility features a large performance space on the street level which serves variously as a concert hall, classroom, student lab, and demonstration area. The ground floor contains a sound-isolated multi-use studio for recording, listening, composition, and audio production tasks, plus dedicated studios for research in sound analysis, synthesis, and interactive performance/composition. The third floor has workspace for invited researchers and graduate students, plus a conference room and private offices.
Because of CNMAT's emphasis on performance-based technology and innovation, our concert space attracts performers from the local, national, and international music communities. Our peers in academia and industry come to CNMAT to demonstrate their projects and discuss solutions to technical challenges in an atmosphere of interdisciplinary collaboration.
As part of UC Berkeley, CNMAT draws students from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines and serves as a classroom for undergraduate courses on music and technology, music perception and cognition, and other advanced topics. Graduate students taking courses and pursuing research at CNMAT come from departments within UC Berkeley and universities around the world.
The research program pursues inquiry, innovation and invention on several fronts, using the latest scientific and research tools to explore sound synthesis, analysis, performance controls, software, and sound diffusion. Research results take the form of robust tools for musical composition and performance, published papers, patent applications and technology transferred to our industrial partners.
The people at CNMAT include our director, research director, composer in residence, musical applications programmer, and administrator. We also house graduate and undergraduate student researchers, invited researchers from other universities and institutions, composers, lecturers, and guest performers.