There are voices in our lives that are always welcome. One of those, for me, is Marc Weidenbaum. Marc has a long history of writing about things that I (and, I'm guessing, we) care about, and has been one of those people that consistently opens doors of musical understanding for me. As the editor and chief bottle-washer of https://disquiet.com/ ...…

I'm a sucker for a great book, and especially a great series. I also like knowing about books that will help people become better Max programmers. That combination comes into play with Maurizio Giri and Alessandro Cipriani's "Electronic Music and Sound Design" a (so far) two book series that explores Max/MSP programming through electronic music ...…

Talk about wired in! Cassie Tarakajian is keyed into a lot of my favorite projects, from the Miraweb project, to p5.js, to the Node for Max project that was part of Max 8 - tons of favorites there. But a key part of this is that it is all focused on the intersection of the web and artwork - a place this isn't always comfortable. In our chat, we ...…

If you know synths and movie scoring, you know Michael Lehmann Boddicker's work. He's one of those people that I've always followed - his work is impeccable, and always on-point. He's involved in a new conference - Synthplex - and I took the time to have a quick chat with him about it. This conference seems like a combination of Superbooth, AES ...…

Note: Mattijs and Hidde are part of the group of presenters at Cycling '74's Expo, which will be running from April 26-28, 2019. Ticket prices are about to go up, so if you are thinking about going, sign up now! Showsync is one of those software pieces I've been hearing about for a while. Under development - and active use in show - for many ye ...…

Now that the podcast has been running for five years, I'm seeing that some of our earlier interviews have been doing great new things - and so have I. We've settled on a format that brings out great questions, but I didn't quite have my ideas in order 'back then', so some of the details were missing. Time to rectify that! Dan Nigrin (episode #2 ...…

Alessandro Cortini should be well-known to most of the people that listen to this podcast. From his work with Nine Inch Nails, to his modular-fueled solo work, and to his inspirational videos and interviews, Alessandro is on the mainline of music tech. But he's also decades behind (in a good way...) because of his love of Don Buchla's designs a ...…

Sometimes I get in a mood - you know? The last thing I need is a screeching industrial band or ear-piercing experimental trip. Sometimes I need to relax - and sometimes that means laid back, bossa-infused electronic tracks. When I go on that trip, tracks occasionally jump out for me - and one artist kept coming up: Michael E. It had a relaxed f ...…

During a recent Cycling '74 retreat, I was helping out with some sticky support issues - and I ran across a really cool thing. A guy with a Gen issue was asking about some deep details - and was talking about sharing the info on his blog. I checked out his blog, and my eyes popped out: it was amazing. I had to know more, and that led me to disc ...…

Dr. Kate Sicchio is hard at work redefining what it means to be a media artist. Deeply embedded in the dance world (she identifies as a choreographer), she has been working with dance-oriented electronics and coding, and has extended that into the live-coding music and visuals world as well. Her work ranges from code-and-body critique to algora ...…

My first view of Erik Emil Eskildsen's work was at the urging of Markus Reuter; he pointed to Erik's work and said "Hey, this might be a cool guy for you to talk to!". The further I dug in, the more interesting work I found: touch guitar, heavy effect pedal action, then the YouTube "Modular + Pedals" channel - and then his most recent release ( ...…

As a young(er) dude wrapping my head around music technology, there was one person that was consistently inspiring to me: Larry Fast. From his work as Synergy (which you can learn about here: http://synergy-emusic.com), or as a backing musician with Peter Gabriel, or doing composition and sound design across the industry, Fast's work was always ...…

It's always great to get into something before it happens. In this case, Ellison Wolf, proprietor of Zorx Electronics, is planning the launch of a new magazine - Waveform magazine. This is going to be a free print magazine that focuses on the gear, players and makers of synthesizers, modular gear and great music. I first heard of this on my Fac ...…

Deantoni Parks is one of those percussionists that other percussionists talk about. They pass video links, performance notes and bandcamp sites to each other, because his work is pretty shocking. Rather than take a Neil Peart-style hit-all-the-drum approach to advance drumming, he instead chose to pursue - and even exceed - the kinds of drummin ...…

In last week's episode, we just scratched the surface of Eric's role in creating the maker's world we now occupy. So I called him back and we immediately did a second interview to fill in some of the gaps: what were the early days like, how did he actually get the stuff built, why the move to Pittsburgh. This continues the fascinating journey o ...…

I'm pretty sure you know Eric Singer's work. Some of his most well-known work includes Pat Metheny's 'The Orchestrion Project', but he's been doing robotic musical instruments for a long time. I remember the first time I saw a video of Eric work - it was the reveal for the Guitarbot, and it was jaw-dropping at the time. Eric was a maker before ...…

Carl-Mikael Björk's Cabinet of Curiosities is one of the most fun channels on YouTube. From walk-throughs of his writing process to Elektron check-ins or Max visual demos, Carl is out front on a lot of things we are digging. He has a unique video style which, combined with stunning video quality, makes it a favorite for me - and for me to recom ...…

I enjoy having an opportunity to interview my friends - just because the 'interview' process is actually different from a friendly chat, and I end up learning things that I never knew from 'just talking'. Richard has been a friend forever - probably since we were sitting on crates at the NYC AES show, waiting for the forklift drivers (and we wa ...…

Back in episode 66, I first chatted with Bert Schiettecatte - who, along with partner Celine, has been making the Percussa brand of music interfaces purr for the last decade-and-a-half. When we talked to them back then, they were about to run with a Kickstarter for their SSP Eurorack module; now, it's a success - and has spawned a new progeny. ...…

When your resume begins with Disney, runs through Teddy Ruxpin and includes World of Warcraft, Diablo III and Starcraft II, you probably don't even need a resume at all! Russell Brower has had a hand in many of the pieces of the entertainment world that you've interacted with, and has had the opportunity to work in sound design, sound editing, ...…

It all started with a discussion at Cycling '74 about getting content for the most recent release. We needed some multichannel audio, and someone mentioned that Garth Paine was doing work with mulitchannel audio. We contacted him, and he was able to help - but the story wasn't complete. I started looking into his other work, and I kept on getti ...…

I've been wanted to do a podcast focus on software modular video synthesis; doing that made one person's name stick in my head: Kevin Kripper. Kevin is the developer behind the Vsynth package for Max, which provides a mind-melting set of objects/modules that are perfect for all kinds of bizarre visual work. But it comes from a musician-ly place ...…

Note: This is a heavily-edited version of our discussion. If you want to hear (most of) the whole discussion, which lasts about 1:30, you can download it here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/artmusictech/podcast_250_PSchreiber-Long.mp3) For the 250th episode, I decided to go back to the interview that helped put this podcast on the map. Episode 13 f ...…

One of the more influential people in my adult life has been Trace Reddell: he was a professor in the Media program at University of Denver when I was there, and he opened my head to thinking about music, sound and video in a new way. His Expanded Cinema class rewired my brain for visuals, and his Technicians of Space series helped my understan ...…

I have to admit that I don't know many people that would self-classify as a "punk PhD", but Shawn Trail is that. From a background of punk, hip hop and jazz, and through his electroacoustic and computer music studies, Shawn carries his edge with him throughout his travels. And those travels have been pretty extensive, taking him to Africa to st ...…

If you follow my Instagram, Facebook or Twitter feed, you know that I'm a monome fan. Brian Crabtree and Kelli Cain have created company that consistently nails both the functionality and the design factors that draw me in - and that seems to be the case with a lot of people. They not make great products, but they tend to drive the industry in ...…

There aren't many corners of the programming globe that I haven't visited, but Swift programming is something I've not explored. When Matthew Fecher reached out to me about the AudioKit project, I was a little chagrined that I had not worked with it before. As I dug into it, I was even more amazed - this framework provides easy access to many t ...…

From the second I saw the Akemie's Castle module, I knew I'd want to talk to its developer, Matthew Allum. What a module - and what a name! I knew there had to be stories about what was going on. I've also notices that almost every case I'm seeing has a Pamela's Workout module. Matthew let me try out a few modules, and now I understand why thes ...…

I was at a SEAMUS conference last year and was intrigued by a presentation about an organization called SPLICE - and institute/ensemble/festival combo that attempts to inject electronic music and technologies into the context of music performance and composition. It's a great way of introducing one context into another, and it features some of ...…

There are many people that we've heard about through the history of electronic music device development: David Smith, Roger Linn, Ikutaru Kakehashi and others. But there are many people that are less heralded - but still critical to the game. Denis Labrecque is one of those people: as a marketer/developer/designer, he was involved in the music ...…

When I first ran across Craig Colorusso's work, it was in a very familiar situation - a place I recognized from my occasional teaching stints down in Colorado Springs. Looking into it, it was not only a nice piece of work in a familiar location, but it turns out to be a sound sculpture, with equal focus on both the sculpture and the sound of it ...…

If you are into electronic/computer music, you already know the name of this week's guest. From the Computer Music Tutorial, through Microsound and his latest book (Composing Electronic Music: A New Aesthetic), he has been pushing the envelope for all of us, bringing spacialization, granular synthesis and complex timing systems from the realm o ...…

I first ran across the North Coast Modular Collective by following member Bill van Loo's Facebook page, and seeing him doing more and more interesting work. The message that first introduced the collective caught me by surprise, but also reminded me of what a cool place Ann Arbor (Michigan) is - and how it seems to be a growing field for all so ...…

Nathan Moody first came onto my radar via his Noise Jockey blog – a blog that combined sound design, field recording, music production, art, design… pretty much everything I pay attention to. The posts don’t come often, but they are golden. But recently he popped up again for his music releases on Bandcamp, and I got sucked into his musical vor ...…

Portland-based Abraham Ingle is making a difference. He started with synth DIY when there was precious little information, and gleaned what he could from books and articles, online forums and whoever he could get to spill some knowledge. What he's done is to turn it around, make synth DIY super-accessible to anyone, and provide the lynchpins to ...…

As a result of talking with Guy Ben-Ary last week, I was reminded of my need to talk to another Perth-ian: Andrew Fitch. Andrew is the man behind the sound-making machinery in Guy's cellF project, but he also runs the incredible Nonlinear Circuits modular synth business. Nonlinear is one of those places that is focused heavily on the DIY/kit wo ...…

I recently got a ping from a listener to check out some of the work being done in Perth, Australia; the suggestion is that there is an amazing amount of art coming out of this remote outpost, and that the combination of practices was producing interesting results. One of the people that was identified was Guy Ben-Ary, and on first appearance, I ...…

I first heard from Ed Ball when he reached out with a collaboration concept. I was intrigued, looked further into it - and was pretty blown away. Then I talked to Ed, and was even more drawn in. Ed is killin' it by "Painting Music", but in a way that takes direct influence from actual tracks, and has a performative quality that jumps off a canv ...…

Stephen Ruppenthal has a sneakily amazing history. Having worked with Allen Strange, watched Don Buchla develop his early machines, and working with electro-acoustic wizard across the world, Stephen has been involved with many of the greats of modern electronics, including being a member of the Electric Weasel Ensemble with Strange, Buchla and ...…

There are some people that you just want to get to know quickly - because you know that they will turn out to be great to know. Chris Muir is one of those people: he's user "cbm" on almost any platform you can find, because he loves being an early adopter, he's worked for all kinds of interesting people, and he's had his fingers in a lot of int ...…

Wayne Peet first came to my attention through friends: both Jeff Kaiser (episode 49) and Andrew Pask (episode 55) talked about working with an engineer that had the best ears they'd encountered. I was always fascinated, but when Andrew offered to hook us up for a chat, I jumped at the chance. See, not everything has to be about electronics - an ...…

Tom Hall is a master of interface. Whether it is interfacing analog gear to Max, Live effects into a makeshift looper, cassettes into anything - he not only knows how to do it, he is probably using it as you read this. He masterfully mixes modulars, Max, effects pedals and cassette decks to weave a beautiful tapestry of sound. Tom is about to c ...…

I've been talking to Herbie about doing a podcast for a while now - I'm glad it finally came together for this episode. Herbie is an amazing man: he's obviously an amazing musician, but also deeply involved in both technical and spiritual exploration. All of this is based on his abiding curiosity - and his willingness to learn. Our discussion r ...…

This podcast is in support of Slope114's Kickstarter for their "Keep Flying" digital EP project. Please visit the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1385275315/slope114-keep-flying-digital-ep Dmitri SFC worms his way into your life through many different avenues. With Elise Gargalikis, Dmitri has created Slope114 - a cool House ...…

A self-described 'Creative Swiss Army Knife', Erin Barra is a wealth of knowledge, experience and opinion. She is an assistant professor at Berklee School of Music, a dedicated artist and producer, and an industry consultant for everything musical. Here demo reel is amazing - but so are some of her accomplishments, including the development of ...…

Jeff Snyder makes wonderful things. The Manta remains one of my favorite playing surfaces, and I've just started breaking the cello on the MantaMate - a way of interfacing the Manta (as well as MIDI keyboards, game pads and even randomness) with your modular system. And when you start looking at some of the instruments he has on the 'bench', it ...…

Composer, sound designer, experience designer, ecological technologist - all of these things (and more) can be applied to Mileece's career. She primarily works on installations (an upcoming focus is on a piece for Sonar), but she's also working on issues such as fuel cell creation, ecologically-focused meditation places and taxicab rehab. In th ...…

Talk about a Renaissance man! Edmund Eagan is the designer of the EaganMatrix - the sound engine that is part of the Haken Continuum, and is also one of the leading performers with that system. He consults with Dr. Haken, does demos of the system and is also an active composer and audio editor/engineer. Oh, and sound design - he does that too. ...…

This episode of Art + Music + Technology is brought to you by Recording Magazine. You can learn more about Recording Magazine, check out articles and subscribe at www.recordingmag.com. Gannon Kashiwa truly does have a 'beginning story' for people interested in digital audio. From working with early copies of Sound Designer through the move from ...…

Among a certain set of music-makers, Oli Larkin's work is critical for making things happen. He's an audio programming guru, and has created systems as diverse as a virtual Casio CZ synth, an automatic plug-in parameter-scrambler and he is involved with the development of a new web audio plug-in format. He is also deep into the Faust programmin ...…