Data sonification exists along a continuum of sound for the sake of data, to sound for the sake of music. In each case practitioners blend aesthetic and scientific data to create sonic material. In this talk I detail how a scientific project, sonifying nano materials, resulted in a product in use at Brookhaven National Laboratories, a VR experience for a science museum, and a new piece of acoustic music. I explain the algorithm behind this particular sonification, and the process of turning 10,000 audio samples into sound design and how I then turned those samples into a new acoustic music composition for string trio, horn and percussion.

Biography

With an interdisciplinary career blending classical training, sound/audio data research, and innovative computational arts education, Margaret Anne Schedel transcends the boundaries of disparate fields to produce integrated work at the nexus of computation and the arts. She has a diverse creative output with works spanning interactive multimedia operas, virtual reality experiences, sound art, video games, and compositions for a wide variety of classical instruments and custom controllers. She is internationally recognized for the creation and performance of ferociously interactive media and her work in sonification of data. As an Associate Professor of Music with a core appointment in the Institute at Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University, she serves as the co-director of computer music and is the Chair of Art while teaching computer music composition at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She is the co-founder of www.arts.codes, a platform and artist collective celebrating art with computational underpinnings.