Research Info - University of Edinburgh

Since I don't regularly update this blog as often as I should, the most up to date info for my research and activities can be found on my University of Edinburgh page:

Sean Williams research page

You'll also find links to papers and articles there.

Stockhausen's Studie II - new realisation

Yes, many people have made realisations of Stockhausen's Studie II, but few have used tape editing to make the sine wave groups and even fewer have used a real reverberation chamber to make the raw sound materials. My new realisation uses historical techniques and combines these where appropriate, with digital editing and in some cases with the latest in digital modelling to produce a new version of the piece which is as close to the score as possible, whilst trying to increase the frequency response widen the spectrum to really here all that was written.

The premiere of my version will happen on 2nd November 2013 in the Reid Hall, Edinburgh, along with the 4 channel version of Ligeti's Artikulation, and Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge, with Simon Smith performing Stockhausen's Klavierstücke VII, and IX, and several short pieces by Ligeti.

Gesang der Jünglinge Seminar series

In July and August 2013 I was invited to give a seminar series with Juan Verdaguer (Klankwereld.org) on the Realisation techniques of Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge at the Stockhausen Summer Courses in Kürten.

Here's a photo of me demonstrating how the impulse complexes were made using an impulse generator fed through a Rohde und Schwarz Abstimmbarer Anzeigeverstärker (Tuneable Selective Amplifier) - or resonant bandpass filter.

Juan has made an amazing software tool for exploring the techniques behind the electronic and vocal sounds used in Gesang der Jünglinge and has made (or will soon make) this available here.

MusDig Workshop - Oxford University

Professor Georgina Born invited me to present my work on Stockhausen and King Tubby at a workshop at Oxford University as part of her wide ranging Music and Digital Cultures research project.

PhD awarded!

On the 27th of June I was awarded a PhD in Creative Music Practice from the University of Edinburgh.

Noisy Treasures - Supersonix conference paper

In June I gave a paper at the Supersonix conference in the Science Museum, London entitled "Noisy Treasures: how incidental noise can bridge the gap between recording and listener."

This is a spin off from my PhD thesis and concerns all kinds of interesting ways in which noise can be considered as a positive and useful part of the listening experience. It relies a lot on work by Eric Clarke and Simon Waters, and originally Gregory Bateson and the ecological approach.

Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowhip

In May 2012 I heard that I had been awarded a 3 year research fellowship at the University of Edinburgh  starting in September 2012. My research topic is the history of electronic music performance practice, and this is very much practice led work.

This will centre around the WDR Studio in Cologne and the work of Stockhausen, Koenig, Eimert, Kagel and others as well as an in depth enquiry into the technicians and engineers such as Heinz Schütz, Friedhelm Leppel, Leopold von Knobelsdorf, Jaap Spek, Werner Scholz, Volker Müller and others.