Spectral Music Design: A Computational Approach

by Victor Lazzarini

Overview

Processing audio in the spectral domain has become a practical proposition for a variety of applications in computer music, composition, and sound design, making it an area of significant interest for musicians, programmers, sound designers, and researchers. While spectral processing has been explored already from a variety of perspectives, previous approaches tended to be piecemeal: some dealt with signal processing details, others with a high-level music technology discussion of techniques, some more compositionally focused, and others at music/audio programming concerns. As author Victor Lazzarini argues, the existing literature has made a good footprint in the area but has failed to integrate these various approaches within spectral audio. In Spectral Sound Design: A Computational Approach, Lazzarini provides an antidote. Spectral Sound Design: A Computational Approach gives authors a set of practical tools to implement processing techniques and algorithms in a balanced way, covering application aspects as well the fundamental theory that underpins them, within the context of contemporary and electronic music practice. The book employs a mix of Python for prototyping and Csound for deployment and music programming. The tight integration of these three languages as well as the wide scope offered by the combination (going from embedded to supercomputing, and including web-based and mobile applications) makes it the go-to resource to deal with the practical aspects of the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197524022
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/06/2021
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Victor Lazzarini completed his doctorate at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he received the Heyman scholarship for research progress and the Hallward composition prize for a large-scale work, Magnificat. His interests include musical signal processing and sound synthesis; computer music languages; electroacoustic and instrumental composition. He joined the Music Department at Maynooth University in 1998 and was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 2014 to 2019.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part 1: Background
Chapter 1: What is Spectrum?
Chapter 2: A HIstory of Spectrum
Chapter 3: Fundamental Aspects of Audio and Music Signals
Part 2: Techniques
Chapter 4: Continuous and Discrete Spectra
Chapter 5. Discrete Time, Discrete Frequency
Chapter 6. Time — Frequency Processing
Chapter 7. The Spectra of Filters
Chapter 8. Non-Linear Synthesis of Spectra
Chapter 9. Noise
Part 3. Design
Chapter 10. Spectral Design in Music
Chapter 11. Computer Sound Design
Chapter 12. Composing the Spectrum
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Victor Lazzarini has condensed thirty years of experience of into a dazzlingly lucid resource that will inform and delight all those studying and making spectral music with computers. The book covers both the fundamental and creative aspects of spectral music design, leading through detailed accounts of computer synthesis and digital signal processing to illuminating discussions of how composers and musicians have developed their approaches. This is an indispensable book that provides an excellent technical and artistic foundation for any digital musician." — Andrew Hugill, School of Informatics, University of Leicester

"Spectral Music Design: A Computational Approach will prove a vast and deep source of insight, inspiration, enlightenment, and understanding for the innovative composer, producer, sound designer, and developer. Drawing on a lifetime of experience in the classroom in the studio, on the stage, and in the lab, the 'Leonardo da Vinci' of DSP - Victor Lazzarini - illustrates, demonstrates, explains and shares his masterpieces of code and music in this incredibly inspiring book. For years to come, Spectral Music Design will be a go-to resource for teachers and students of computer music, acoustics, digital signal processing, and computer science, as well as cutting-edge electronic music producers, innovative sound designers, and audio app developers." — Dr. Richard Boulanger, Professor of Electronic Production and Design - Berklee College of Music

From the Publisher