Music Science and Technology (Stan)

[netp]

Hey everyone,

 

I am an international engineering student from India and have always been interested in Music. Through my undergrad studies I have had loads of opportunities to taste research in Signal Processing and Acoustics delving into the field of Music/Speech Processing. Simultaneously learning Music I applied into my dream program of Masters in Music Science and Technology at Stanford, under the CCRMA (Computer Center for Research in Music and Acoustics).

 

I have recently received my dream admit and am overjoyed!

 

I was just wondering if there is anybody else like me into Music Technology, or even someone admitted into the same program?

 

PS: Sorry if this is the wrong place for me to be posting this. 

[ComposerX]

Hi netp,

 

I'm currently waiting for acceptance/rejection to a few graduate programs in music composition. One of my main interests in composition is instrumental timbre, and I've done some preliminary, yet extensive, research on the topic. Mostly, I have gone through the history of digital analysis of sound: from John Grey, all that FFT nonsense, and beyond. I eventually stumbled upon an article where researches were trying to create a new, better, and complicated system/logarithm that takes into account the physiology of the human ear, as well as cognition, to provide a more accurate analysis of timbre.

 

My interest in this area relates to my compositional approach, but I'm mainly interested in it for a very specific reason (which I cannot share publicly, as it pertains to my future dissertation). I've consulted with professors about this topic during my undergraduate studies, and some were helpful, while others were not. Those who were not helpful, surprisingly, are those who created SuperCollider (a sound synthesis program). During my research I met with one of the creators and he stated, "instrumental timbre is not something you can quantify." Ha! Well that's, in a sense, exactly what I'm attempting to do, so if you would like to start a dialogue on this topic and share useful resources, I am here.

[sautille]

Hi netp, I am also interested in Computer Music, though my background is completely in music. I am wondering - what other programs did you apply to? And do you mind me asking whether the MST program offers any form of funding?  

[netp]

Hello ComposerX, That sounds really interesting.. quantifying timbre seems to be a really exciting topic. It must be a really spectral based approach with loads of signal processing level analysis. And good luck to the results that you are waiting for.

 

I am also highly interested in music retrieval, for tracking, separating and maybe transcribing different instruments in a polyphoinc multi instrumental piece. This opens up such a vast area of querying for songs through humming, vocal separation from songs, key/chord/scale detections. I am currently trying to detect scale for a single instrument recording and maybe creating an algorithm for randomly picking notes so that one can jam with the computer.

 

Hello sautille, This was the only place I applied for in Computer Music Technology, (though some others in my research group/friends have applied in GaTech and Spain). Unfortunately  the MST program at Stan is not highly funded, and is very different every year funding wise. I think only a couple of applicants received funding this year. For the rest, its time to begin the TA/RA hunt!!