Manuella Blackburn

This article documents the creation and distribution of a new sample pack, Instruments INDIA, as an intervention against systemic orientalist practices observable within the marketing, branding and production of non-Western instrument sample packs. This intervention draws upon Edward Said’s model of Orientalism and Stuart Hall’s theories of representation, fortifying an interrogation of practices that misrepresent diverse sonic content, musicians and cultures in negative ways. The research brings into focus the influence digital samplers and early sample library CDs had in determining technical configurations and misrepresentation tendencies found within paratextual elements of contemporary sample packs. The article joins forces with a leading sample pack distributor, Loopmasters, to cultivate change via new policy documents and good practice principles. Attending to problematic representation issues at the start of the music production chain offers a strategy to scaffold and promote positive change throughout the production process and into other connected music industry areas, where influential language and imagery align sample content with music production goals and aspirations. The article offers a first-hand account of sample pack development in collaboration with musicians of Indian musical instruments, which provide a case study to better understand and inform more ethical commercial practices in the future.

Working with short soundfiles en masse in the fields of fixed media (acousmatic) and mixed music (instruments and electronics) has raised questions regarding useful assemblage and handling techniques. This paper traces out some different processes and systems that are currently in circulation to automate and assist in such sonic distributions. A number of personalised techniques for sound organisation of breif sounds have surfaced in the author's own outputs in response to working with short sound en masse for many years. Using excerpts from my own fixed media works; Ice Breaker (2015), Snap Happy (2017) and Landline (2018), this paper will reveal how new modes of micro-montage can assist in marking out structure and referencing in music making. The techniques , applications and compositional aesthetic of mi-cro-time and micro-montage, first articulated by Vag-gione (1994) as observed by Roads (2005) will be discussed and used as a springboard into new compositional methodologie...

When ice is placed into a glass of water it cracks and pops due to the phenomenon known as differential expansion. Because the water is warmer than the ice, the outer layer of the ice expands and fractures while the core stays cool. This micro-scale cracking was captured with tiny microphones inserted into tall drinks glasses and provided the concept for this composition. Additional sounds of effervescence, bubbling and pouring liquids were recorded to accompany the smaller ice sounds. Ice breaker follows on from my earlier works Switched on (2011) and Time will tell (2013) that both explore the use of small sounds within an acousmatic context. New techniques for clustering small ice sounds were explored in this work along with Horacio Vaggione’s concept of micromontage. Ice breaker was realized in the summer of 2015 at the composer’s studio in Manchester (England, UK) and premiered on October 23, 2015 during the L’Espace du son festival at Théâtre Marni in Brussels (Belgium). Ice b...

Javaari is the term given to the bridge of the sitar where the melodic and sympathetic strings run and create the sound. The term also refers to the unique buzzing tone produced by the sitar. This piece explores these fascinating timbres originating from this instrument and pays particular attention to the beautiful pitch bends that arch over and under like vocal melismas. The work is structured into four episodes, each exploring a different intensity of explicit cultural sound use — often the sitar material is in the fore and sometimes it recedes or pokes through intermittently. Javaari was realized at the Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC, Sweden) and at Liverpool Hope University (England, UK). This acousmatic work is the first in a series of pieces composed in collaboration with Milapfest based at Liverpool Hope University. The yearlong project aims to examine the translation and transference of cultural sound to electroacoustic music and is funded by the Arts and Hum...

In the same way that a shruti box or tampura provides the supporting drone for many Indian Classical music performances, my composition seeks to create a complementary line for the sarod material within the piece. Derived from recordings of sarod, sitar, veena, violin, tanpura, swarmandal and ghungroo ankle bells, New Shruti forms a montage from all these sounds while exploring the possibilities of sound transformations common to electroacoustic music. In places the work goes beyond just a drone function — it aims to instigate, provoke, and energize the sarod material through three main sections (i) glitch and crackle (ii) pitch curves and (iii) minor slow section. Through creating this work I have discovered the beauty of both the timbres of Indian instrumental sounds, and also stylistic features commonly associated with the tradition and performance practice such as gamakas (pitch bends) and tihai rhythmic cadences. Interpreting and reworking these features into my own music langu...

Snap happy is a collection of three miniatures exploring the sounds of cameras. Older cameras from around the 1940s (Kodak Brownie cameras) provided heavier clicks and clunks from their internal mechanisms. Contemporary cameras provided sounds of flashes, zooms, digital functions and focus lenses. All these sounds tended to be short in duration, enabling me to continue my interest in building compositions from miniature, barely there sound materials. Listening to many cameras demonstrated how distinctive different brands could be. I became acquainted with the Canon AE-1 program, which appeared to ‘cough’ with each photo taken. It was fascinating to listen to modern cameras (including camera functions on phones), which use camera shutter sound effects to indicate the taking of a ‘snap shot.’ Older functions of winding a camera film, opening up a camera back and cartridge chamber, along with winding mechanisms are sounds that feature in this work. This composition is part of a series ...

This article specifically addresses electroacoustic music compositions that borrow from existing musical and sound resources. Investigating works that borrow and thrive upon existing sound sources presents an array of issues regarding terminology, authorship and creativity. Embedding borrowed elements into new electroacoustic music goes beyond the simplicity of ‘cut and paste’ as composers approach this practice with new and novel techniques. Musical borrowings have been widely studied in fields of popular and classical music, from cover songs to quotations and from pastiches to theme and variations; however, borrowings that take place within the field of electroacoustic music can be less clear or defined, and demand a closer look. Because the components and building blocks of electroacoustic music are often recorded sound, the categories of borrowing become vast; thus incidences of borrowing, in some shape or form, can appear inevitable or unavoidable when composing. The author tak...

This article documents the evolution of the ‘Instruments INDIA’ project, which led to the creation of an online sound archive of Indian musical instruments. Recording work with approximately 27 musicians provided material for this interactive resource (which functions as an educational tool and concertgoer's guide), and also for compositional work, where culturally tied sound material formed the basis for two new works; Javaari (acousmatic) and New shruti (mixed work) for sarod and electronics. Trialling a variety of methods for gathering and then subsequently integrating sounds from Indian musical instruments into electroacoustic compositions provided a framework for the exploration of hybridity and intercultural sound interactions, while observing the translation and transference of highly emblematic sounds from one musical tradition to the next also led to unique artistic and theoretical outcomes. Curatorial decisions made with my project partners, Milapfest (the UK's lea...

Since its conception, Denis Smalley's spectromorphology has equipped listeners and practitioners of electroacoustic music with appropriate and relevant vocabulary to describe the sound-shapes, sensations and evocations associated with experiences of acousmatic sound. This liberation has facilitated and permitted much-needed discussion about sound events, structures and other significant sonic detail. More than 20 years on, it is safe to assume that within the electroacoustic music community there is an agreed and collective understanding of spectromorphological vocabulary and its descriptive application. Spectromorphology's influence has been far reaching, inciting approaches to electroacoustic music analysis (Thoresen 2007), notation (Patton 2007), composition and education through its flexible functionality and accessible pool of vocabulary.

2. The author acknowledges the variety of definitions for “culture”. From here onwards, culture refers to a society where a system of shared beliefs, customs and behaviours exist within an environment. ... 3. Rodolfo Caesar (1992) cited in Landy and Atkinson.

The starting point for much electroacoustic music is the capture of audio from the sounding world around us. Recorded sound (field and studio recordings) provides the composer with pliable audio data, inspiration and impetus for the creation of new work. The content of these audio files varies widely to include sounds from musical instruments, inanimate objects, spoken languages and environmental landscapes. Composers working in the field of electroacoustic music and all its associated formats and subgenres (soundscape, live laptop improvisation, acousmatic and noise-based to name a few) are reliant on the presence of audio, whether it be from synthesized or recorded sources, in order to move forward with a new work. Sound’s fundamentality to the composition of electroacoustic music is clearly understood within this discourse, but what is less clear and defined are the finer details relating to external sound sourcing, especially when the composer looks beyond their own materials, t...

This commentary details the methods and ideas involved in creating the seven portfolio works. The portfolio is comprised of stereo acousmatic works, one mixed work and a multi-channel work, forming the practice-based research completed during the PhD programme at the University of Manchester.The works explore a number of aesthetic concepts encompassing instrumental timbres, cultural sound objects, rhythm incorporation, habitual spaces (the kitchen), imaginary and real objects (jukebox), and visual art sculpture (origami). Uniting the portfolio works is the use of Denis Smalley?s spectromorphology (1997). In its intended function, this tool provides the listener of electroacoustic music with thorough and accessible sets of vocabulary to describe sound events, structures and spaces. The use of this descriptive tool need not stop here. Fortunately, and often unconsciously for the composer, it does not, since all composers create music that is spectromorphological with or without an awa...

Carrying out an analysis of Diana Salazar’s acousmatic music work, La voz del fuelle is an attempt to identify the various compositional strategies involved when cultural sounds become source material for creative work. An analysis of where this iconic sound material appears may help shed light on how a composer can both borrow and embed culturally identifable sound material within the more abstract sonic milieu most typical to the acousmatic genre. Understanding how a composer has placed cultural symbols, well-known motifs, and sometimes whole passages of existing music into a new piece of sonic art is a worthy subject for analysis so as to demonstrate the evolution of existing musical ideas as well as the composer’s prowess in gaining ownership over something borrowed. Salazar’s La voz del fuelle engages with the concept of the ‘sonic souvenir’ , integrating many musical samples borrowed from a foreign culture. Analysing the work’s intricate integration of identifiable cultural ma...

Programme note: Selecting a handful of Luc Ferrari’s archived soundfiles provided the starting point for this composition. The selection of the materials was done on the basis of personal preference, where I chose sounds that appealed to my own aesthetic and taste. My motivation for this work was the prospect of utilizing sounds from another composer (in this case Luc Ferrari) and embracing the challenges and creativity that would emerge. Acquainting myself with the sounds in some depth was the greatest challenge of the composition – understanding their sonic content, behavior and spatial properties was an important step in teasing out some of the finer nuances inherent in the soundfiles, now placed within a new context. While many of the sounds from the archive are left recognizable, I felt that it was important to put my own compositional stamp onto the composition, so in this sense there is a good helping of transformed material all originating from the archived soundfiles – the ...

This article specifically addresses electroacoustic music compositions that borrow from existing musical and sound resources. Investigating works that borrow and thrive upon existing sound sources presents an array of issues regarding terminology, authorship and creativity. Embedding borrowed elements into new electroacoustic music goes beyond the simplicity of ‘cut and paste’ as composers approach this practice with new and novel techniques. Musical borrowings have been widely studied in fields of popular and classical music, from cover songs to quotations and from pastiches to theme and variations; however, borrowings that take place within the field of electroacoustic music can be less clear or defined, and demand a closer look. Because the components and building blocks of electroacoustic music are often recorded sound, the categories of borrowing become vast; thus incidences of borrowing, in some shape or form, can appear inevitable or unavoidable when composing. The author takes on this issue and proposes a new framework for categorising borrowings as a helpful aid for others looking to sample in new compositional work, as well as for further musicological study. The article will consider the compositional process of integration and reworking of borrowed material, using a repertoire study to showcase the variety of techniques in play when sound materials change hands, composer to composer. Terminology already in use by others to describe sound borrowing in electroacoustic music will be investigated in an effort to show the multitude of considerations and components in action when borrowing takes place. Motivations for borrowing, borrowing types, borrowing durations, copying as imitation, and composers’ reflections upon borrowing will all be considered within the article, along with discussions on programmatic development and embedding techniques. At the heart of this article, the author aims to show how widespread and pervasive borrowing is within the electroacoustic repertoire by drawing attention to varieties of sound transplants, all considered as acts of borrowing

Working with short soundfiles en masse in the fields of fixed media (acousmatic) and mixed music (instruments and electronics) has raised questions regarding useful assemblage and handling techniques. This paper traces out some different processes and systems that are currently in circulation to automate and assist in such sonic distributions. A number of personalised techniques for sound organisation of breif sounds have surfaced in the author's own outputs in response to working with short sound en masse for many years. Using excerpts from my own fixed media works; Ice Breaker (2015), Snap Happy (2017) and Landline (2018), this paper will reveal how new modes of micro-montage can assist in marking out structure and referencing in music making. The techniques , applications and compositional aesthetic of mi-cro-time and micro-montage, first articulated by Vag-gione (1994) as observed by Roads (2005) will be discussed and used as a springboard into new compositional methodologies. Implications of using naturally occurring minute materials (milliseconds in duration) distinct from truncated materials (cut up, or shortened) will be compared within a discussion on organic versus artificial-sounding output. To conclude, the author will reflect on the creative results of handling large numbers of short sounds and how this defines her output as a composition-al trait.

This article documents the evolution of the ‘Instruments INDIA’ project, which led to the creation of an online sound archive of Indian musical instruments. Recording work with approximately 27 musicians provided material for this interactive resource (which functions as an educational tool and concertgoer’s guide), and also for compositional work, where culturally tied sound material formed the basis for two new works; Javaari (acousmatic) and New shruti (mixed work) for sarod and electronics. Trialling a variety of methods for gathering and then subsequently integrating sounds from Indian musical instruments into electroacoustic compositions provided a framework for the exploration of hybridity and intercultural sound interactions, while observing the translation and transference of highly emblematic sounds from one musical tradition to the next also led to unique artistic and theoretical outcomes. Curatorial decisions made with my project partners, Milapfest (the UK’s leading Indian Arts Development Trust) regarding the participating musicians and their sound contributions posed further considerations for the representative quality of each instrument showcased on the archive. Gathering appropriate material for users of the archive (young learners, audience members and interested laypeople) while capturing sounds suitable for compositional purposes presented new challenges within the recording environment. Further complexities surfaced when this challenge was coupled with a lesser degree of familiarity with instrument capabilities, playing styles and cultural traditions. This unique collaboration with cultural sounds and performance practices raised questions about my compositional intentions, cross-cultural borrowing, respectful practice, and the unavoidable undertones of cultural appropriation and colonial attitude.

The starting point for much electroacoustic music is the capture of audio from the sounding world around us. Recorded sound (field and studio recordings) provides the composer with pliable audio data, inspiration and impetus for the creation of new work. The content of these audio files varies widely to include sounds from musical instruments, inanimate objects, spoken languages and environmental landscapes. Composers working in the field of electroacoustic music and all its associated formats and subgenres (soundscape, live laptop improvisation, acousmatic and noise-based to name a few) are reliant on the presence of audio, whether it be from synthesized or recorded sources, in order to move forward with a new work. Sound’s fundamentality to the composition of electroacoustic music is clearly understood within this discourse, but what is less clear and defined are the finer details relating to external sound sourcing, especially when the composer looks beyond their own materials, to others and/or digital resources (e.g. Sound archives, sound libraries and sound maps) for this starting point inspiration. On the surface, it can seem that by removing the sound recording stage of the process, the composer forfeits a direct connection with the physical source, along with memories of this sound-capturing act. On the other hand, for some, skipping this step is not even an option, especially for composers who pride themselves on their well-honed microphone techniques and noise-minimizing skills, since the recording of ones own sound may be viewed as the first stage of the compositional process in which a compositional imprint is firmly forged and found. A given composer may have a recording ‘style’ or pattern, and this approach to recording can seep into his/her choice of sound materials. Take the example of a soundscape artist who braves the wind and rain with their highly specialized and adapted recording equipment. Their techniques for shielding their microphone from direct gusts and torrential downpours provides a striking contrast to the composer who inserts lavalier microphones into a bottle of fizzy water to capture the liquid’s microscopic effervescence within the calm, acoustically dry recording studio. In short, a composer can choose and create what sounds they want to work with in order to achieve specific, personalised end results. Chris Watson’s recording expertise comes to mind in this instance with his skillful use of ‘super compact particle velocity microphones’ to capture minute, barely-there caterpillar sounds1. Sound recordings can be in some way a reflection of the composer’s personal aesthetic, demonstrating creative planning at a very early stage in the compositional process. Contrary to this, there are a number of instances where composers choose not to work with sounds they directly collected, some in fact never record their own sound, as found in the numerous cases of sampling or plundering.

This paper introduces the semi-improvised mixed work Triple Retort (2011) for flute, cello, mezzo-soprano and three laptops, and presents the concept of constructing dynamic form as a means of enabling and encouraging variation with each performance. This variation encompasses flexible time lengths, different instrument combinations, multi-disciplines (eg. dance), structural progressions and characters. The work confronts a number of pertinent issues associated with more fixed forms of instrument and electronic works (namely fixed media) and places itself between the idioms of fixed media and real-time electronics.
The composer will describe the experience of navigating the mixed music medium, as a departure from a predominantly acousmatic background, and how aspects of acousmatic music filter into work where control and precision apply on different scales and in contrasting dimensions. Associated with this, the paper questions the notion of the composer’s voice and identity within works involving improvisation, and establishes a discussion point regarding compositional signatures by contextualizing this argument within the mixed music medium.
The paper will be accompanied by live demonstrations with Trio Atem (Gavin Osbourn, Nina Whiteman and Alice Purton) and the performer’s perspectives (musicians and laptop performers) to illuminate the discussion.

Sourcing sound materials from distant and foreign locations has become a relatively common and elementary practice for the electroacoustic music composer to engage with. The ease and frequency of traveling has been responsible, in part, widening the availability of sound choice and collection and in turn providing a vast “acoustic palette as wide as that of the environment itself”. 
This practice of cross-cultural sound sourcing may be understood by our attraction to the exotic, and the unadulterated soundworld sonic souvenirs can yield. The need for originality as a consideration for the electroacoustic music composer can be addressed through seeking out new and unique sound materials in this way.

With reference to terminology, ‘sonic souvenirs’  are discussed in an authentic sense and may be characterised by their environmental, instrumental or verbal origin. It is their significance and association with a unique place or culture that defines them. This paper attempts to make the distinction between elusive sonic souvenirs and more locally sourced sound materials, readily available within a composer’s vicinity.

In many respects, the analogy of the keepsake souvenir picked up on a holiday presents a point of departure. Souvenirs are attractive mementos, but also tend to be mass marketed items, symbolic of an original object, lacking genuine status. They provide a memory or representation of our personal traveling history, acting as trophies of our accomplished globetrotting. While in practice importing sonic souvenirs into the studio remains unchanged from ordinary recording work conducted around and on our immediate doorstep, the significance of those materials can present a challenge in terms of their integration, consequence and reception of the finished work. The use of these sounds and the artistic endeavors that transform and sculpt these sounds into music raises a number of issues of ownership, integrity and appropriation. The need to be respectful in sourcing materials from outside ones own cultural home is often high on the composer’s agenda, but what does respectful borrowing entail? How do insiders and outsides of a given culture receive this practice? What are the benefits and positive outcomes of this hybrid format? And how does this practice relate to common areas of investigation within ethnomusicology?

To answer these questions my paper will discuss a range of sonic souvenirs exhibited in electroacoustic works from the contemporary repertoire (Caspian Retreat, Pippa Murphy (2003); Ho, Ricardo Climent (2008); Gagaku, Mark Wingate (2006) and Galungan, David Berezan (2010), and aims to identify the issues arising from this cross-cultural practice.

My own compositional work has been influenced by this concept and on several occasions I have incorporated sonic souvenirs into my acousmatic music (Karita oto, Sonidos Bailables, Cajón! and Dance Machine). This research builds upon previous investigations into the cross-cultural borrowing in electroacoustic music . Cross-cultural issues are also discussed with reference to a new compositional project in conjunction with the Milapfest Indian Arts Organisation (currently based at Liverpool Hope University, UK) where sound materials are sourced from entirely from musical instruments typical to the South Indian carnatic music tradition.

Since its conception, Denis Smalley's spectromorphology has equipped listeners and practitioners of electroacoustic music with appropriate and relevant vocabulary to describe the sound-shapes, sensations and evocations associated with experiences of acousmatic sound. This liberation has facilitated and permitted much-needed discussion about sound events, structures and other significant sonic detail. More than 20 years on, it is safe to assume that within the electroacoustic music community there is an agreed and collective understanding of spectromorphological vocabulary and its descriptive application. Spectromorphology's influence has been far reaching, inciting approaches to electroacoustic music analysis (Thoresen 2007), notation (Patton 2007), composition and education through its flexible functionality and accessible pool of vocabulary.

This paper aims to address the issue of incorporating Latin American influences into electroacoustic music. A questionnaire (Appendix 1) devised to identify sources of influence and methods of incorporation was responded to by a selection of electroacoustic composers (Appendix 2) of Latin American origin. Their responses directed the course of this research and assisted in developing many of the ideas presented in this paper. Works by these composers are used to illuminate implications and ethics surrounding the issue of incorporating Latin American influences, while both composer and listener perspectives are discussed and considered

Since its conception, Denis Smalley’s spectromorphology has equipped listeners and practitioners of electroacoustic music with appropriate and relevant vocabulary to describe sound shapes, sensations and evocations associated with experiences of acousmatic sound. This liberation has facilitated and permitted much needed discussion about sound events, structures and other significant sonic detail. More than 20 years on, it is safe to assume that within the electroacoustic music community there is an agreed and collective understanding of spectromorphological vocabulary and its descriptive application. Spectromorphology’s influence has been far reaching, inciting approaches to electroacoustic music analysis , notation , composition and education through its flexible functionality and accessible pool of vocabulary.
I have previously proposed the usefulness of spectromorphology in developing compositional strategies, with the specifics of the methodology outlined in Blackburn, ‘Composing from spectromorphological vocabulary: proposed application, pedagogy and metadata’, 2009. In this previous text I reversed the conventional application of spectromorphology, converting the descriptive purpose into one functional in composition where vocabulary is implemented as an informer upon sound material choice and creation. “In this reversal, vocabulary no longer functions descriptively; instead the vocabulary precedes the composition, directing the path the composer takes within a piece. This reversed application is an attempt at systemisation and an effort to (partly) remedy the seemingly endless choice of possibilities we are faced with when beginning a new work”. In this application, diagrams of sonic detail accompanied the text-based methodology, metaphorical to the spectromorphological word utilised. In this new article, visualisations of Smalley’s vocabulary now become the focus, existing as snap-shots of spectral space to illustrate the techniques of sound creation and assemblage.

In 2020, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) launched a new pilot funding call for Fellowships aimed at arts and humanities researchers whose work was both of outstanding quality and contained a significant Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) dimension. In 2021, the AHRC commissioned an evaluation of the EDI Engagement Fellowships. his report provides an assessment and commentary on the AHRC’s 2020—2022 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Fellowship (EDIEF) pilot observing the successes, challenges, and benefits of its existence during its first iteration. The report aims to support subsequent rounds of EDIEF funding by highlighting lessons learned from the application process and the awarded projects so that improvements can be made to future calls.

The research for this report sought out and engaged a variety of stakeholders including applicants, award holders, research assistants, project partners, and AHRC colleagues, to comment on the processes the AHRC has for welcoming applications, reviewing proposals, awarding funding, and project delivery support. These voices (many of which are from underrepresented groups and have EDI expertise either professionally or through lived experience) have contributed to the below recommendations so that the EDIEF pilot can evolve effectively and support mainstreaming of innovations in other AHRC activities.