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The terms Electroacoustics and its sub-discipline Electroacoustic music have been used to describe several different sonic and musical genres or musical techniques.

While generally seen as the superset of electronic music, the definition and characteristics of electroacoustic music have been subject to much debate.^{[citation needed]}

Electroacoustic music is a diverse field. Important centers of research and composition can be found around the world, and there are numerous conferences and festivals which present electroacoustic music, notably the International Computer Music Conference, the International Conference on New interfaces for musical expression, the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Festival (Bourges, France), and the Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, Austria).

A number of national associations promote the art form, notably the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) in Canada, SEAMUS in the US, ACMA in Australasia and the Sonic Arts Network in the UK. The Computer Music Journal and Organised Sound are the two most important journals dedicated to electroacoustic studies, while several national associations produce print and electronic publications.

Contents 1 Questions of definition 2 History 3 Characteristics 4 Electroacoustic techniques 5 Notable electroacoustic-music composers 6 See also 7 References 8 External links 8.1 National Associations 8.2 Other Institutions 8.3 Resources

There is no consensus for the definition of “electroacoustic music”. Some contend that any sound played over a loudspeaker is “electroacoustic”,^{[citation needed]} while for others, the term also entails some aesthetic specifications.^{[citation needed]}

While all electroacoustic music is made with electronic technology, the most successful works in the field are usually concerned with those aspects of sonic design which remain inaccessible to traditional musical instruments played live. In particular, most electroacoustic compositions make use of sounds not available to, say, the traditional orchestra; these sounds might include prerecorded sounds from nature or from the studio, synthesized sounds, processed sounds, and so forth.

Electroacoustic compositions also often explore spatial characteristics of sound, as sounds can be given trajectories, and can be placed in distant or near fields of listening. Electroacoustic music is typically less preoccupied with the “traditional” concerns of score-based music—(metric) rhythm, harmony and melody—and more concerned with the interplay of gesture and texture, and what Denis Smalley has termed spectromorphology—the sculpting of the sound spectrum in time. ^[1]

Many date the formal birth of electroacoustic music to the late 1940s and early 1950s,^{[weasel words]} and in particular to the work of two groups of composers whose aesthetic orientations were radically opposed. The Musique concrète group was centered in Paris and was pioneered by Pierre Schaeffer; their music was based on the juxtaposition and transformation of natural sounds (meaning real, recorded sounds, not necessarily those made by natural forces) recorded to tape or disc. In Cologne, elektronische Musik, pioneered in 1949–51 by the composer Herbert Eimert and the physicist Werner Meyer-Eppler, was based solely on electronically generated (synthetic) sounds, particularly sine waves (Ungeheuer 1992). The precise control afforded by the studio allowed for what Eimert considered to be an electronic extension and perfection of serialism; in the studio, serial operations could be applied to elements such as timbre and dynamics. The common link between the two schools is that the music is recorded and performed through loudspeakers, without a human performer. While serialism has been largely abandoned in electroacoustic circles, the majority of electroacoustic pieces use a combination of recorded sound and synthesized or processed sounds, and the schism between Schaeffer's and Eimert's approaches has been overcome, the first major example being Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge of 1955–56.

Isolated examples of the use of electroacoustic and prerecorded music exist that predate Schaeffer’s first experiments in 1948. Ottorino Respighi used an (acoustical) phonograph recording of a nightingale’s song in his orchestral work The Pines of Rome in 1924, before the introduction of electrical record players; experimental filmmaker Walter Ruttmann created Weekend, a sound collage on an optical soundtrack in 1930; and John Cage used phonograph recordings of test tones mixed with live instruments in Imaginary Landscape no. 1 (1939), among other examples. In the first half of the Twentieth Century, a number of writers also advocated the use of electronic sound sources for composition, notably Ferruccio Busoni, Luigi Russolo, and Edgard Varèse, and electronic performing instruments were invented, such as the Theremin in 1919, and the Ondes Martenot in 1928.

Many self-described electroacoustic pieces include live performers (called “mixed”), either as a performer playing along with a tape/CD/computer, or, more recently, with live electronic processing of the performer’s sound. Saxophonist Evan Parker has won acclaim for his recordings using live electronic processing. The term acousmatic music is often used to refer to pieces which consist solely of prerecorded sound — a form of matured musique concréte. There are dozens of other terms which are either synonymous with “electroacoustic music,” or that describe super- or subsets, offshoots or parallel disciplines from the genre. These include: sonic art; computer music; electronic music; microsound; lowercase; soundscape; audio art; radiophonics; live electronics; musique concrète; field recording; experimental electronica; electroacoustic sound art (esa), eai or EAI, and others.

Electroacoustic music is closely related to Electronica by technique; recently many popular electronica artists have been influenced by electroacoustic composers,^{[citation needed]} for instance Amon Tobin, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Gescom, and Squarepusher.

Main article: Audio feedback

Audio feedback is a special kind of feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input (for example, a microphone or guitar pickup) and an audio output (for example, a loudspeaker). While audio feedback is usually undesirable, it has entered into musical history as a desired effect beginning in the early 1960s. Although it is now well associated with the history of rock music where electric guitar players such as Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix have used it extensively, it was the contemporary American composer Robert Ashley who first used feedback as sound material in his work Wolfman (1964).

Main article: Circuit bending

Circuit bending is the creative short-circuiting of low voltage, battery-powered electronic audio devices such as guitar effects, children's toys and small synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators. Emphasizing spontaneity and randomness, the techniques of circuit bending have been commonly associated with noise music, though many more conventional contemporary musicians and musical groups have been known to experiment with "bent" instruments.

Main article: third bridge guitar

A third bridge guitar is a guitar with three bridges, instead of the usual two (counting the nut as a bridge). By adding a third bridge, one can create a number of unusual sounds vaguely reminiscent of chimes, bells or harps. Both electric guitars and acoustic guitars can have this feature, though electric amplification makes the usually quiet third bridge more audible. A third bridge can be a "prepared guitar" modified with an object—for instance, a screwdriver—placed under the strings to act as a makeshift bridge, or it can be a custom made instrument.

Rodolfo Acosta Klaus Ager Bülent Arel Patrick Ascione Larry Austin Milton Babbitt Clarence Barlow Sergio Barroso Wende Bartley François Bayle Luciano Berio Michael von Biel Boris Blacher Lars-Gunnar Bodin Konrad Boehmer Michèle Bokanowski André Boucourechliev Pierre Boulez Herbert Brün Karl Gottfried Brunotte John Cage John Chowning Yves Daoust Mario Davidovsky Michel Decoust Delia Derbyshire Marcelle Deschênes

Francis Dhomont Tod Dockstader Charles Dodge Paul Dolden John Eaton Herbert Eimert Simon Emmerson Jean-Claude Éloy Peter Eötvös Luc Ferrari Bernard Fort Johannes Fritsch Kenneth Gaburo Rolf Gehlhaar Jacob Gilboa Karel Goeyvaerts Jonty Harrison Jonathan Harvey Pierre Henry Lejaren Hiller York Höller Nicolaus A. Huber Alden Jenks David C. Johnson Ben Johnston Georg Katzer Gottfried Michael Koenig Włodzimierz Kotoński

Ernst Krenek György Ligeti Magnus Lindberg Alvin Lucier Otto Luening François-Bernard Mâche Robin Maconie Bruno Maderna Mesías Maiguashca Jean-Etienne Marie Pierre Mariétan Salvatore Martirano Toshiro Mayuzumi Olivier Messiaen Costin Miereanu Ilhan Mimaroglu Arne Nordheim Emmanuel Nunes Gonzalo de Olavide Pauline Oliveros Bernard Parmegiani Åke Parmerud Jorge Peixinho Michel Philippot Zoltán Pongrácz Henri Pousseur Eliane Radigue Steve Reich

Jean-Claude Risset Pierre Schaeffer Denis Smalley Roger Smalley Tim Souster Karlheinz Stockhausen Zsigmond Szathmáry Toru Takemitsu Ivan Tcherepnin Serge Tcherepnin Javier Torres Maldonado Gilles Tremblay Jacques Tremblay Marc Tremblay Barry Truax Stephen Truelove Vladimir Ussachevsky Horacio Vaggione Edgard Varèse Alejandro Vinao Claude Vivier Hildegard Westerkamp Trevor Wishart Charles Wuorinen Iannis Xenakis La Monte Young Hans Zender

A more comprehensive List of acousmatic-music composers and electroacoustic composers, both living and dead.

• Electronic art music
• Experimental music
• Electroacoustic improvisation
• Prepared guitar
• Sonology
• Sound sculpture
• Acousmatic music
• Acousmatic art

1. ^ Denis Smalley, "Spectro-morphology and Structuring Processes", in Emmerson 1986^{[citation needed]}; Smalley 1997; and Spectromorphology at EARS.

• Chadabe, Joel. 1997. Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0133032310
• Eimert, Herbert. 1957. “What is Electronic Music?” Die Reihe 1 [English edition] (“Electronic Music”): 1–10.
• Emmerson, Simon (ed.). 1986. The Language of Electroacoustic Music. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333397592 (cased); ISBN 0333397606 (pbk)
• Emmerson, Simon (ed.). 2000. Music, Electronic Media and Culture. Aldershot (UK) and Burlington, Vermont (USA): Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0754601099
• Griffiths, Paul. 1995. Modern Music and After: Directions Since 1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198165781 (cloth) ISBN 0198165110 (pbk.)
• Heifetz, Robin Julian. 1989. On the Wires of Our Nerves:The Art of Electroacoustic Music. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses Inc. ISBN 0838751555
• Kahn, Douglas. 2001. Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0262611724
• Licata, Thomas (ed.). 2002. Electroacoustic Music: Analytical Perspectives. Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance, 0193-9041; no. 63. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313314209
• Manning, Peter. 2004. Electronic and Computer Music. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195144848 (hardback) ISBN 0195170857 (pbk.)
• Morawska-Büngeler, Marietta. 1988. Schwingende Elektronen: Eine Dokumentation über das Studio für Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Köln 1951–1986. Cologne-Rodenkirchen: P. J. Tonger Musikverlag.
• Roads, Curtis. 1996. The Computer Music Tutorial. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0262181584 (cloth) ISBN 0262680823 (paper)
• Smalley, Denis. 1997. "Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound-Shapes". Organised Sound 2, no. 2:107–26.
• Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1996. "Electroacoustic Performance Practice." Perspectives of New Music 34, no. 1 (Fall): 74-105.
• Ungeheuer, Elena. 1992. Wie die elektronische Musik “erfunden” wurde…: Quellenstudie zu Werner Meyer-Epplers musikalische Entwurf zwischen 1949 und 1953. Kölner Schriften zur Neuen Musik 2, edited by Johannes Fritsch and Dieter Kämper. Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne.
• Wishart, Trevor. 1996. On Sonic Art. New and revised edition. Contemporary Music Studies 12. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 3718658461 (cloth) ISBN 371865847X (pbk) ISBN 3718658488 (CD)

• GRM — Groupe de recherches musicales / Musical Research Group, based in the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) (Paris)
• CEC — Canadian Electroacoustic Community / Communauté électroacoustique canadienne
• SAN — Sonic Arts Network is a UK-based organisation that promotes and explores the art of sound
• HELMCA – Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association
• SEAMUS — Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States

(Also see listings on the CEC’s Wikipedia page)

• IRCAM — Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique / Acoustic/Music Research and Coordination Institute (Paris)
• CECH — Electroacoustic Community of Chile
• empreintes DIGITALes — Montréal-based label for recordings of musique concrète, acousmatic music, electroacoustic music
• EMS — Electroacoustic Music in Sweden
• Musiques & Recherches — Belgian association dedicated to the development of electroacoustic music
• CCRMA — Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (Stanford CA USA)
• EMF — Electronic Music Foundation
• EMM — Electronic Music Midwest

• EARS — the ElectroAcoustic Resource Site
• eContact! — The CEC’s web journal for electroacoustics
• Electroacoustic Music — Style reference at Synthtopia
• NIME — Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression
• VIBRÖ — Chronicles of contemporary sound experiments
• Art of the States: electroacoustic — Electroacoustic works by American composers
• Mexican electroacoustic music
• SONUS — The CEC’s online listening library (jukebox) of 2000+ electroacoustic works
• resources.electro Electroacoustic resource site (French)
• 60x60 - 60x60 project at Vox Novus