Scientists exposing the truth about the “Mozart – Effect”:
There is no increase of brainpower when you listen to Mozart.

But Glenn Schellenberg, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, says that there is no Mozart effect. Any number of experiences besides listening to music might improve cognition. Most people find the music of Mozart pleasant to listen to, and it might increase dopamine levels in the brain, which is generally thought to improve cognition. But “eating chocolate might have the same effect,” Schellenberg says.

In 2010, a team of Austrian researchers analyzed the results from 39 attempts to replicate the Mozart effect. In most, a group of subjects listened to a Mozart sonata before testing their spatial intelligence. Scientists then compared the results against a control group that had not heard music. The researchers’ findings were neatly summed up in their paper’s title: “Mozart Effect Schmozart Effect.”

Read the full article on Gizmodo.

Outstanding web video Series about the “Remix-Culture” :

Remixing is a folk art but the techniques are the same ones used at any level of creation: copy, transform, and combine. You could even say that everything is a remix.
To support this series please visit everythingisaremix.info/donate/

For further information and additonal web videos visit: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

A new study finds that both western music and western speech use the interval of a minor third to communicate sadness. But which used it first?

Read the whole article at Guardian.co.uk.

via [brainpicker]

The Creators Project is a new network dedicated to the celebration of creativity and culture across media, and around the world. At a time in the history of the arts where digital technologies have revolutionized distribution, democratized access, and completely re-imagined the scope and scale with which an artist can create a vision and reach an audience, The Creators Project is a completely new kind of arts and culture channel for a completely new kind of world.

Check out this inspirational videos, from all type of different areas, here.

update_3 | body sound is a art biennale ,organized by the Liedts-Meesen Foundation, which takes place in Ghent.

The sound exhibition ambitions to go beyond the auditory system and uses echoes, vibrations, timbres, resonances, waves to put the body of the visitor to the test. Through a scenography designed by Bureau des Mésarchitectures, 14 installations invite the public to explore different perceptions of sound through their interactions with the materials, their position when listening and the movement of their body within space.

via [wemakemoneynotart]

Nice read on “The Independent” website about non-linear sounds used in soundtracks:

Scientists have found that many of the emotionally-evocative moments in some of the most popular films are enhanced with a sound score that exploits the human brain’s natural aversion to the “non-linear” sounds widely used in the animal kingdom to express fear and distress.

Read the full article here.

Think of the possibilities for music, animation, design or even editing…

When looking for a cheap, reliable way to track gestures, Robert Wang and Jovan Popovic of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory came upon this notion: why not paint the operator’s hands (or better yet, his Lycra gloves) in a manner that will allow the computer to differentiate between different parts of the hand, and differentiate between the hand and the background? Starting with something that Howie Mandel might have worn in the 80s, the researchers are able to use a simple webcam to track the hands’ locations and gestures — with relatively little lag. The glove itself is split into twenty patches made up of ten different colors, and while there’s no telling when this technology will be available for consumers, something tells us that when it does become available it’ll be very hard not to notice.

via [engadget]

Making a statement through music is far from unfamiliar – some of the most powerful messages of our time have been embodied in the most fetching melodies. Taking the wide human reach held within this medium, designer Craig Colorusso has created “Sun Boxes,” an alien field of independently operating, solar-powered speakers, each remitting its own distinct guitar sample. A true marriage of sound and (natural) light, this array of speakers is able to create a glorious composition that attests to the value of solar power in today’s world.

via [inhabitat]

My Thesis “Die Simulation des akustischen Klaviers in der Musikproduktion” is now published by VDM-Verlag. You can buy a copy at amazon.de. German language only – but here’s the english abstract:

This paper focuses on the possibilities of piano simulation in the current production of music. It begins with a discussion and analysis of the technical development, functionality, and sound production of the mo- dern day, acoustic piano. Next, it examines the method of multi–sampling for piano sound reproduction. Following a definition and historical recapitulation, it analyses the approach of using multi–sampling on the basis of current software products and takes a closer look at a specific example. The second technique analyzed in this work is the sound production approach of physical modeling synthesis. This simulation technique uses a computer generated mathematical model to simulate the laws of physics of a musical inst- rument – in this case the piano. A summary, historical review and an explanation of the technique provides a basic understanding of this process. An example, using a theoretical model, demonstrates the complexity of problems inherent in this process. The only existing software product currently available on the market is analysed in terms of possible applications. The intention of this work is the following comparison of the pros and cons of the aforementioned piano simulation methods. Finally, the appropriateness of the tech- niques will be discussed in the conclusion.

Acoustic Botany, by David Benqué, extracts Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering from the usual context of health care, food and environment and examines instead the role they could play in the sphere of culture and entertainment.

via [we make money not art]