UNC's electronic music lab helps students innovate

A sound both unfamiliar and compelling exudes from Hill Hall.

The four-year-old Electro-Acoustic Studio, tucked upstairs in one of the University’s music buildings, serves as a home for an onslaught of cutting-edge musical exploration.

Allen Anderson, a professor specializing in composition and music theory, said the electro-acoustic genre had been of significant interest in the music department for some time.

“The advantage, in this day and age, is that a lot of stuff can be compressed to a small area, such as a laptop,” Anderson said. “It makes it so that you can produce music essentially anywhere.”

Anderson arrived at the University in the ’90s, when the department was shifting from analog to digital formats to make electronic music more accessible.

Despite the increased accessibility of the digital format, the Electro-Acoustic Studio was not created until 2006.

Stephen Anderson, assistant professor in composition and jazz studies, spearheaded the introduction of the current iteration of electronic music at UNC.

“Anytime somebody new comes into the department who is interested in this form, a certain amount of updating must be done due to the ever-evolving nature of the digital music scene,” Allen Anderson said.

The genre is defined by its experimental nature, Stephen Anderson said. The genre initially had two factions — the French musique concrète and the German elektronische Musik.

The French style favored more natural sounds to create a sound collage, while the German style was focused on synthesizing sounds to control every facet of the piece, Stephen Anderson said.

The styles merged into what is now modern day electro-acoustic music.

“What’s unique about the style is that it’s not so much about success in terms of whether a piece turns out great or not, but that we stretch ourselves and try new things,” Stephen Anderson said.

Last year’s Collaboration: Humanities, Arts and Technology festival — which Stephen and Allen Anderson helped organize, — showcased the mark the genre has made on campus.

“Part of it for me is about making [the style] available to our composers,” Stephen Anderson said. “And part of it is exposing the public to something they’re not aware of.”

The genre also helps composition students hone their craft.

“It’s always unique for students,” said Stephen Anderson. “I think it’s enlightening to them to take something so different from what they’re used to and try to make a viable musical piece with it.”

Junior Ndidi Morton, a composition major, echoed Stephen Anderson’s claims.

“At first, I wasn’t too excited since electronic music isn’t my thing,” said Morton. “But now, after working with it, I think it’s really broadened my musical palette.”

The works of Morton and her fellow classmates will be showcased Wednesday in Person Hall.

“There is truly a lot of different music out there in the world, and this is one of the most burgeoning fields in composition,” Stephen Anderson said. “Expect some highly experimental music.”

Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.