On this page, you can find the Culminating Experience (CE) Projects for all graduate students from the Berklee College of Music master’s program Music Production, Technology, and Innovation (MPTI) from 2015 – present. Click on any title for more information and access to the full paper and other deliverables (if available).
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Mindful
Peter Michael Amato
2017Intangible discoveries can be obtained through the thought provoking frequencies of rhythm and poetry. Once melodic dynamics and subtle elements arise, there exists an infinite force in the eyes of the beholder. Mindful by Amato PM is a conscious hip-hop/rap album that has a clear and concise focus: to elicit inner greatness. The various layers to this concept are expressed both lyrically and sonically throughout the long playing. The intention is for the record to be played throughout, while each track blends to form a larger movement. Each stands on it’s own two feet, but the full listen through generally brings forth a more transparent version of the artist’s vision. It is our daily actions that define who we are as a person. The jagged slope of life, with ups and downs, allow for us to discover new concepts, practices, and habits. These days then make up the time we spend in the world have. Chance is quite a powerful concept, which makes an appearance in Mindful through the compositional structure and generative tactics. Other topics, such as astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics, also state cases in several tracks. It seems as if the topics each play their role in the larger matter or in better expression the motivation as a whole. It is as if you can sense the ocean’s waves flowing in your veins, when the light bleeds through and you change your ways. Dream. For a dream is never false, unless you deem it so.
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MIRA
Andrés Mira Olarte
2017EP of 5 tracks making a fusion between traditional Latin music and electronic music.
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Three Cube
Nitin Muralikrishna
2017The objective of this project is to create a three-song world fusion/experimental EP with folk songs from three different regions around the world.
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Noceur Pneuma
Koray Onat
2017Noceur Pneuma is the name of the audio/visual artist, that's me, who performs live A/V live performances with/without installations and also aimed to have A/V experience exhibitions in Europe, related to his own music produced. His music is based on Minimal/Ethnic Techno.
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Randy Roughhouse – Some Like It Rough (EP + Construction Kit)
Ryan Ottney
2017The basis of this project is to compose, produce, mix, and master an extended play (EP), using custom acoustic and digital sounds, that blends electronic dance music genres in unique ways. Additionally, a construction kit of loops, one-shots, and Serum presets will be reverse engineered from and sold alongside the EP.
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Trip Seat: The Fox and the Mask
Evan Pott
2017Trip_Seat is an electronic music persona. The goal of this project is to develop and explore what it means to create interactive music experiences. These experiences will be manifested in the form of a dynamic A/V performance, and an interactive video game rich with lore. Taking inspiration from such artists as Damon Albarn and his Gorillaz project, Trip_Seat is intended to be a unique character with a fantastical origin story of betrayal, rage, and vengeance.
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A Multimedia Producer
AJ Ramirez
2017The basis of this project is to develop a portfolio of works as a multimedia producer in the increasingly intertwined fields of music, sound and visual production. The final deliverable for this project will be a collection of works and documentation presented in the form of a website, focusing on but not limited to the role as Head of Music and Sound for a film produced in conjunction with fellow MPTI candidate Matt McIntyre, who is the head visual producer for the film. It will be shown at the City of Arts and Sciences IMAX Hemispheric Dome in 6.1 3D Sound in June 2017.
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Last Night: Serum User Library & 12 Track Professional Release “Monolith”
Henry Rater
2017The objective of this project was to create a diverse, wide-ranging professional sound library by the end of the program, accompanied with the release of 12 original productions and suitable artwork. This project will include a live DJ set, which will include the music, along with an attached press kit and streamlined social media presence.
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Electronic Turntablism
Elliott Sabbagh
2017This CE project will combine my engineering and Dj’ing/ Live performance skills into one cohesive final product displaying my ability’s in both subjects. With creating each stem compiling my entire piece, I would like to perform my track using each stem on separate turntables and mix them during a live performance. My Culminating Experience project will consist of an original track produced by myself while featuring artists and instrumentalists from Berklee Valencia, Berklee Boston, and my contacts within the states. I would like to include a male vocalist as well as a female vocalist to feature on either my track’s hook, or harmonies thought-out the song. The track will be tracked, mixed, and mastered by myself in Studio A and AKSS scoring stage. The track would release on Spotify, iTunes, and Tidal as the first track under my own name on any of the 3 streaming services.
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ASTERISM
Satyam Sangwan
2017The basic concept of the project is to record a 4 track EP which mainly focuses on the collaboration between classical and electronic music in particular. In addition, this project will include am audio visual interactive performance for one of the tracks, which will involve projection mapping on a 3D sculpture synchronised with the music.
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Journey Through A Tempest
Guy Schneider
2017Journey through a Tempest is an audiovisual live performance for solo drummer inspired by Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. The sonic material is composed of recorded and processed material from natural environments, the city and acoustic instruments. Visuals are derived from footage of water as well as drums. The performance involves a drum set prepared to trigger audio and visual material in real time. The composition lasts for 11 minutes and takes the audience from pleasure to distress, from quiet calmness towards an ear-piercing and chaotic climax.
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ONAI: An Ethereal Journey
Naseem Silver-Hajo
2017ONAI is an audio/visual duo that makes Electronic Bass music, combining complex soundscapes with captivating visual narratives. ONAI guides the listener through a journey that is carefully curated by both members of the group who specialize in audio and visual live performance. ONAI is pushing the envelope by experimenting with crowd reactive technologies, and harnessing the energy of the audience to enhance the A/V experience.
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Artificial Irrelevance
John Snelgrove
2017Artificial Irrelevance tackles the difficult task of writing song lyrics. The project explores the relationship between an author and his tools, and ultimately culminates in a long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network algorithm for generating song lyrics, and an EP of folk songs co-written with the algorithm.
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Travel Far: A Collection of Sonic Narratives
Greg Somerville
2017“Travel Far” is a 6 song EP immersing the listener into a fantastical realm of songwriting and sound-writing, with themes and emotions influenced by experiences in the real world.
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Choreosphere
Brenton Stokes
2017Choreosphere is a portable microcosm in which dancers come to terms with their art by designing spaces to ft their needs. Dancers will be able to transform their personal spaces into places in which they imagine themselves dancing whether it be for body strength training, inner confdence building, or as a choreographic aid. It will be constructed as a simulation foor plan of holograms encapsulated by a projector and semi-orthogonally arranged, transparent lenses.
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Abroad - A Short Film
Samuel Zhang
2017Abroad is a short film that serves as a music video for two original compositions that I have produced. The story consists of a fictionalized version of myself, who reflects on his life one day during his stay in Valencia. The music discusses adulthood, relationships, and partying, as well as some other themes. The project also serves as my debut production in both film and music, and the film is intended to launch my professional career.
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Acoustic Chair
Jorge Alamar Oliver
2016My project consists of building a chair that solves all the problems related to inconsistencies within acoustic spaces. With this product you will be able to listen to your monitor speakers with the best possible response in any space. This project will be based on acoustic and architectural research, making sure that your ears are placed in a correct acoustic environment. To achieve this, I will be following some principles of physics such as “the head should not be situated in a space with parallel walls, to avoid frequency cancelations issues”, “the correct placement of acoustic absorption materials” and “The Lyon method of measured acoustic reflections”.
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Project W/A\V
Kyle Andrew Tesalona
2016Project W/A\V began like any innovation, as a solution to a problem. As a violinist, I wondered how I could implement electronics into my own performances. I toyed around with guitar pedals and ran into a couple of major problems. My largest concern was that the effects that I wanted to use were static. What if I wanted to make a filter sweep? What if I wanted to change the size of my reverb? What If I wanted to change the rate of my tremolo? What if I wanted to mix the signals of each effect? I would have to stop playing, reach down at my pedalboard and change those settings, and even then, the effects would stay unwavering. With this in mind I began to research more into what was already available at the time within modern electronic music. I was enamored of the flexibility that some of my favorite DJ’s had with their sound. They were able to manipulate the sound in every which way possible. I was envious, and I decided that that type of flexibility would be something the I would like to implement to the instrument that I know, the violin. My goal with project W/A\V is to be a developer in the world of electro-acoustic music by shedding new light on a fresh way to manipulate an acoustic instrument live. With a growing audience for progressive modern music. With our growing knowledge of music and technology and a expanding taste for electronic music in the mainstream, this only seems to be an appropriate and strong step forward in the world of electro-acoustic music and new music as a whole.
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Polychrome Love
Oldair Arau
201612 song album and live show multimedia experience that goes with it.
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Stutter
Daniel Babai
2016For my culminating experience, I would like to create an album of electronic music that builds on music I am already making but focuses on the concept of what it is like to have a speech impediment. I plan on making this album mostly instrumental, with a few guest artists mostly in the form of vocalists. I would like this album to be composed of eight songs total, and progress in chronological order of my experience as a stutterer. As is true with any struggle humans have to overcome, I have had a lot of ups and downs, thus there will be a lot of tension and release throughout the album. With the release of this album, I would like to have physical releases with my label, MelodySoul, as well as have a music video that I direct and edit for the “single” of the record. As an artist, I am a hip-hop and Neo-Soul producer, focusing on vibey grooves with hard hitting drums and vintage-sounding keyboard and synthesizer sounds. I would like to further expand my repertoire by adding new-age bass sounds, focusing heavily on intricate sound design to this record. Combining easy-going grooves with hard-cutting bass will also help illustrate the drastic changes in the my ups and downs of my speech impediment.
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Utilizing The Future of Electronic Music
David Bakker
2016This Culminating Experience proposal therefore seeks to promote an analysis of changes in popular EDM in the last five years and to highlight successful trends and developments. By analysing these developments, estimations into future developments of EDM might be revealed. These estimations will then be incorporated into the creation of an EP of five songs that draw influence from different genres in each song. This EP will be ready for distribution by the end of June 2016. This process aims to create a unique product that is appropriate for commercial distribution and promotion. The uniqueness of this product is hoped to generate a great deal of interest promoting the artist’s potential success.
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Cosmic Clown: Forging a solo-tech show in a mobile sound system
Elias Bendix
2016My Culminating Experience consists of the creation, producing and performance of material for an EP. I expect the final EP to contain at least 3 tracks that I feel satisfied with, and confident releasing. To reach this, I intend to compose at least 10 songs that I can select from, having in mind that the EP tracks are stepping stones toward building a repertoire for a full album that can be performed on stage. My aim is dual, as I first of all, wish to challenge and develop my own musical identity, and at the same time improve my musical productions skills and ability to write music for the use of other artist. Behind this dual aim is a wish to manifest what my own musical vision is, and how these express itself in every song a write and produce.
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The Underpinnings of Electronic Music: A Study and Application of Electronic Music Theory
Ryan Binhammer
2016For my culminating experience I plan to compose an original seven-track electronic album and produce four associated studio videos. The album will showcase my personal style along with my findings on the underpinnings of electronic music. To learn about these substructures in electronic music I will employ research, active listening, and personal musical experimentation. The four studio videos I create will each correspond to a track on my album and essentially function as online tutorials of my techniques and theories on electronic music. However, they will also document my journey making my album, further my online presence, showcase my teaching abilities, and market my music. I will release both my album and the studio videos on YouTube (individually spread over time, as well as Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, Soundcloud). My individual tracks will feature visual audio spectrums made within After Effects (similar to many record label YouTube channels such as Monstercat).
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Evolving the Flamenco Cajón
Giannino Clemente
2016A standalone acoustic-digital instrument, evolved from the flamenco cajón, that expands the percussionists’ toolbox and fusion the organic nature of the cajón with the endless possibilities of the digital universe. Using pressure and sound sensors to capture playing information, this instrument will be able to communicate with existing and most used applications through hardware and software bridges like Arduino and MAX. This instrument will be an evolution of the flamenco cajón, and will start from a regular cajón that expand its capabilities using sensors, and a micro-computer to make a complete sound and effects generation system controlled by the cajon player that could be plugged directly into a speaker or amp. It will also serve as a MIDI controller that you can plug into a computer or a MIDI device. The micro-computer could be a single board (like Arduino) or a board arrangement (Arduino + Raspberry Pi, Arduino + Extensions...).
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Becoming a Digital Humanist: An Autobiographical Nonlinear Digital Story
Jeffrey Cobbold
2016My CE Becoming a Digital Humanist: An Autobiographical Nonlinear Digital Story (BDH) is a six episode nonlinear digital story demonstrating the power and importance of autobiography. It tells the story of my educational journey from Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) to Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain (BV). Within the story I explore the themes of race, tradition, individuality and my desired place in the academic area of the digital humanities. Through experimental music, conceptual art and basic documentation viewers are invited to decipher my personal sense of becoming and discover their own sense of self-actualization through observation of my story. This digital story has been created through the process of artistic research as related to the practice of music and music technology within the MPTI program. The six episodes are to be watched in any order viewers choose, as long as all episodes are viewed in their entirety.