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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RINGING: A Perspective of Art and the Artist
Lionel Rodriguez
2024This project encompasses the writing, directing, shooting, scoring, editing, acting, sound designing, and both stereo and Dolby Atmos mixing of a 17-minute experimental short film titled Ringing which narrates the story of a musician experiencing hearing loss. Drawing its visual style from films such as Metropolis, Nosferatu, and other German expressionist works, this project seeks to offer an innovative approach to independent audiovisual storytelling. During the creation of this film, significant challenges included developing a malleable storyline that could be restructured without chronological order to create new narratives. Additionally, the project faced the difficulty of honoring its inspirational sources while advancing newer methods of storytelling. The use of monochrome visuals, combined with experimental sounds from synthesizers, was crucial in achieving a cohesive aesthetic. With no dialogue, this film aims to transcend language barriers, allowing audiences from diverse cultures to appreciate it equally. The project strives to inspire the breaking of conventional rules in independent artistic endeavors.
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Sandbox Sessions
Alexander Schindler
2024As more forms of content move into the digital world, there remains a void in the world of live music performance. Platforms such as NPR’s Tiny Desk have succeeded in presenting high-quality video and audio by recording in an intimate indoor space. However, what if that same level of quality could be achieved while recording performances in lush scenes of nature? Sandbox Sessions aims to deliver this new medium of music video consumption by recording live performances with 4K video and professionally mixed audio. Through implementing various effects via After Effects, Sandbox Sessions will also feature subtle psychedelic visuals layered on top of the scenic background landscapes. The goals of this collaborative project between the author and his colleague, Tahir Patwala, include learning the nuances of live and post production for audio and video, delivering a professional and innovative product that is easily digestible for any viewer, and building a unique brand.
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Fractals
Vedant Shankar
2024This paper presents Fractals, an exploratory music project by the author, which aims to uniquely blend various genres across multiple sections. The distinctiveness of this project lies in the author’s experience as a versatile musician, with experience ranging from rock bands and big bands to chamber orchestras, coupled with proficiency as a producer/DJ. This background of musical experience allows the author to approach the blend of genres with a unique perspective. The collection of songs serves as a precursor for four separate EPs: The project is not just a musical amalgamation but also an academic inquiry into the evolution of these genres, including an analysis of influential works and a reflection on the potential for innovative soundscapes in electronic music. Through this project, the author endeavors to leave a personal stamp on the electronic music scene, showcasing a synthesis of diverse musical influences and creative experimentation. This endeavor aims to contribute a distinctive auditory experience to the electronic music landscape, underlined by the author's unique musical journey. This paper was written with the assistance from generative artificial intelligence. Additional information in Appendix II.
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Vocal production
Beti Strgar
2024Vocal production – a research and development of an original approach to vocal production
This project aimed to enhance the author’s approach to vocal production through a combination of research on vocal production and practical experiences gained from both producing vocals for others and being vocally produced by others. It involved a comprehensive exploration of the various stages of vocal production. Starting from the preproduction phase, which involves refining melody lines and lyrics and getting ready for a session, to the engineering and tracking vocals where the author selects the appropriate microphone for the singer and manages Pro Tools sessions, to leading and overseeing a vocal session, and finally the mixing stage where the author developed a vocal processing chain.
Additionally, the study delved into the experiences of singers and focused on their needs to deliver the best vocal performances in the studio. The primary objective of this research was to deepen the author’s understanding of vocal production processes and refine methods for his future work as a vocal producer.
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Tightrope's The Way: The Production of a Concept Album
Ari Troper
2024The basis of this project is to record, produce, and mix 7 songs selected from a catalog of 53 demos written by the author’s band Tightrope for a long play (LP) titled The Way that blends genres and tells a story. The genres represented in this album consist of psychedelic rock, blues, funk, jazz, and pop, and are influenced by artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Crumb, and Tame Impala. The LP tells the story of a character who feels directionless as he embarks on his journey to find “the way.” Throughout the process of recording the album, arrangements were re-written, new parts were composed and recorded, and creative production techniques were applied. Perhaps the biggest challenge during this process was battling “demoitis,” the notion that one becomes attached to the sound and elements of the demos. In the future, the author intends to master the songs and market them. This project emphasizes the art of production, and how the author fused demos that were previously loosely connected to create one cohesive and compelling work of art.
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Life of a Yellow Kid: an audiovisual electro-pop LP
Luis Valdez
2024The basis of this project is to compose, record, produce and mix an eleven song album (LP) with a visualizer, logo and design for each track. The author designed all of the artworks for the songs and LP and produced videos and content for said LP. Also, the author combined all of his influences from electronic music and other genres to create something new to expand the limits of electronic music. This album was influenced by works of artists like Madeon, Porter Robinson, Louis The Child, Urboi, Medasin, Fred Again.. and The Weeknd. Song-writing, recording, sound design, creative production techniques, mixing, graphic design and audiovisual production were the skills and tools necessary for the completion of this LP. The main focus of the LP was to combine different genres of music, like Electro-pop, UK Garage, Pop, House and Drum and Bass. Also this album is about personal experiences of the author and it covers different feelings throughout the LP, creating a sunset literally and figuratively within the album.
This paper was written without any assistance from generative artificial intelligence.
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“Who I Am”: A Concept EP of Exploring Unique Self and Musical Identity
Ruolin Wang
2024This project is the author's debut EP, aiming to explore the question of ‘Who I Am’ from both personal and musical perspectives. While the theme is centered on the author’s journey, it carries a broader universal meaning. It intends to inspire people to delve into and embrace their authentic emotions and inner world, fostering self-awareness and defining what makes us distinctive and unique individuals. In the realm of music, it brought the author to explore and discover her unique sonic palette and musical identity as a songwriter and producer. While making this genre-bending 7-track EP featuring experimental pop, alternative rock, electronica, and ambient soundtrack, one challenge was defining the cohesive characters in the author’s music and maintaining the integrity of the existing styles, sounds, and general aesthetics. Taking the roles of singer-songwriter, producer, and mixer, the author developed solid composition and production techniques and utilized sound design skills to further enhance the personality of her music.
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It Came From the Ether - EP
Andy Whelan Vita
2024This project aims to explore genre fusion within contemporary music production, driven by the dual goals of advancing production skills and uncovering innovative compositional techniques relevant to musical endeavors. This project is important in creating a bridge between musical styles, in the hope of connecting different cultures through musical expression. Beginning with an in-depth analysis of diverse musical traditions such as Blue Note, Cadet, modern UK jazz, R&B, House, Hip Hop, and Flamenco, the focus was on understanding the distinct production and recording techniques associated with each tradition. This involved studying the techniques employed by notable engineers and integrating these insights into the workflow. The culmination of this project resulted in the creation of a short EP comprising five original compositions, complemented by a music video for one of the tracks. Throughout the creation of this project, production and engineering abilities were developed and technical challenges were overcome while expanding creative boundaries through collaboration. This project hopes to inspire future musical innovation and aims to push stylistic boundaries further, exploring new creative possibilities. It aims to provide valuable insights for musicians and producers navigating artistic musical integration, contributing to broader discussions in music in the modern era.
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Vibe Till We Evaporate: An Innovative Fusion of R&B and Electronic Music
Kai Wu
2024This project titled Vibe Till We Evaporates which is an album in contemporary R&B, neo-soul, electronic, and alternative music, it is an album containing thirteen songs and aims at capturing the modern sound in the contemporary R&B and electronic music world. The purpose is to deliver an album that interacts with different genres and musical influences, combining them together to create a journey and immersive musical experience to express the author's inner world of self-discovery. The project will show the creative process of the author's approaches, as well as the author’s artistic production and mixing style, and it will also emphasize on the most important elements in R&B genre. Additionally, the album will be composed, written, produced, and mixed by the author, the final project will be a full length LP that has thirteen songs. This project focuses on the diversity of contemporary R&B through the base in the genre’s fundamental characteristic.
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Las Memorias de tu Jardín
Luis Sergio Zavalza
2024This culminating experience project focuses on the creation of a six-song album composed, produced, recorded and mixed by the author. The album is designed to serve as an homage to those affected by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's within his family, keeping their stories alive. The inspiration behind this project stems from the deeply personal experiences of the author's relatives who have battled these diseases, set against the backdrop of their home country, Mexico.
Each song in the album incorporates a unique blend of sonic elements carefully chosen for their relation to the environment and context of the referred people, including musical instruments and techniques from different regions of the country.
This holistic approach to music composition and production seamlessly integrates cultural and personal elements, creating a touching and multifaceted soundscape, while honoring the lives and memories of his loved ones.
By merging music, cultural heritage, and storytelling, the project aims to keep these memories and stories alive through the songs.
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Sentimental: Uruguayan Indie Pop EP
Damien Alvarez de Toledo
2023The Basis of this project is to write and record an extended play (EP) in order to express beauty mainly in the genres of England-originated Indie-Pop with influences from Uruguayan Rock. This project intends, in this way, to perform a cross-cultural bridging by combining English and Uruguayan genres of music respectively. The EP will contain 6 songs.
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All 'Round The World
Gustavo Baez
2023This project combines multiple cultural expressions, sounds, and art forms from various countries, portraying the influence of culture in music and history by creating an extended play. The basis of the project is to represent different cultural images through the combination of sounds and genres from various countries and a series of techniques that allows the listener to have a unique listening experience. Different musical ideas and expressions merged in the various records to represent the concept of crossed cultures. Creativity and innovation are key aspects. Cross-culture plays a significant role in the music industry. Responsible for incredible diversity and innovation in creating and recording a record, extended play, or album. Ethnicity, age, and many more are critical for creating any art form.
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TINTEÁN: An Interactive Installation to Encourage Exploration of the Everyday
Kevin Cleary
2023This Culminating Experience project involved the composition, construction and operation of an interactive multimedia art installation. Visitors to this installation heard a musical piece when inside the installation, and were able to physically interact with various objects placed within. These interactions triggered changes to the music heard. The purpose of this project was to encourage exploration and curiosity in everyday settings. All music used in the installation was original, and the interactions will be mapped to changes in the music using a combination of hardware sensors (light, pressure, capacitance) and software (Arduino, Ableton Live). The space used was fashioned to resemble a campsite, in particular those found at typical camping music festivals, using objects commonly found in these spaces.
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Afro House At Berklee: A Study of African American Female Representation in House Music
Chelsea Comeau
2023In the international dance music scene, women and people of color are underrepresented in positions of producers and DJs. Often women are singers and limited in their access to knowledge, skill set, and visibility while DJs are highly celebrated. The purpose of this project was to develop DJ techniques, production proficiency, and live performance skills in order to provide diverse cultural compositions and sets to create unity through sound, vibration, and visuals. In addition, a song in the style of Afro House and R&B, was written and recorded in order to create visibility for underrepresented groups and create a narrative that is unique to the artist. Certain influences such as Sade, Alicia Keys and Black Coffee will be studied and represented. The artist’s objective was to evolve from a singer into an electronic musician, producer, and DJ in order to bridge the gap in disparities in gender and race in the music industry and the international dance music scene. The completion of this project provided representation, a new perspective of women in production and a blending of culture, genres, and music. As a result of developing the skills and expertise in production and performance, the artist will be equipped to continually create representation and change in the music industry.
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Electronic Music Performance and the Drumset: Combining and Extending Approaches for Innovation
Jonty Czuchwicki
2023For this project the author researched, prepared, and performed a 30-minute audio-visual performance of original electronic music using Ableton Live, external controllers, live percussion, and Max. The purpose was to deliver a project is applicable for commercial touring while documenting the artist’s processes and performances throughout its development. The final performance featured six songs of experimental, left-field electronica and was performed and videotaped at a music venue in front of a live audience. The artist delivered their Ableton Live Session file, Max Patch file, two prototype performance videos and a pro-shot multi-camera video of the final performance. The author developed new skills in post-production, live set preparation, performance, and visual programming while navigating the physical and technical challenges of designing a multi-faceted live performance for the drum set. The author has contributed a unique and innovative approach to electronic music performance for the drum set with prospects for commercial touring, additional development, and the education of others.
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Electronic Experimentation within Pop Music
John de la Prida
2023The aim of this project is to create an Extended Play (EP) and a live performance centered in the genre of pop, with an additional goal of testing different techniques for vocal manipulation. The EP will focus especially on using electronic/experimental sounds and vocal processing and resampling while maintaining a pop song structure. The live performance will focus on creating a live performance setup with Ableton using the songs from the EP, electronic/digital instruments, and live vocals/vocal processing. It will offer viewers/listeners alternate versions of the songs from the EP, with cohesive transitions between each song for a unique, entertaining performance. The delivery of this project will include the 6 completed songs and a recorded live performance incorporating the songs from the EP.
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Convention From the Unconventional: The Intersection of Academic Music and Pop Music
Michael Delgado
2023This project explores the incorporation of unconventional techniques derived from academic music into pop music while aiming to create a conventional and accessible sound for a broad audience. While many pop artists have introduced academic or experimental music into the pop realm, the result often sounds intentionally unconventional. This five-track EP serves as the illustration of integrating rarely-used scales such as the Chromatic, Octatonic, Locrian, Augmented, and Enigmatic scales into pop music while maintaining simple and familiar song structure, arrangement, and musical phrases to sound conventional. Each track required unique approaches, such as utilizing the full range of 12 notes and overcoming limitations of the aforementioned scales. By exploring the intersection of academic music and popular music, this project expands the possibilities for pop musicians and listeners, providing a framework to enhance creativity and broaden the world of contemporary pop music for artists and audiences.
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Wasting Time EP: A Debut Release as a Solo Artist
Theodore Dumont
2023In a changing world, people are often drawn to things that feel familiar and nostalgic. Perhaps this explains the persistent trend of recycling old sounds into new music. The current popular music always reflects new advances in production technology as well as elements adapted from previous generations of music. This culminating experience project centered around the creation of an EP containing 6 songs, with the stylistic goal of pushing musical boundaries while retaining an atmosphere of nostalgia. This involved writing, producing, recording, mixing, and mastering the material. The production drew from the genres of indie pop, synth pop, and hyper-pop. Rock, hip-hop, disco, and EDM served as secondary sources of influence. The sonic palate of the music included processed vocals, electric guitar, “retro” sound design featuring analog synthesizers, and “glitchy” resampled textures. The EP will be released on streaming services and promoted to reach a larger audience. This will necessitate building a team to develop promotional materials, including social media content and music videos. As a whole, this project developed and premiered an artistic voice for a solo musical project.
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An EDM Revolution: The introduction of odd metres and rhythmic experiments in modern day electronic dance music
Rares Florea
20234/4 has been the dominant measure for EDM due to its even, intuitive cyclical nature and high danceability. However, throughout history, 4/4 was only one of the many time signatures used by composers to make danceable music. Odd metres such as 3/4, 5/4, 7/8, are also all time signatures that have been used throughout the history of music seem to have fallen out of favour as it progressed. Therefore, the goal of this project is to create a collection of tracks that explore the possibilities of tuple and odd metres in combination with modern electronic music elements while also exploring the reason these metres have disappeared from the popular scene as music evolved. The creative work will feature key limitations i.e. the resulting songs will have to present a clear sense of musicality and danceability and be aimed for the general public. Moreover, the project will also aim to solve relevant issues in terms of music distribution through DJ sets by exploring concepts such as metric modulation. Additionally, to provide better support for the academic work, interviews with musicians who have attempted composition in this direction will be conducted in order to provide more insight and different views on the matter.
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Evie: A Max for Live Device
Lars Gardner
2023This CE project investigates how an instrument can react to the live musician by adding to a performance or studio recording through technological means. The desired outcome is finding a balance between improvisation and controlled musical elements during a performance using technology. Through the programs Max MSP and Ableton, the student created a Max for Live Device that reacts to the input of a microphone. Based on the incoming information, the patch enables FX processing and algorithms that adhere to frequency, velocity, and range parameters. The device, named Evie, works in exclusively in Ableton and will be potentially available to those with Ableton Suite. Knowledge of Max to use the device will not be required to operate it, as an intuitive interface accompanies it. The device aims to push the live performer to engage with technology to explore the new ways the musician can perform.
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MultiVerb
Darryl Gay
2023Imagine a productive audio workflow where creating is simplified with just a few clicks of a button. Something minimal but yet so powerful. Essentially, the idea is to work smarter and not harder. With that being said, the basis of this project is to create an audio effect plugin that will simplify the overall production and engineering process in order to increase the productivity in anyone's workflow. In addition, this project intends to give users a complete hands-on creative experience as well as the flexibility to engineer and produce in any Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The author caters to bedroom producers as well as home studio engineers. With this in mind, the author understands the limitations that are present when it comes to creating in a compromising environment. From untreated rooms that may not be suitable for recording to housemates or neighbors that may not be a fan of music being played after a certain time, these are common issues known within the community and this audio effect plugin will provide solutions to all of these issues with the help of groundbreaking technology in order to use more of an creative and innovative approach rather than a straightforward one.
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Creating Space: Discovering Maestra Chameleon through Classical Music Sampling
Maya Giles
2023The rapid development of technology over the last 20 years, significantly the internet, has given Gen Z exposure to all the music of the world within one click. With it, the next generation of artists have disregarded the boundaries of genres and their musical ear has become the defining factor of their artistry. Through Maestra Chameleon, one of the musical identities within AYAM, this project seeks to experiment with classical music and film score samples in the dance music scene to present a new perspective on classical music. An EP collection of 6 instrumental tracks, each sample was chosen with a loose connection to the theme of water in honor of the Nigerian goddess Yemaya. The intention of the project is twofold: innovating how classical music can be sampled in live contexts and used in modern day productions and to open up new ways of listening to classical music.
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The Expanded Electric Guitar
Pedro Herrera Delgado
2023The expanded instruments have gone through different variants but electronic-digital technology has given them sufficient expansion and sound production. An Expanded Electric Guitar is an hybrid electric-digital instrument, equipped with a joystick and foot switches. This components allow the instrument to create alternative forms of controlling 3D shapes and audio effects in real time; making a representation that go beyond the traditional use of the guitar as a musical instrument. This instrument was developed for interacting as a MIDI controller with diverse audio and video softwares to generate an audiovisual experience. This tool facilitates the modification of the parameters of the visuals as the color, the position, dimensions and modified them according to the sound effects you choose.
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The Interactive DJ: Audience Participation in a Live DJ Performance Setting
Nicholas Iacono
2023The goal of this project was to develop a live audience engagement tool for DJs. At the project’s inception in the fall of 2022, there were already a number of tools available to provide audiences with an opportunity to give musical input - namely Festify, LimeDJ, and RequestNow. After critically analyzing the aforementioned tools, the author designed and held a DJ set wherein the audience voted for styles of music and he created mashups of the two most-voted-for styles. Having a DJ act as both programmer and performer led to some significant obstacles in the performance not limited to heavy computer CPU load; nevertheless, the project became a use-case for quickly evolving AI stem generators (particularly Serato Stems1) and the author intends to recreate the project as a game for DJs to test their transition and mixing skills.
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Gisovān: Voicing a Revolution
Shabnam Jafarinasab Kermani
2023Gisovān: Voicing a Revolution was an artistic reaction, reflection, and protest in response to the women-led revolution in Iran, beginning in 2022. The aim of this project was to bring the elements of sound, structure, and visuals together in an interactive sound installation that focused on and raised awareness of the 2022 women’s rights movement in Iran. With a touch-triggered mechanism, interaction was an essential feature of this installation as it encouraged audience participation, and invited the listener to gain awareness of the background and relevant on-going information behind the global “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, and raise the voice of the Iranian people. Primarily, this project featured melodic and harmonic vocal lines - originally composed by the artist - and exclusively sung by female singers. The audience could trigger the playback of these lines, and create their unique anthems; thus, joining the movement in support of the people of Iran in their own way.