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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Address: The Future of Life on Earth
Vittorio Arno
2020The purpose of this Culminating Experience (CE) project is to address the climate crisis by creating an immersive Audio-Visual presentation. The first step is to carry out background research on the causes and effects of global warming, such as the melting of glaciers and rising sea level. Then, the creative process consists of video capturing known environments (i.e., seaside, mountains), editing and adding effects to the videos to give an abstract depiction of the alterations that are happening daily to our ecosystem, and composing music to reflect those visuals. The project is delivered as two main music videos, and four short animations, with the aim to raise awareness about the emergency and inspire spectators to take action.
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Underwater: a Singer-Songwriter EP with electronic elements
Brigitte Blanchard
2020For this project, Brigitte developed her artistic voice and experimented with incorporating electronic elements into her original acoustic singer-songwriter music. She wanted to experiment with combining acoustic and electronic sounds since prior to her year at Berklee she had used almost exclusively utilized acoustic sounds. During the project, Brigitte experimented with different production approaches, striving to incorporate new techniques and software into her creative process. Some of the techniques she experimented with include adding MIDI, sound design and using Ableton Live as a compositional tool. By the end of this process she composed and recorded an EP. Brigitte wanted to experiment with combining these two genres because she appreciates when producers are able to combine a singer-songwriter style with an electronic production. Many times this is achieved through remixes or collaborations, but Brigitte wanted to experiment with doing this herself as part of the original composition.
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Dream-Folk EP & Watercolor Visuals
Delia Joyce Bowman
2020This project combines three areas of interest that Delia Joyce grew up around — mixed media art, music, and social movements. It will be an EP of five original songs, woven together through watercolor visuals and abstract video. Each song will tell a different story. Themes of mental health, sexuality, intersectionality, social media, body image, sexual assault, and nature will weave throughout the entire EP. Delia’s objective for this project is to tell difficult and colorful stories from her own life in a way that is accessible to a diverse audience and connect those folks who share some of the same experiences.
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The Black Girl’s Guide to Live Mixing: Understanding the Art of Live Sound Engineering as a Woman of Color
Destiny S. Carter
2020This portfolio displays the processes of understanding basics of live sound through the personal experiences of a novice technician. Through observing how live sound is conducted within a male-dominated field, this project caters to marginalized audiences eager to learn live sound reinforcement with limited resources. With individual research, and partial supervision under the Berklee Production Team (BPT), the objectives presented explore the use of mixing boards, signal flow, set-up and more. This knowledge will be utilized by showcasing a live sound vlog series that includes 4-6 beginner tutorials, providing accessible knowledge to a diverse target market typically under-served within this field. A lack of live sound experience, learning terminology, equipment, and other crucial knowledge make it extremely challenging from a beginner's standpoint. However, a well-executed plan of both hands-on and technical application, engages other beginners to freely practice live sound engineering, while also supporting, and representing minorities within the field.
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Developing and Marketing a Songwriting Portfolio
Wyatt Cmar
2020This CE project consists of a songwriting portfolio made up of twenty individually written and co-written pieces. These songs range between a number of different styles of music including pop, folk, indie-pop, and indie-rock. Their production styles similarly range from purely acoustic performances to fully in-the-box productions, making use of professional studio recording equipment as well as at-home production techniques. Each initial songwriting session lasted approximately two hours, and final production was performed within Ableton Live and Pro Tools. The development of these pieces has been accompanied by research concerning the best practices for songwriting, the state of the songwriting industry, as well as new opportunities for songwriters to compete in the current marketplace. This thesis should serve as a guideline to other songwriters interested in practicing the craft at a professional level.
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Tales of the Lost Worlds: An Immersive Audio Approach to Storytelling
Mirte de Vrieze
2020The purpose of ‘Tales of the Lost Worlds: An Immersive Audio Approach to Storytelling’ is to compile an online immersive audio portfolio of three short stories made for YouTube and Facebook. The material is a mixture of pre-existing and new audio and visuals, each focused on an original story. The motivation behind this research is to consolidate a storytelling approach utilizing immersive audio to enrich the experience of a surrealistic world. A variety of techniques and plugins have been researched in order to mix ambisonics. The result is a diverse and coherent portfolio that displays competence in immersive mixing and a future of captivating storytelling.
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Development of a Professional Audio Engineering Portfolio
Kartikeya Dixit
2020This project aims to develop a signature style and a unique voice of the engineer as a working professional in the industry. The aim of this project is to mix and master several pieces of musical performances of different styles and genres. The engineer will explore different miking and post production techniques to make the artist’s vision a reality.
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Chakram & Runthika Creative Collective: Bridging Cinema and Alternative Pop Audiences
Viraj R. Gandhi
2020This project aimed to diversify the stylistic output of the artistic moniker Chakram under his burgeoning umbrella production company Runthika Creative Collective. Previously, this moniker focused on composing abstract and experimental music for the films also released under this moniker. Moving forward, this portfolio will grow to incorporate produced music from a lyrically driven EP to expand the range of audiences this moniker’s work appeals to, examples from the upcoming film, In Search of Sumitra, entitled ‘Mirror Image Neurons’ and ‘Elevator to the Dream Plane,’ a vocal single ‘Turtles,’ as well as a commissioned production ‘Evolution’ for Emily Shek, MPTI 2020. While this portfolio will retain the textural emphasis associated with previous work, its focus is to bridge the worlds of experimentalism and pop and join these often disparately categorized genres and divided audiences. Furthermore, at the crossroads of this unification, there will be a liminal space for cinephile audiences to explore the fringes of pop, while simultaneously introducing casual music listeners to accessible, yet uncanny reimaginations of lyrically driven content. Innovation occurs at the interdisciplinary confluence of two seemingly unrelated concepts, marrying pop with experimentalism is essential for the growth of both genres. This juxtaposition softens formulaic songwriting structures while utilizing the framework of established structures to allow for the diaspora of alternative music to new audiences. Ultimately, this portfolio contains a range of pieces that expand this producer’s musical skills and repertoire to unexplored territories with the challenge to package challenging and fringe artistic visions within an invitation to potential new audiences.
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Behind the Rise: Chinese Hip-hop History Research
Yuhao Gao
2020While hip hop music is considerably one of the most popular music genres in the United States, the hip-hop industry in China is only slowly merging to public starting from the late 2000s. The main purpose for this paper is to discover the history for hip hop industry in China and especially analyze reasons behind the rapid climb in the industry beginning from late 2017. There will include not only detailed historical data for Chinese hip-hop, but also promotion strategy and commercial operation analysis involved along the whole journey. The author collects the research data through multiple online sources like online traffic reports, social media, searching engine, etc...and gets in touch with many rising local artists to capture their opinions for the “Rising of Chinese hip-hop” as objectively as possible. This is the first time those history has been documented in English, and the author hopes to give readers outside the mandarin world a glimpse of what Chinese hip-hop industry has been developed so far.
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Mjanja Production Portfolio: Finding a Path as a Post-COVID Music Technologist
David Gilmore
2020In order to be a leader in the field, the one needs to dedicate some time to cultivating the skills, connections, and behaviors exhibited by the leaders in the music industry. In order to accomplish this, the author positioned himself to work on original compositions and collaborations that would enhance his pre-existing skillset. Throughout the year, this project took many forms as a result of a number of factors – changing interests, available resources, and the global pandemic that affected every single person in 2020. The author compiled the best of those compositions into a portfolio that highlights the strong suits of his skillset.
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beanboi – Beans, Memes, & Laser Beams: The Creation of a Brand, an EP, & an Audio-Visual Performance
Jacob Henbest
2020The overall goal for this project is to present an electronic music EP created from original sounds in the form of an audio-visual performance. The EP and performance, along with a website that includes a portfolio and sample packs, will reinforce the brand of the artist, “beanboi.” The sound design and music creation process strive to break common habits of mindless, improvised creation within a Digital Audio Workstation by providing limitations and an original concept. By incorporating unorthodox recording techniques, creative studio engineering, and reducing time spent solely in a DAW, this project aims to push the boundaries of sound design, sound recording, and sound manipulation. The EP will be performed live with synchronized visuals that match the style of music. This project will display advanced skills in engineering and sound design, provide new and interesting audio samples to artists and producers, and incorporate the production of an engaging performance.
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Rediscovering Filmmaking: A Personal Journey
David-James Hughes Hepburn
2020This Culminating Experience Project is a portfolio demonstrating a large corpus of video content created and recorded for collaborative projects, work for hire, and any extracurricular activities that were taken up during the 2019–2020 school year at Berklee Valencia. The portfolio consists of sixteen (16) major projects the author either recorded or recorded and edited over the course of December 2019 – February 2020. The portfolio will ultimately be presented in an online only format on the video service Vimeo both as a single “megamix” video reel, as well as individual videos for each completed project.
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KANEDA: PRODUCER, COMPOSER AND DJ
Kaneda Kimani
2020As an upcoming Music Producer, Artist and DJ, the branding and establishment of Kaneda in the music industry is the main focus from music creation, content and launch. This is presented through online set of calling cards and demo reels that will be put together which original music content that presents work as an artists, producer and DJ. The demo reels will include the ‘musical’ branding of the artists and the brand development through the name ‘Kaneda’ and the music genres that the producer creates as the calling cards will be set up through social media platforms and music streaming websites.
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A Self-Produced Extended Play: A Magical Blend of Psymbient Electronic and Experimental Rock Music
Shakthi Prasad Kizhikki Thara
2020The purpose of this project is to compose, record and produce an extended play (EP) of six songs influenced by psymbient electronic music and experimental art rock music that blends the earthy sound of analog world and digital ambient tones, inspired by some of the life changing experiences that motivated the author to leave his eight year corporate job to pursue his passion for music. The EP will musically reflect the authors struggle with depression and anxiety during the transition phase and how he overcame it. On some of the songs the author aims to use a different approach where he composes the instrumentation completely and get his collaborators to write and compose vocals over it. Coming from a rock and metal music background, the author aims to improve his skills in the production of electronic music, analog synthesis , sound design, hybrid recording and stereo mixing with this creative project and aims to find his artist identity through the process.
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Rainbow Beam Dreams: Rabellion's Debut Album
Tatiana Lamela-Rabell
2020This Culminating Experience (CE) Project consists of writing, recording and producing a full-length album during the course of study of the MPTI program, along with preparing it for digital launch. The album includes 8 songs, in the style of indie-electronic pop. The instrumentation includes: vocals, electric/ambient guitar, electric bass combined with electronic subs, synths, drums, live percussion, and electronic beat arrangements mostly composed by Tati Rabell (singer-songwriter-producer), with featured collaborators. All live instruments were recorded in the Berklee Valencia studios, and all electronic compositions have been created from scratch as part of the MPTI course of study. The album will be launched as a digital LP on all online platforms, and subsequently each single will have its own video launch each month thereafter, combining original art, reactive visuals, and performance recordings. This album additionally launches Tati Rabell’s rebrand as “Rabellion”, her new indie-electronic project.
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Encounter: Creative and Narrative Expression in Audio Visualization Performance with Data-driven Instruments
Peiyue Lu
2020This culminating experience project is to create a real-time interactive intermedia composition oriented by custom sensor-based balloon instruments. The impulse of creating this project stems from the creator’s passion for creating art music that features a data-driven instrument, namely the balloon in this case. Through the process of creating this project, the composer strived to organically project her emotional journey in narrative and creative methodology with visual content, sonic composition, instrument design and performance. The ultimate objective through this project is to dedicate and contribute to the massive library of electroacoustic and art music.
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Static Variable: An Electromagnetic Nexus
Ankit Malik
2020This project would not have been possible without the help of my supervisors Frederick P. Warnecke and Marta Verde Baqueiro. Their support and encouragement was paramount to the completion of this project. I would also like to thank Pablo Munguia and Elysha Zaide whose critique and advice have been extremely useful throughout the project duration. I am also extremely grateful to Krisźtian Hofstadter who has always encouraged me to pursue my ambitions regardless of their complexity. I would like to express my loving gratefulness to my parents and my wife for understanding my need to self-isolate for hours long before COVID-19 enforced that upon us. I would also like to thank my neighbours for not calling the cops on me while I carried on with my experiments in sound.
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An EP Introducing Chinese Music Elements: Hong Kong
Hoi Man Shek
2020This project aims at creating music based on the theme of Hong Kong. The author will use four Chinese music elements: instruments, performance techniques, emotional expressions, and flexibility of Chinese music instruments adapting to different music genres to create an EP that intends to talk about the history of Hong Kong, emotional changes, freedom, and hope. Four elements will all appear in each song. Four songs will be presented in the EP based on the four points of Hong Kong. By taking the advantages of technology in recording and social media platforms, Chinese music can be heard widely in the world. The EP will be focusing on using GuZheng to present by using audio visual materials, remixes, improvisation, and collaboration. The purpose of this EP is twofold: to break the stereotypes of Chinese music and to allow more people to know about the beauty of Chinese music.
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5/23 Realization of Self
Jamie David Mariettakes Blake
20205/23 is an extended play album (EP) that tells a compelling and relatable story of self- realization through heart break, addiction, debt and love. The lyrical subject matter is drawn from life changing personal experiences from the protagonist’s life. Musical elements of the EP are aesthetically contemporary and innovative in their presentation, style, and storytelling. This project is a means to process and express life changing events that led the protagonist to where he is today. The EP is roughly 10 minutes in length, with four songs that serve as acts in the overall storyline.
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“The Interdisciplinary Creative Process”: Transcendence Beyond the Bedroom and Pro Studio (Production Portfolio)
Kauner L. Michael
2020Modern music production has become limitless in the digital domain. From pre- production to final delivery, the entire process can be completed with a laptop computer, allowing one to simultaneously fulfill the roles of songwriter, performer, producer, mixer, and mastering engineer. Likewise, two overarching “hard and fast” music production practices have emerged: a traditional approach, where subtasks are delegated to appropriate personnel for completion; and an interdisciplinary approach, where production is completed entirely by one individual. The following thesis posits the existence of a third practice, where tasks are delegated according to the unique artistic and technical requirements of a project. This practice plays to the strengths of the core production team, whilst utilizing additional creatives to supplement weaknesses. The following work aims to characterize, demonstrate, and evaluate this practice pertaining to quality, breadth, and adaptability.
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A Broken Record
Lisa Murray
2020This Culminating Experience project is a collaboration with the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, where people donate mundane objects from their previous relationships in order to make peace with the past and tell their story. ‘A Broken Record’ is an album of original of music and visual compositions inspired by the objects in the Museum’s collection. This album will take the form of an interactive, user-defined audio- visual experience where each listener chooses their own unique adventure through the album depending on their answers to a series of yes/no questions relating to their own experience of love and loss. Each answer presents the listener with a different digital audio-visual experience where they hear a song and view a lyric video featuring the object from which the song drew its inspiration. Listeners will only interact with the songs and stories that resemble previous relationships they have had, resulting in a personalised heartbreak soundtrack.
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Born In Quarantine Creation of an Audio Visual Extended play (EP)
Sparsh Narang
2020In the year 2020,Covid 19 came as a shock as the entire world was in a lockdown. Several places were hit really hard with the virus, leaving many people infected and unfortunately, many lost their lives as well. This project aims to convey the journey that the artist Sparsh Narang experienced through the creation of an extended play (EP) called Born In Quarantine,consisting of Electronic, glitchy, atonal and ambient elements along with visuals for each track, that take you through a journey of emotions and makes you accept the reality of this challenging times.
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Who Am I?: A Songwriting and Production Exploration
Christopher R. Nicolosi
2020The author, a recording artist from New Jersey, created a portfolio of original music that allowed him to explore songwriting, performing, producing, and engineering in various musical genres: pop funk, electronic pop, rap, and contemporary musical theatre. The purpose of the project was to focus the artist’s eclectic taste and discover his unique voice while allowing him to practice the technical and creative skills that the modern recording industry requires. The music created explored the interplay of mental health and LGBTQ+ issues, specifically illustrating the upbringing of Nicolosi as a gay man in the United States and his history with anxiety and depression. After nearly a year of attempting to find his ideal musical style in order create a cohesive body of work, Nicolosi learned that he didn’t have to commit to any particular genre as long as he stayed authentic to himself.
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Representation Through Collaboration
Serin A. Oh
2020The objective of this project is to construct an environment for creative collaborations amongst future industry leaders across gender, culture and genre, to close the representational gap found in mainstream media. The project’s constituent parts are a songwriting retreat, a web application, a massive collaboration music video, and an EP, all as diversity driven collaborations. All four projects will engender cross-pollination of diverse groups of creatives to cultivate innovative collaborations. By the end of this process, the author will have a clear idea of how to better represent second generation Asians in mainstream music and entertainment through guiding collaborations with individual backgrounds.
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Development of a Music Studio Booking Platform - tempo: The Booking Interface
Sharon Onyango-Obbo
2020The Culminating Experience (CE) documented in this report concerns the development of a music studio booking platform for the East African market. The service, called tempo, seeks to connect musicians with existing studio resources. The project draws from the on-demand model that steers away from asset proprietorship. Consequently, tempo’s platform saves potential customers from having to purchase the expensive hardware and related resources that they may need to invest in their craft. Within the confines of the CE, the most important decision made was to design tempo as a website and build a prototype of the booking interface to run on web browsers. As the first of its kind in East Africa, tempo seeks to advance the nexus of music, technology and innovation in the region. The project was advised by Pablo Munguía, Music Production, Technology & Innovation Programme Director, Berklee College of Music, Valencia.