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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Infinite Wicked Desert
Mathew Vallejo
2022This research addresses the viability of triggering certain elements in the Max/MSP and Max for Live visual coding environment with atypical, gesture-based external control stimuli including cameras and infrared sensors in an effort to functionally incorporate them into a real-time live audiovisual performance as a New Interface for Musical Expression (NIME). This involves testing the usability of combinations of established hardware mapped to control specific parameters within the software and, in turn, the software’s response to the variable nature of these converted inputs, the required parameters for reasonable usability, and the artistic benefits of their incorporation in a live performance. The research methodology incorporates live trials of the instrument by users of random experience levels followed by completion of a standardized survey response to gauge general usability and intuitiveness. The challenge of this research centers around the highly volatile nature of gesture-based control, the added complication of blending multiple gesture-controlled hardware interfaces, and developing an appropriate software environment to effectively capture input data and manipulate the visual outcome. Conclusions of the research suggest strong interest among users in gesture-controlled visuals due to a heightened sense of connection with the performance process and visual outcome.
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Kandinsky for Ableton Plug-ins: Exploring How Art Creates Music
Kirsten Villota
2022Different methods of composition will aid in producing different results from an artist. Oftentimes, composers will have a thought along the lines of, “having an “image” in mind” and they will not know how to put it into existence. This project will be creating two Max for Live devices where creators can draw images, use a palette of colors, and have different widths for paintbrushes that will affect a composition. The images produced on this device will translate into midi or audio signals as designated by the user. This device will act as a different tool for composition, songwriting, and production, and it will also function as a method of creating visual music.
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Dorm-Room Tapes
Perisa Vlahovic
2022The idea behind this project is to write, compose, produce, mix, and master an album’s worth of music in various subgenres of pop/hiphop/RnB, in collaboration with my colleagues here at Berklee. Depending on the timeframe I am thinking about including a music video for one of the songs as a visual aid and extra marketing step for releasing the project. In terms of sounds that will be used, they are stylistically unique, so they will be changing from song to song, however there will of course be a few reoccurring ones such as jazz bass, rhodes, some live drums, and so on. One of the biggest challenges here I think will be choosing and gathering individuals that would fit for their respectful songs, as well as managing the recording process, as time is limited, and people have more projects to focus on. The goal of this project is to create a professional sounding album that will showcase the talents and collaborative skills of my colleagues as well as my own.
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Alexa
Sean Wei
2022The objective of this CE, titled Alexa, is to write, produce, and record a professionally recorded concept EP complete with a full music video involving audio-visual elements. The Singer-Songwriter project focuses on themes of isolation and freedom through the lens of a music speaker playing alone in a room. Each song involves lyrical and production content reflecting the tracks story and intent. The corresponding music video, which includes each track on the EP, takes place in a single room, with changes and room arrangement and lighting to match the topic of the song in question. This undertaking involves the use of projected visuals created in Resolume Arena, with the video completed in Adobe Premiere Pro.
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Exploring the pop-punk-hip hop as a woman in the music industry: The Revolution
Teresa Alós Estreder
2021The objective of this project is to create an album that gives voice to the non-males in a male dominated genre like pop-punk or punk-hip hop. Bringing a female voice to this style can give a new perspective to this kind of music. This album will include collaborations with some Berklee students, mainly specialized in voice and guitar. The author will study the referenced artists of this genre of music, and study their styles and how they/their team produce. All this process will be elaborated by non-males exclusively, one of the objectives is to demonstrate that non-males can also work with these music genres. This album will be delivered in digital format and attaching all the process and decisions in written form. This could be an opportunity to explore a new sound.
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Remote Recording in 2020: Turning Remote Record-Making into an Immersive Experience
Rodrigo Branco
2021This project aims to explore and develop a methodology to effectively work on remote recording sessions. This is especially relevant in current times when we as a society are dealing with the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, typical methods for making music in a studio are not entirely viable. In order to test the suggested methodology, a collection of singles is being produced in collaboration with a group of artists that are responsible for writing all of the music. The selected songs will then enter the phase of production, recording, mixing and mastering. The final masters will be collected and included. The project aims to shed light and reflect on key problems around "remote-record making”, as well and provide solutions and ways on how these difficulties can be addressed. Furthermore, my work can hopefully serve as a basis for future projects regarding this theme.
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Exploring Cutting Edge Technologies with MIDI Polyphonic Expression in Sampled Instruments
Chris J. Brandes
2021The intention of this project is to create a sample library that utilizes a new MIDI protocol called MIDI-Polyphonic Expression, which will be defined from here as “MPE”. This is done utilizing new MPE features in Ableton Live’s sampler device and Ableton racks to optimize workflow for the modern composer. Ableton’s incredibly powerful audio stretching and time warping features are responsible for many of the sounds we hear in popular music today, and now with the addition of MPE they are going to allow the possibility of more creative human expression. This library contains multiple layered samples in order to achieve a perceived sense of three dimensions of sound. All of the samples are recorded using high quality microphones and preamps in order to achieve the highest fidelity in the audio.
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Often Inside: The EP – Where Music Meets Innovation & Technology
Manuel Buendia
2021The purpose of this project is to develop an Extended Play (EP) that blends traditional pop elements with contemporary production techniques and utilizes components of life’s environment to record audio samples into multiple songs. Both the musical and artistic direction are closely intertwined to provide a cohesive audio-visual experience that is comparable to that of a concept album. The audio recordings collected are layered with synthesizers in unusual yet intriguing ways in order to stimulate and provide the listener with an unexpected audio experience. Additionally, this project entails collaboration with different parties around the world. This project includes the participation of an American Singer named Lizzy Land, and photographer and visual artist named Valentin Folliet. Moreover, the visual components of the project heavily rely on inventive ways of using camera effects, color, and perspective to provide a finished product that invites the listener to discover the world that the music entails.
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Musical Recycling and Revenue Streams for Producers
Philippe Dionne
2021The purpose of this project is to establish a sample label called “Duson Audio” that will produce, curate, and distribute audio sample, MIDI, and VST preset packs online. Sample packs have grown in popularity recently, enabling producers to monetize their creativity. Indeed, since 2013, Splice has paid out over $15 million to artists, most of them being unknown producers and sound designers. One self-produced sample pack was curated and released, along with four collaborative projects, as well as two other community building initiatives that result in more content. The packs feature curated and categorized audio samples, MIDI files, and VST presets of a very specific subgenre – benefitting from the musical diversity of Berklee students, enabling them to generate revenue off their musical ideas. Duson proposes a cost-effective way for producers and sound engineer to recycle their unused ideas, musical theory knowledge, and sound design skills into income.
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Hammock, An EP and Visuals about Ego and Success
Michael Dodson
2021This project seeks to produce a musical universe in the form of an Extended Play (EP) with seven songs and accompanying visuals. The EP is a concept album that is centered on themes of ego and success. This album blends rock, electronic, hip-hop, and storytelling. This project was recorded and mixed in the Berklee Valencia studios. First, a template was made for each part of the story and visual themes, and then the songs were recorded instrument by instrument. All the sounds, visuals, samples and music are original creations by the author of the project Michael Dodson. The author learned how to design sounds and visuals to represent thematic elements in the music. In the future, he will create a live show based around the EP. The show will feature live composing and live visuals.
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Outward, then Inward: Artistic Consistency in Genre Inconsistency
Ethan Eugene Toga
2021This project aimed to create an EP with no commitment to genre consistency, that still retained a consistent artistic voice. This endeavor began with a review of existing works that have a diverse genre composition. This author (The Artist) conducted this review, and then wrote/recorded six songs, with the assistance of a Co-Producer, Engineer, and various session musicians. Each song was treated with complete creative freedom to incorporate any and all desired instrumentation or production techniques. The Artist and Production Team then discerned whether the work had achieved its goal of being stylistically inconsistent, while artistically consistent, or if the songs were too eclectic to work as a unit. They found it had met this goal, by virtue of having the same core creative team behind each song. Hopefully, this project will inspire other artists and producers to push the boundaries of genre, and use extreme variation to their benefit.
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Juke: An Audiovisual Universe
Daniel Greenberg
2021This project presents a new interactive audiovisual game with applications in entertainment, music creation, and education. In the game, dubbed Juke, a gamer and musician team up to guide an animated character to the end of a song without falling. Unity, p5.js, JavaScript, and Python scripts are used to create the game, and original musical compositions are incorporated to engage the users. Unity provides a more comprehensive and versatile framework to run the game, while P5.js allows for quick prototyping and development of visual ideas. P5.js ultimately served as the platform for the game demo in this project. Juke’s vision is four-fold: (1) to inspire others to engage with audio and music on a deeper level; (2) to provide a new way to co-create music in real time; (3) to foster connection between musicians and gamers; and (4) to make learning and practicing an instrument more social and fun.
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No13: The playlist inspired synesthetic visual album serving gender innovation
Helo Houviez
2021The no13 album aims to be a genre and gender bending project. The listener will get transported through different musical genres and styles, each related to texture, colors, through visual and musical aspects. While selecting a combination of choices, the audience will discover many aspects of one genderless character discovering life in a unique way. The process of producing this project started with the tree of possibilities, selecting the music universes that match the different energies that need to be in the project. Then, writing the stories and the tracks, organizing recordings and shootings, go through them. Then mixing, editing, and for the final part, finalizing all visual aspects (especially video effects) to look professional and make sense. It is actually an amazing challenge to be able to reunite all these passions into one big project. It feels necessary to address gender identity, feelings, sexuality, isolation in this album. This project will hopefully inspire many more into creating and developing characters that differs from the social norm, and mainly to think outside the box.
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Creating Spaces for Non-Males in Electronic Music: An EP and Record Label by Luminosity
Linda C. Hughes
2021This project aims to enable a collaborative and empowering space for female and non- male identifying persons within the electronic music industry. Through the development of a multi-sub-genre electronic extended play album, female and non-male identifying producers, engineers, artists, and musicians were given the opportunity to collectively work in a judgement- free environment. In an industry that is predominantly male, female producers and artists struggle to have their voices heard. This extended play album consists of five songs. Two songs are based off of previous projects, ideas, and stories. Three songs are collaborative projects between musicians, writers, and producers. Once mastered, this project aims to further the collaboration between female and non-binary people within the music industry by working to promote and eventually release the extended play album. In addition to the extended play album, an album, this project also contains the development of an all-female and non-binary electronic record label. This label will help promote female and non-male electronic artist’s work and educate others on the effects and struggles caused by gender discrimination. The goal of this project is to inspire future female producers in the electronic music industry to continue to learn, create, network, and discover their voice and feel heard.
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Baby Beatmakers: Prototyping A Groundbreaking Play Experience
Elliot D. Jensen
2021This project aims to develop and prototype a groundbreaking interactive musical toy for infants age six months to two years old. Using technology including a single-board computer (SBC), Max/MSP for audio and multimedia programming, and touch and motion sensors, this toy creates an unprecedented interactive musical experience for the infants and a pleasant and unique listening experience for adults. Virtually all musical baby toys currently on the market offer limited interactivity and feature either playback of recorded audio or simple keyboard interfaces. For adults, the music generated by most of these is either uninteresting or quickly becomes annoying. This toy uses custom algorithms and digital sampling to create generative music based on input from touch and motion sensors that is both pleasant and interesting, and allows a profound level of interactivity without requiring any skill or intention from the infant.
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The Process with Matty Jontiff: Inside the Making of an Artist Interview Series
Matthew R. Jontiff
2021This project aims to address the idea of looking outward to look inward by exploring the artist and the importance of collaboration on multiple levels. This artist series, where the interviewer is also an artist and collaborator, will show the audience the importance of community in music and artistic collaboration, while also being introduced to various artists, music and ideas. As the series progresses, the audience will gain personal insight into the interviewer as an artist, collaborator, songwriter, and producer. The interviewer acts as a story-teller providing a window into this collaborative music community, by taking them along on the collaborative journey with six visiting artists and sharing those experiences through audio and visual media. The goal of this project is to connect musicians of all kinds, inspire collaborations and reveal the collaborative process. The project is continuing in nature to provide new and interesting interactions and music.
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Lateral Zone: A Progressive Rhythm Action Game
Nanxing Li
2021This project aims to develop a video game that combines traditional gameplay with progressive music rhythm. In the current video game industry, there are plenty of games that introduce musical elements into traditional gameplay. However, in the majority of those games, it is only achieved in a very basic way, resulting in the music aspect of the game being superficial. This project aims to develop a video game, titled Lateral Zone, that on top of traditional game play, challenges player with complex rhythmic pattern, requiring the player match their inputs with the rhythm of the background music, thus rewards the player with higher capacity for correctly repeating the rhythm. This project includes an original soundtrack with progressive metal-core elements, which is characterized with its complex rhythmic pattern. This project’s aim is to achieve the perfect balance between traditional gameplay and music, and inspire a new sub-genre in music games.
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The Chronophobia Project
Eli Major-Wright
2021Since the fall of physical sales and the rise of streaming, Musicians and Artists no longer profit in feasible ways and often lose money from the content they create. This project seeks to explore and analyze factors that contribute to this widespread issue within the industry: namely, the high, increasing amount of content required to satisfy audiences since the creation of on- demand interaction with music, and software companies’ current business model that relies on Artists’ continual investment in creative tools, regardless of whether they can afford to. Recognizing that these factors create an impossible environment for artists to adequately participate in the industry, this project aims to explore and provide methods by which Artists can utilize free and open-source coding resources to significantly reduce expenses for the creation of content - by using those resources in the creation of an artistic concept that includes music, visuals, and an interactive component for audiences. While this project is focused primarily on solutions for Artists, it also explores the benefits of an industry model that embraces the community of free and open-sourced software for creative use and focuses on interactive experiences for audiences.
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The Sound of Soul: Biofeedback Controlled Music Generation and Sound Design
Calvin McCormack
2021The aim of this project is to develop a system that allows biofeedback to be used as a creative musical tool through music generation and sound design. This system uses brainwave data from an electroencephalogram, as well as electromyography muscle activity. This biofeedback is then interpreted by a machine learning neural network which can be trained to classify the user’s psychological or physiological state. This determination will then be used to control a generative Artificial Intelligent MIDI generator or other MIDI Continuous Controller signals. The raw biofeedback, averaged brainwave amplitudes, and Fast Fourier Transform of the EEG signal can also be used to control MIDI generation and Digital Audio Workstation parameters directly, and for synthesizer generation and timbral control.
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I Hate It Here: A Multi-dimensional Album
Quinn McGovern
2021This project aims to incorporate collaboration, multi-genre experimentation, and live performance into the final production of an LP to be delivered to Kro Records in Los Angeles, CA in 2021. The LP consists of ten tracks with pre-production starting during a six-month quarantine at the onset of Covid-19 in March of 2020. The goals for this project include: a) incorporating remote and non-remote collaboration among different musicians and styles; b) developing multi-genre representation across ten tracks; c) forming a group in Valencia, Spain to perform and record a “Live from Valencia” version of the LP; d) employing both professional and DIY techniques, and; e) delivering the LP and performance to Kro Records with audiovisuals and electronic remixes. Central to the purview of this project is the overcoming of isolation and separation in order to produce a unique LP that thematically explores these obstacles within the turmoil of 2020.
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Creating a Chromesthetic World: Auditory Painting with Light
Sophia Metcalfe
2021The aim of this project is to create an interactive space in which the audience can partake in an artistic experience, as well as immerse themselves in the creative process of composing music. This project is important in creating a link between multiple artistic realms, with the goal being to have an installation that can function as both an interactive drawing experience, and for participants to further understand the link between musical keys signatures and their effect on colour interpretations. The scope of the project includes the creation of a circuit that contains a collection of sensors that can be programmed with a range of keys signatures that can correlate with different colours in the colour wheel, thereby delivering an interactive sound art installation. Using light-dependent resistors (LDR’s) set up in a circuit with an Arduino Leonardo, light is detected and sent to Max/MSP; allowing both music and colour to be produced when drawing within the air, directed at the camera. Undertaking this project, has also created a learning curve in how to provide an interactive experience whilst also maintaining social distancing. The aim is that this will be beneficial to installations that may take place in the future.
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INO CON 2021: Production and Technical Manager
Guillermo Montalvan
2021This project aims to learn all the aspects involved with the production of a cutting-edge multi-day music event and concert and concurrent music industry conference, both by leading the technical team that organized INOCON and through the collaboration with BV production department, in INOCON and in the Commencement Concert. Ensuring that all audiovisual assets are organized and meet high-quality standards, choosing a streaming platform that offers the best conditions for a high-quality event, and the coordination of the production team during and after the event are the key tasks for this project. This event will be streamed globally and will feature lectures, workshops, multimedia performances and networking opportunities. The production team needs to provide a high-quality virtual experience for each of the mentioned features. It is worth mentioning that this event will provide an opportunity for artists aiming to grow their careers and gain recognition from their performances.
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Traditionally Modern: Acoustic & Electronic Fusion
William A. Nieves Rodríguez
2021The purpose of this project is to develop an album where the author will mainly play the role of a music producer for the artist Jesús Pineda, from composition and arrangement, to mixing and mastering. The main objective of this project is for the author to gain experience as a music producer, as well as to provide portfolio content of songs the author has produced. The project consists of eight songs where the artist Jesús Pineda and the author, producer William Nieves (Billy Nieves), will collaborate from start to finish, combining elements of traditionally acoustic music styles like Latin American music with modern electronic production in terms of arrangement, instrumentation, and overall sonic quality.
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Anthology of Non-Male Stories Through Electronic Music
Alai Ormazabal
2021This creative project aims to create an album that explores the collective experience of being a non-male person through sonic landscapes and gathered testimonies. The idea comes from the desire to bring up situations involving microaggressions and toxic masculinity that every non-male lives. For this, the project wants to translate the feelings those situations create into sonic landscapes for the listener to enter the experience together with some reflections in testimonies as interludes. This idea is carried out by trying to find the middle ground between the sound design of a scene and a musical piece that would be delivered in the form of an LP. The musical elements in this project are produced electronically although not tied to a specific genre as the sounds are at the service of creating a scene portraying specific feelings.
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The Invisible Carnival: An Ecosystem of Custom Laser Controlled Devices - Final Paper
Juan Pablo Gomez
2021The project aims to create a visual ecosystem of analogue devices that will be used by Fortuno (the artistic name of the author) in live performances and during production. Through the development of two MIDI laser controlled devices, the artist will be able to use lasers to control various parameters of the sound. The project also aims to demonstrate Fortuno’s capabilities as a sound designer, an artist, a sound engineer, and a live engineer. Hence, he will use these devices for his electronic production and then utilize the sounds in his set. An Arduino microchip will be used to program the laser response for each device. The laser MIDI controller will be created mainly through the use of programing using C++/Arduino. Each device will be molded separately with different types of casings used. Each device will be tested and then implemented in the sound and image of Fortuno. Ultimately, making him stand out as a unique Dj and musician.