The 19° episode dedicated to the discovery of Research Centers, Museums and Recording Studios where electronic music in all its forms is studied and practiced. First: Museo del Synt Marchigiano – Italy (here). Second: SMEM Swiss Museum for Electronic Music Instruments – Swiss (here). Third: MESS Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio – Australia (here). Fouth: Nakatsugawa Korg Museum – Japan (here). Fifth: Museo della Farfisa – Italy (here). Sixth: VSM Vintage Synthesizer Museum – USA (here). Seventh: CIM: Colloquio di Informatica Musicale XXIII – Italy (here). Eighth: SoundMit – International Synth Event – Italy (here). Nine: EMEAPP – Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project – USA (here). Ten: EMS Elektronmusik Studion – Sverige (here). Eleven: Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) – Swiss (here). Twelve: IEM Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, Austria (here). Thirteen: Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), USA (here). Fourtheen: Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), USA (here). Fiftheen: Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS), Mexico (here). Sixtheen: Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatoire, Le Hague – Nederland (here). Seventeenth: CNRS – Science et Technologie de la Musique et du Son, IRCAM, Sorbonne Université, Ministère de la Culture – France (here). Eighteenth: Hiroshi Hieida, historian of the NHK Electronic Music Studio, Tokyo – Japan (here). Today I fly “virtually” to Canda to interview Marcelo M. Wanderley, Director of Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) of McGill University, Montréal (Québec). I invite you to read the interview.
How did the CIRMMT Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology come about?
CIRMMT was created 25 years ago. The goal was to create an infrastructure to foster interdisciplinary research on music and audio, seamlessly blending scientific research and technology development into music and sound studies.
How is it structured?
CIRMMT facilities are housed at the Elizabeth Wirth Music Building at McGill University in Montreal, Qc, Canada. It consists of eight research laboratories, from small spaces dedicated to individual experiments to the 400+ m2 acoustically flexible Multimedia Room (MMR) that can host a full symphonic orchestra or smaller ensembles with an audience of about 100 people.
CIRMMT community encompasses four partner institutions—McGill University, Université de Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke, and École de technologie supérieure— and five affiliated institutions: Concordia University, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), Université Laval, Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS) and Marianopolis College, as well as a strong network at the national and international level.
A North American and worldwide leading research hub in groundbreaking interdisciplinary research in music, science, and technology for over two decades, CIRMMT currently unites 60 researchers, 271 students, and 106 collaborators.
What equipment does the CIRMMT Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology have?
Apart from its groundbreaking facilities, CIRMMT has a unique equipment list equally available to all members (researchers and students). A full list would be too long to describe, but highlights include a 62 Meyer Sound UPJ-1P + 8 subwoofer speaker system with the Constellation system for virtual acoustics simulation in the MMR, a 37-speaker dome at the Performance Research Laboratory (PeRL), a FabLab for making digital musical instruments, dozens of microphones and related recording and production equipment, measurement devices for sound and acoustic measurements, etc.
What can you do at the CIRMMT Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology?
CIRMMT fosters high-calibre artistic projects that blend cutting-edge music and science/engineering research to create unique artistic experiences for the Montreal community and abroad. In parallel, CIRMMT’s study of sound and music is an ideal testbed for advanced interdisciplinary research in science and engineering as it requires innovative approaches to cope with the uniquely high music performance and composition demands. Studying the sound of the future (artistic applications) and the future of sound (scientific and technological research) within the same environment allows CIRMMT researchers and collaborators to help shape the future of music, as well as train a new generation of highly qualified personnel that are highly sought after for careers in prestigious universities, top industries, and non-profit institutions in Québec, Canada and worldwide.
The Centre aims to help researchers from different disciplines collaborate in interdisciplinary projects. Examples of previous projects include Virtual Haydn, the recording of Haydn sonatas using replicas of historical instruments in virtual acoustic environments reproducing those where Haydn himself performed; the development of the first fMRI-compatible cello to be used in neuroscience experiments, and large performances such as Rythmopolis, mixing percussion, dance, acrobatics, and technology.
Is it possible to do research at the CIRMMT Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology?
CIRMMT hosts visiting academics from around the world. It has already welcomed 67 researchers from 17 countries who spend a few weeks to a year working on collaborative research projects with CIRMMT members.
Academics and researcher-creators interested in travelling to Montreal to work on a research project with one or more CIRMMT members are asked to contact the relevant member(s) directly.
Is the CIRMMT Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology on social media?
CIRMMT has Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts with information on events and research opportunities. The CIRMMT YouTube page has two main features: The first is the growing set of videos of the Distinguished Lecture Series, currently with more than 95 one-hour videos of research talks by leading researchers and artists, a unique Video Encyclopedia of Music, Science and Technology. The second is the recently established, student-led ResonatorTube, a series of short educational videos about science and technology aspects of music research meant for non-experts.
Does the CIRMMT Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology care for the issue of gender in Electronic Music? And in the Canadian Musical Culture?
CIRMMT aims to provide a positive, inclusive, and equitable research environment in which everyone is welcome and has a sense of belonging and a voice, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender and gender identity, sexuality, physical or cognitive abilities, socioeconomic background, religious beliefs, or any other trait.
In the past few years, all CIRMMT researchers have benefited from workshops dedicated to including EDI principles in the design of research projects at their respective universities.
CIRMMT is tightly involved with the Canadian Music Culture, mainly through its concert series live@CIRMMT. Running since 2007, the live@CIRMMT series has enabled the production of over 150 world premieres and 50 Canadian premieres featuring works from installation-based projects to performances with newly designed instruments in over 100 concerts, reaching an audience of over 17,000 people. Performances are held in McGill’s MMR, Salle Claude-Champagne (Université de Montréal – UdeM), and external venues such as Montréal’s Place des Festivals, home to large-scale events like Rythmopolis (Musical Event of the Year 2018, attended by thousands of people live and online, thanks to a collaboration with Radio-Canada).
What is your relationship with the Canadian government?
CIRMMT receives most of its funding from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQ), the provincial agency for fostering research in Québec. It has received substantial infrastructure funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), a federal institution created to support research infrastructure development in Canada, and the government of Québec.
Is the CIRMMT Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology open to collaborations with institutions, associations, and research centres?
CIRMMT welcomes researchers, artists and students willing to come to Montreal for collaborative projects with CIRMMT members. Information related to Visiting Academics and Research Creators details the modalities of possible collaborations as well as immigration information related to research stays in Canada.
Ongoing projects and future projects?
The following is a brief summary of a few projects in the Centre.
The Centre is the host of several large international partnership projects led by its members, such as digital humanities projects SIMSSA: Single Interface for Music Score Searching and Analysis project and LinkedMusic: Interlinking Music Resources for Enhanced Access or ACTOR: Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration. SIMSSA developed algorithms that could recognize various elements of music manuscripts, enabling unprecedented online searches and analysis of musical scores, while LinkedMusic currently focuses on creating a comprehensive international metadata schema for music. ACTOR, brings musical timbre and orchestration to the forefront of scholarship, practice, and public awareness.
CIRMMT also supports local partnerships that have a direct impact on citizens lives, such as Sounds in the City, with partners from McGill University, the City of Montreal, and industry professionals who work on urban noise management and soundscape by connecting research and practice, as well as conducting innovative soundscape training programs for urban planners and other decision-makers thanks to CIRMMT facilities.
A collaboration with Ghent University investigates the combined use of motion capture, computational modelling, and adaptive virtual agents and aims to gain insights into the control principles of human temporal synchronization, envisioning new creations where live musicians interact with their virtual counterparts in real-time via XR headsets.
The recently established thematic network AIRS (Air, Intersectorialité, recherche Respiratoire et Sonore) addresses urban sound and noise in relation to air pollution, in terms of environmental quality, sustainable health, and environmental justice to ensure fair and equitable access to healthy living spaces.
Other projects are currently assessing the potential of hearables (i.e., in-ear wearables) for the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, including partnerships with Québec Health Institutions such as Parkinson’s Québec and the Douglas Research Center.
Link: CIRMMT Home Page
Link: CIRMMT Facebook Page
Link: CIRMMT Instagram Profile
Link: CIRMMT Youtube Channell
