{"id":19397,"date":"2021-12-14T16:39:17","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T21:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=19397"},"modified":"2023-05-09T15:18:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T19:18:48","slug":"creative-sonification-using-data-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/creative-sonification-using-data-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative sonification: Using data to make music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration:<\/strong> Jeremy Leung<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information and data are all around us these days, but have you ever stopped to think if they could be made into music?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sonification\u2014or the representation of data using sound<\/a>\u2014is usually meant to help us gain some additional insight beyond what a visualization alone might show. However, we can also take this raw information and get even more creative to achieve some truly unique musical experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunes from the brain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the earliest examples of artistic sonificiation, or music based in data, comes from the mind of avant-garde American composer Alvin Lucier.<\/a> His 1965 experimental piece titled “Music for Solo Performer” starts with a single ‘performer’ hooked up to an EEG (electroencephalogram) device, which measures electrical brain activity. The resulting brain waves are then used to trigger an ensemble of different percussion instruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there’s a mixing assistant behind the scenes who helps translate these incoming brain signals into music, the piece is great at making us more aware of the things that may be happening beyond the scope of our human senses\u2014with sonification being a great tool for accomplishing just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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