Sonification and Data Music

Catalyst: Festival of Creativity presents Sonification and Data Music with Shelly Knotts

Age: 16+

Level: Beginner

Time/Date: Saturday 12th November, 10am-5pm

Venue: DINA, Cambridge St, Sheffield, S1 4HP

Cost: Free, but registration is required

Registration: https://catalyst-sonification.eventbrite.co.uk

Overview: This workshop will explore the Connect The Dots festival theme of ‘The Sea Around Us’ through using open data sets related to the sea to create sound and musical pieces. Participants will use audio programming language Sonic Pi to explore the data sets and map data to sound. In the workshop you will learn the basics of making sound with Sonic Pi and how to import and format data with code. We will explore some basic sonification techniques and write our own short pieces by the end of the workshop.

Equipment: If you are able to bring your own laptop please do and we will get you up and running with the software.  If you are not able to bring a laptop don’t worry – we will provide a computer for you to use.  It would also be great (but again not necessary) if you could bring a pair of headphones. The software we will be using is all free and available to download using the following links: Sonic Pi – http://sonic-pi.net/ SuperCollider – http://supercollider.github.io/

About Shelly: Shelly Knotts is a data musician currently based in Newcastle, UK. She performs live-coded and network music internationally, collaborating with computers and other humans. She is studying for a PhD in Live Computer Music at Durham University with a focus on collaboration in Network Music. As well as performing at numerous Algoraves and Live Coding events, current collaborative projects include network laptop bands BiLE and OFFAL (Orchestra For Females And Laptops), and live coding performance [Sisesta Pealkiri] with Alo Allik. Shelly has organised Network Music Festival since 2012.

Please note: this workshop is for women and girls only. This event is organised by Lucy Cheesman (Sheffield Hallam University/YSWN Sheffield) and Amy Beeston (University of Sheffield/YSWN Sheffield).

For any additional information on this workshop or any other of our Catalyst: Festival of Creativity events, please contact us on yswnsheffield@gmail.com.