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Date and Time Wednesday, 18th May, at 3:00pm
Place Room 309, Electronic Engineering building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS. Information on how to access the school can be found at here.
Speaker Adrien Mamou-Mani
Title SmartInstruments: And the physics becomes programmable
Abstract The sound and playability attributes of an acoustic instrument are usually provided by the instrument maker. However, active control of vibration makes it possible to tune dynamically the vibrational properties of an object without any mechanical change. The aim of SmartInstruments is to design acoustic instruments embedding active control systems that offer to the musician various sound qualities without external amplification and speaker. I will present the history and technical aspects of this project, and the uses of composers and musicians in various musical contexts and aesthetics.
Bio Adrien Mamou-Mani is the Head of Instrumental Acoustics team at Ircam, and a professor in musical acoustics at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP). His research interests include acoustics, mechanics, active control of vibration, and their applications to musical instruments design. He has collaborated with number of instrument makers (mostly string and wind instruments), musicians, and composers, and likes combining traditional know-how with scientific knowledge and new technology. Adrien holds a PhD in mechanics and acoustics from UPMC (Paris) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Musée de la musique in Paris and at the Open University (UK). Adrien was awarded a Newton Fellowship and a Singer Polignac grant for his research, and was the principal investigator of a French National Agency project (ANR IMAREV).