Benjamin Carey
Benjamin Carey is a Sydney-based saxophonist, composer and technologist with interests in contemporary classical, interactive, improvised and electro-acoustic music. He studied saxophone at the Sydney Conservatorium (2005) and the Conservatoire de Bordeaux (2009), and completed a PhD in interactive music at the University of Technology, Sydney (2016). Ben’s recent research and practice incorporates equal parts composition, performance and the development of musical software systems. Ben has previously lectured in music technology and contemporary music at the University of Technology, Sydney and the University of New South Wales, and has been award scholarships and grants from the Australia Council for the Arts (2008, 2016), the Ian Potter Cultural Trust (2008), the Marten Bequest (2007) and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2002-2005).
Ben’s research and creative work has been featured at the International Computer Music Conference (2013), the Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (2012, 2014), the International Conference of Computational Creativity (2015), the Sound and Music Computing Conference (2012), the dBâle festival of electronic music (2012), IRCAM Live @ La Gaité Lyrique (2012) and the Australasian Computer Music Conference (2011, 2012). His compositions and performances have featured on national and international radio shows including ‘The Music Show’ on ABC’s RN, FBi’s ‘Ears Have Ears’ and ‘SoundHub’ on London’s Resonance FM, and his electro-acoustic compositions have been featured at the 2016 Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music (Huddersfield, UK), the 2015 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (New York City, USA), the 2014 Visual/Music Series SeenSound (Melbourne, Australia), the 2014 Sonic Landscapes New Music Festival at California State University Fullerton (Los Angeles, USA) and at the 2011 Sydney Fringe Festival.
Ben has performed saxophone and electronics at new music festivals and events across Australia including the 2015 Totally Huge New Music Festival, the 2011 and 2012 New Music Network Mini-Series, the 2012 Biome Symposium and the 2013 Vivid Festival. As a music technologist Ben has performed and collaborated with Sydney’s Ensemble Offspring, the Omega Ensemble and the Australia Ensemble. He regularly collaborates with pianist Zubin Kanga as live electronics performer and technical assistant, and is currently working with saxophonist/composer Joshua Hyde on a series of audio-visual performances due to be toured to New Zealand and Chile in 2017 (supported with the Australia Council for the Arts). As a multimedia programmer Ben has collaborated with numerous artists and researchers on a variety of interdisciplinary projects. Recent work in this area includes a durational installation project with Megan Clune (Next Wave Festival, Melbourne, 2016), work with Ollie Bown on custom beat-making software for tablet computers (Samsung Sound + Vision, 2016) and the design of spatial music software for a permanent installation in collaboration with Klang/ESI Design (330 Hudson Building Foyer, NYC, 2013).
Ben has released three albums; derivations | human-machine improvisations (2014, self-released), a collection of live and studio improvisations with his ‘derivations’ system, Ben + Zamyatin, an improvised duo with computer musician Ollie Bown (2013, Not-Applicable Records), and Wingello Sessions, an EP of solo alto saxophone improvisations (2014, self-released).
Ben’s research and creative work has been featured at the International Computer Music Conference (2013), the Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (2012, 2014), the International Conference of Computational Creativity (2015), the Sound and Music Computing Conference (2012), the dBâle festival of electronic music (2012), IRCAM Live @ La Gaité Lyrique (2012) and the Australasian Computer Music Conference (2011, 2012). His compositions and performances have featured on national and international radio shows including ‘The Music Show’ on ABC’s RN, FBi’s ‘Ears Have Ears’ and ‘SoundHub’ on London’s Resonance FM, and his electro-acoustic compositions have been featured at the 2016 Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music (Huddersfield, UK), the 2015 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (New York City, USA), the 2014 Visual/Music Series SeenSound (Melbourne, Australia), the 2014 Sonic Landscapes New Music Festival at California State University Fullerton (Los Angeles, USA) and at the 2011 Sydney Fringe Festival.
Ben has performed saxophone and electronics at new music festivals and events across Australia including the 2015 Totally Huge New Music Festival, the 2011 and 2012 New Music Network Mini-Series, the 2012 Biome Symposium and the 2013 Vivid Festival. As a music technologist Ben has performed and collaborated with Sydney’s Ensemble Offspring, the Omega Ensemble and the Australia Ensemble. He regularly collaborates with pianist Zubin Kanga as live electronics performer and technical assistant, and is currently working with saxophonist/composer Joshua Hyde on a series of audio-visual performances due to be toured to New Zealand and Chile in 2017 (supported with the Australia Council for the Arts). As a multimedia programmer Ben has collaborated with numerous artists and researchers on a variety of interdisciplinary projects. Recent work in this area includes a durational installation project with Megan Clune (Next Wave Festival, Melbourne, 2016), work with Ollie Bown on custom beat-making software for tablet computers (Samsung Sound + Vision, 2016) and the design of spatial music software for a permanent installation in collaboration with Klang/ESI Design (330 Hudson Building Foyer, NYC, 2013).
Ben has released three albums; derivations | human-machine improvisations (2014, self-released), a collection of live and studio improvisations with his ‘derivations’ system, Ben + Zamyatin, an improvised duo with computer musician Ollie Bown (2013, Not-Applicable Records), and Wingello Sessions, an EP of solo alto saxophone improvisations (2014, self-released).
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Papers by Benjamin Carey
Central to enabling musicians to use the software is to make available a set of clear instructional examples show- ing how the technical aspects of agent design can be used effectively to achieve particular musical results. In this pa- per, we present a pilot study of the Agent Design Toolkit in which we conducted two contrasting musical agent design experiments with the aim of establishing a set of such ex- amples. From the results, we compiled a set of four clear examples of effective use of the learning parameters which will be used to teach new users about the software. In ad- dition, we identified a range of improvements which can be made to the software itself.
Teaching Documents by Benjamin Carey
Refereed Conference Publications by Benjamin Carey
Proceedings of Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'13) workshops, Boston, MA, October 14-15th, 2013.
Thesis Chapters by Benjamin Carey
The contributions and outcomes of this research project are as follows:
- The development of novel computer music techniques for use in interactive musical performance;
- A novel self-reflective study of the development and use of interactive musical performance systems from the perspective of a performer-developer;
- Theoretical perspectives on the design and use of interactive musical performance systems.
In addition to the published thesis, this research has generated significant creative outcomes in the form of software, studio recordings, documentation of live performances, video documentation and a publicly available website dedicated to the _derivations system. These creative outcomes are also presented as significant contributions of this research.
The creative practice underpinning this research is presented as a narrative of development, tracing advancements in the author’s practice towards the stabilisation of the _derivations system and its accompanying performance practice. Designed for use by instrumental improvisers, _derivations uses live-sampling and timbral matching techniques to generate autonomous responses to the live performance of an improvising musician, engaging the performer in a playful, improvised musical dialogue. This thesis outlines both formative programming experiments and stabilised software artefacts, tracing the author’s creative practice to reveal the iterative and cyclical patterns of development engaged in throughout this research.
Employing a practice-based research approach, this project uses the creative practices of software programming and interactive musical performance to surface issues, concerns and interests concerning human-machine performance practice. A self-reflective methodology is employed to engage with emergent research themes arising throughout the development of my creative artefacts. The thesis concludes with three extended reflections-on-action that interrogate theoretical concerns relevant to the interactive computer music community. The first of these reflections addresses the relationship between human and material agencies in the practice of the performer-developer, whilst the second reflection interrogates the concept of musical interpretation in the context of human-machine performance. The final reflection proposes symbiosis as a novel interactive metaphor in the development of interactive musical systems.
Central to enabling musicians to use the software is to make available a set of clear instructional examples show- ing how the technical aspects of agent design can be used effectively to achieve particular musical results. In this pa- per, we present a pilot study of the Agent Design Toolkit in which we conducted two contrasting musical agent design experiments with the aim of establishing a set of such ex- amples. From the results, we compiled a set of four clear examples of effective use of the learning parameters which will be used to teach new users about the software. In ad- dition, we identified a range of improvements which can be made to the software itself.
Proceedings of Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'13) workshops, Boston, MA, October 14-15th, 2013.
The contributions and outcomes of this research project are as follows:
- The development of novel computer music techniques for use in interactive musical performance;
- A novel self-reflective study of the development and use of interactive musical performance systems from the perspective of a performer-developer;
- Theoretical perspectives on the design and use of interactive musical performance systems.
In addition to the published thesis, this research has generated significant creative outcomes in the form of software, studio recordings, documentation of live performances, video documentation and a publicly available website dedicated to the _derivations system. These creative outcomes are also presented as significant contributions of this research.
The creative practice underpinning this research is presented as a narrative of development, tracing advancements in the author’s practice towards the stabilisation of the _derivations system and its accompanying performance practice. Designed for use by instrumental improvisers, _derivations uses live-sampling and timbral matching techniques to generate autonomous responses to the live performance of an improvising musician, engaging the performer in a playful, improvised musical dialogue. This thesis outlines both formative programming experiments and stabilised software artefacts, tracing the author’s creative practice to reveal the iterative and cyclical patterns of development engaged in throughout this research.
Employing a practice-based research approach, this project uses the creative practices of software programming and interactive musical performance to surface issues, concerns and interests concerning human-machine performance practice. A self-reflective methodology is employed to engage with emergent research themes arising throughout the development of my creative artefacts. The thesis concludes with three extended reflections-on-action that interrogate theoretical concerns relevant to the interactive computer music community. The first of these reflections addresses the relationship between human and material agencies in the practice of the performer-developer, whilst the second reflection interrogates the concept of musical interpretation in the context of human-machine performance. The final reflection proposes symbiosis as a novel interactive metaphor in the development of interactive musical systems.