Studio for Electronic Music
With the founding of the SEM - Studio for New Music, the Mozarteum University has played a pioneering role in the field of computer music and creative work with new media in Austria since 1958. Today, it offers students a wide range of opportunities - from working with analog synthesizers and producing acousmatic music to live electronics and computer-aided composition. The SEM regularly participates in festivals and works closely with the renowned ensemble NAMES.
Studio for Electronic Music
+43 676 88122 437
sem@moz.ac.at
Mirabellplatz 1
5020 Salzburg
Rooms 4004, 4006, 4008 & 4010
Office hours
during the semester
Thu from 13.00-14.00
& by telephone arrangement
SEM
The rooms of the Studio for Electronic Music are located on the 4th floor of the main building at Mirabellplatz 1:
- Room 4004: Studio
- Room 4006: Seminar room of the Department of Composition & Music Theory, Studio
- Room 4008: Office
- Room 4010: Studio
The rooms in the Studio for Electronic Music are exclusively available to the participants of the courses there throughout the opening hours of the Mozarteum University and are common rooms. Therefore, consideration for others and the careful handling of equipment and other inventory has the highest priority. Access without time limit to rooms 4004, 4006 and 4010 is reserved for students of the studio and is activated via the student card.
The studio's courses are part of the composition curriculum and can be studied by all other majors as free electives or as part of a concentration. In addition, there is the possibility of individual supervision of students' individual electroacoustic projects.
Students of the Paris Lodron University Salzburg who wish to attend courses of the Studio for Electronic Music can enroll as extraordinary listeners at the Mozarteum University. To do so, simply take the PLUS enrollment confirmation with you to the enrollment; registration for the individual courses takes place via MOZonline.
Room 4.004
- Mac Pro (2 x 2.8 GHz Quad Core)
Apogee Ensemble Multi-Channel, 24bit/192kHz Audio Interface
2 Genelec Speakers
Headphones - Macintosh G5 Computer (Dual 2 GHz)
Motu 828 Firewire Audio Interface
2 Genelec Speakers
Headphones
Room 4.006
- Mac Pro G5 Quad Core
Digi 003 Audio Interface
Blue Sky 5.1 System One
Blue Sky 5.1 System Pro Desk: Sat 5 + Sub 8
Headphones
Equipment
Yamaha MIDI grand piano Roland A-80 Masterkeyboard EMS Synthi AKS 80 Arp 2600 Synthesizer with Arp 3604-P Keyboard Polymoog Keyboard Alesis ADAT multitrack recorder DAT recorder Tascam DA P1 Video camera Sony DCR-TRV110E + tripod M-audio MicroTrack 2 Various Neumann microphones
The software equipment is approximately the same on all computers and consists mainly of platform-independent OpenSource programs. Independent of personal budgets, all students can work with the programs during their studies, even outside the university. OpenSource enables professional use of the learned programs even after graduation without financial investment. Financial resources can be used elsewhere: Hardware, project support etc.
On all the computers of the studio, the database "Virtual Library of Musicology" is also unlocked for research.
The SEM was founded by Eberhard Preußner in 1958 with the participation of the Philips Group. The first studio composition was created for the Salzburg Festival - an electronic theater music for the play "Job". Composers such as Josef Maria Horváth and Andor Losonczy worked with the studio in the following years. in 1971, the Institute for Basic Musical Research sought to continue the studio's work professionally. However, many original sound tapes were recorded over or destroyed in the 1960s.
The studio staff now oriented their work to Pierre Schaeffer and his Groupe de recherches musicales. Works composed on site during this period were performed, among others, at the World New Music Days of the International Society for New Music. Particularly active composers at this time were Klaus Ager, Dieter Lehnhoff, Werner Raditschnig and Martin Schwarzenländer. in 1977, the Aspekte Salzburg music festival was founded in the context of SEM, to which personalities such as François Bayle, Luc Ferrari, Mauricio Kagel, Dieter Kaufmann, Bernard Parmegiani and Iannis Xenakis were invited. At this time, the computer was introduced as an important production element of the studio. The piece Metaboles III by Klaus Ager was the first Austrian computer music piece to be premiered at the Steirischer Herbst festival. In collaboration with the öenm (Austrian Ensemble for New Music), the sound installation Klangmobile was created, which was realized several times and presented to John Cage in 1991.
From 1979 to 1996 Werner Raditschnig directed a computer music studio in Salzburg combined with the electronic studio in 1996 by André Ruschkowski. in 2006 Achim Bornhöft took over the management of the studio. In the same year the studio moved to the premises of the renovated Mozarteum University Salzburg. Since then, the SEM has offered students a wide range of educational opportunities, from working with analog synthesizers and producing acousmatic music to live electronics and computer-aided composition. The SEM participated several times in festivals such as next_generation at the ZKM Karlsruhe and the festival On / Off in Limburg. In recent years, a close collaboration has developed with the Salzburg-based New Art and Music Ensemble NAMES. Furthermore, the Sweet Spot series was created, a monthly event presenting and discussing electronic music.
