LEE- Müzik-Yüksek Lisans

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  • Öge
    A case study of aesthetics of imperfection: Creating and using impulse responses of unusual spaces in the field audio mixing
    (Graduate School, 2022-09-30) Erdem, Genco K. ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409181012 ; Music
    Music as we experience it now moved further apart from the music that was first made in ways that the structures that once made it what it is are entangled with coincidences, different takes on the aesthetics and technological improvements on how we make it. There are now types of music that are less formal and less perfectionist . It is not only the harmony, melody, timbre or motive that make the music, but all that and more. With the additional equipment to make the music and available tools to alter the sound in order to attain a more ear-pleasing product; recorded music significantly changed in the 20th century. Most of the times, these changes created certain aesthetics that we all have become accustomed to and in some specific genres, these additions have become instrumental to define certain types of music. Whilst some of these changes were led by influential figures in the music production industry, the rest such as gated reverb in 80s music drum sound were discovered by happy accidents. Nearing today, there are more people who make and produce music in studios, on stages or at the comfort of their own homes. Digital audio workstations, digital signal processing tools, affordability of the recording gear are contributing factors of the growing numbers of music producers. Whilst the recorded music for so long tried to replicate the real world conditions, it is not so anymore. Instead of replicating the natural, people are now trying to lay out rules to make the musical product more compelling. This thesis focuses on the use of reverb through impulse responses, an effective tool that is widely used in music production in order make use of the spatial and spectral functions of spaces and objects, in a way that is is not entirely natural but may prove to be compelling enough to create a new understanding of the aesthetics of imperfection, by creating impulse responses of objects that are normally not designed for acoustic purposes through the use of sine-sweep method. Impulse responses obtained from these objects are investigated in detail for future reference to users who wish to pursue their own happy accidents and applied on a multitrack recording on a digital audio workstation for further understanding with the expert views of sound engineers.
  • Öge
    Aesthetic strategies in horror film sound design: Case studies from Japanese horror cinema
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-17) Akdeniz, Tolga ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409191110 ; Music
    Horror films have a unique place in cinema with their imagery and sonic qualities. While the experience of watching a horror film evolved throughout the years, the fundamental goal of the horror genre is to horrify the viewer in various ways, and it is named after this particular effect it aims to elicit. Sound design plays a major role in creating the horror film experience. In this study the contribution of sound design to aesthetic strategies employed in horror films will be investigated based on case studies from the prolific and influential contemporary horror cinema of Japan. In order to have a better perspective on the conventions of the genre and understand how the selected films converge or diverge from them, the study will be introduced with a theoretical investigation of the horror genre and a historical investigation of Japanese cinema. After the introduction, the properties of film sound in horror films will be examined individually. The analysis method of this study relies both on measurable data with objective observations and also subjective observations based on the phenomenological experience of horror films. The introduction of the analysis is by examining the atmosphere of horror films, although a vague and an intangible phenomenon, it is a crucial quality that affects the perception and it relies heavily on music and sound design. The framework of the analysis consists of 3 major components based on the theories of Michel Chion (1994), the functional properties of film sound: Anticipation, punctuation, unification and separation. The analysis methodology developed by Taylan Özdemir (2015) based on the physical, spatial and temporal properties of film sound will be utilized to gather and interpret measurable data within these functional properties of film sound. The anticipation function of film sound investigates how sound is employed in order to create and build tension, to create suspense. The punctuation function of film sound is investigated under four categories, these are cinematic shock, sonic emphasis for narrative cueing, silence for emphasis and somatic empathy. While cinematic shock focuses on the abrupt startling moments of horror films, somatic empathy explores how horror films affect the body of the viewer. In the last part of the individual analysis, how film sound contributes to achieving spatial, temporal or atmospheric unification and separation is investigated. In the final section of the study, the developed analysis methodology will be utilized to examine the selected scenes in detail. In conclusion, in this study the previously developed analysis methodologies will be further expanded to horror cinema; and the sonic aesthetic strategies employed for the intended horror film experience and how these emerge in Japanese horror cinema will be investigated.
  • Öge
    Constructing terminology for musical timbre: A semantic mapping of acoustic features in Turkish language
    (Graduate School, 2023) Örün, Ezgi Su ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 786568 ; Music Programme
    Timbre is a multidimensional sensory attribute of sounds, directly linked to the perception of the identity of sound sources. Recognition and categorization of sound sources and events occur largely by detection of spectro-temporal acoustic cues attributed to timbre. Furthermore, quality judgements of musical tones are largely made on the basis of timbre. Thus, exploring its perceptual representations to better exploit its allowances is important for communication-based practices in music and sound fields. Timbre perception has been studied through perceptual multi-dimensional spaces (MDS) which demonstrate dissimilarity-based relationships between sounds. Furthermore, various semantic tasks such as semantic differential (SD) and verbal attribute magnitude estimation (VAME) aimed to find perceptual relationships between timbres through their verbal descriptions. Because verbal labels reflect conceptual projections of sounds, exploring linguistic descriptions of sensory qualities brings about its various advantages to sound practice, especially in composition, instrumentation, sound art and design areas. However, due to the multi-dimensional and perceptually subjective quality of the concept, arriving at definitive measures is notoriously problematic. In this study, perception of timbral qualities of musical instruments were investigated through their verbal descriptions. Because there has not been a previous study concerning timbre semantics in the Turkish language, the test was designed in the form of a checklist procedure for observing preference data of descriptions in an unbiased manner. The preparation step of the experiment consisted of collecting adjectives from previous semantic studies of timbre and providing them with Turkish translations. 84 adjectives were chosen from a larger pool by academics/professionals in the sound engineering and design field. Test participants consisting mostly of music students, chose adjectives from a list of 83 adjectives as they listened to 24 instrument samples consisting mostly of orchestral instruments in equalized pitch and loudness. From the analysis, frequency data gave 27 adjectives which showed correlations most strongly with the acoustic parameters of pitch strength, harmonic energy distribution, signal bandwidth, noisiness, attack centroid and spectral flux.
  • Öge
    Contributions of archery to violin performance through biokinetic approach
    (Graduate School, 2022-02-07) Işıksoy, Seçil ; Öztürk Özgen, Yelda ; 409181104 ; Music
    Each musical instrument requires holding it in a certain position suitable for its own structure. Violin position has an unnatural lateral position by holding the violin facing left between the shoulder and chin. Understanding the bow arm is fundamental for violinists to generate a personal expression and impressive sound. Since the violin is caused by repetitive movements specific to its practice, it subsequently leads to nerve entrapment syndromes and muscular injuries. Today, violinists are asked to produce a wider variety of tones and dynamics than ever before. Modification and progress of bows and strings, the demands of composers, and the dynamic capacity of today's concert halls make difficulties and high pressure for modern violin techniques. Consequently, a greater ingenuity of music and body is required more than ever before. In addition, a change in the repertoire is also a risk factor. The repertoire is considered a critical parameter concerning the levels of force and pressure generated during the performance, interacting with the accessories added to the instrument, such as the chin rest. However, the most effective risk factor is related to increased instrument use times and rehearsal times. For this reason, especially the part related to the movement system 'functional anatomy', kinesiology, biomechanics issues need to be addressed and instructed. In order not to cause functional deficiencies frequently and to make music more efficient, the importance given to various physical methods performed without instruments should be equalized with exercises on the instrument in education and career. In this sense, there are some accepted methods and sports in musicians' lives such as; cardio method, post-isometric relaxation techniques, swimming, jogging, yoga, Tai Chi, pilates-reformer, martial arts, Mitchell method, Feldenkrais technique, Alexander technique, endurance exercises, PNF. Instrumentalists rarely describe what they do using movement and the definition of movement means that generally only for enhancing stage attendance and reducing pain. Violinists' warm-up usually consists of scales, double-stop exercises, and bow exercises. One of the major shortcomings in the instrument training process is that the player practices without fully knowing, paying attention to, and developing the physiological functioning and capacity of the performance. Movement and coordination are largely ignored until an injury occurs. For this reason, professional violinists should be trained with awareness to consider participating in sports or an activity that improves their alertness, agility, and coordination, and generally increases muscle tone. Compared to the physical activity of violinists, archery is one the most suitable sports for violinists. Both archers and violinists use the tonic reflex. The tonic reflex is about making the body's extension and retraction movements when the head is turned to one side of the body. The greater the upper body force, the easier it will be to turn the head in the direction of the shifter. Archery is a sport that uses a very similar movement and general coordination, closely set up, and many of the same muscle groups that violinists use. In addition, both archery and violin performance are art that demands patience, balance, physical, mental health, and discipline. Yet another benefit is that archers use a complementary set of muscles to those used in string playing. Archery, which is one of the non-musical techniques to improve freedom, posture, and balance also holds additional advantages for violinists such as it broadens the shoulders, is a stress-relieving activity, and the method of preparing for a concert or an archery competition is similar. In this thesis, the technical characteristics of archery were studied and examined only mentioning anatomical points. It has been investigated how archery techniques can contribute to violin performance.
  • Öge
    Designing digital interfaces for enhanced musical interaction and digital instrument mapping strategies to improvise alongside acoustic instruments
    (Graduate School, 2022-05-24) Dağdeviren, Onur ; Deneç, Gökhan ; Vasilakos, Konstantinos ; 409191106 ; Music
    Today, with the increased accessibility of powerful processors and the development of sophisticated musical software, digital musical instruments, and interactive music systems have become quite common. It is now possible for sound artists to develop their customized musical instruments or interactive music systems to realize musical ideas that they have in their minds. Various commercialized digital control interfaces like Leap Motion Tracker or Playtronica's Playtron, which developed in the last two decades, offered great potential in musical applications. The advancements in human-computer interaction fashion led to much more expressive and engaging designs. This thesis is written from a unified perspective of a designer/composer/performer and proposes two newly developed interactive music systems: 'Lemohaxis' and 'Guru'. This study examines Lemohaxis and Guru as the main outputs of the study with focusing on their design processes and discusses their place in the literature. Additionally, in order to understand the effects of design decisions on the systems, these two systems are compared in detail. A limited number of performances were evaluated through various data collecting methods including questionnaires and unstructured interviews with the performers and the audience. The results of this research show that gestural controls with a Leap motion tracker can be much more expressive when compared to an Xbox controller. Also, simple one-to-one mappings for gestural controls allow a high level of performability for novice users without lowering the expressivity as long as it is possible to perform theatrics intuitively, yet it limits the complexity of musical controls. Comparison between two example systems show that there is a tradeoff between sonic expressivity and performability. In addition, the unique perspective in exemplary design of 'Lemohaxis', emphasizes that it is possible to achieve the targeted learning curve with unconventional approaches. Another innovative approach that is suggested by 'Guru' system is, using objects that are related to sonic outcome for switching between mapping presets of the leap motion to let the audience to relate the performers actions and the resulting sound for improving transparency. The concepts that are vital to an interactive music system design are introduced through a review of the literature. Similar systems and digital instruments are examined in terms of aesthetics and structural design. Structures of systems, mapping strategies, aesthetic needs, and decision-making on control interfaces are discussed in detail. Structural design, musical output, and the artistic needs that the systems must meet, are compared with similar digital instruments and interactive systems in the field.
  • Öge
    Effect of sound design on players choices in videogames: A case study on valorant gun sounds
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-18) Ilkıç, Mustafa Berk ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409191116 ; Music
    The video game industry is expanding rapidly due to the digital world's ongoing technological advancement. New ideas, projects, and inventive developers or companies that potentially advance the state of the art are supported by the industry itself. It has become one of the largest industries in entertainment and sports. In terms of boosting gameplay or user satisfaction, sound design plays a crucial part in the development of video games. In video games, auditory features can provide information about the surroundings where the player is placed inside the game scene. FPS (first-person shooter) is one of numerous game genres. In this thesis, the sound design of firearms in first-person shooter video games and its effect on players' weapons preferences are investigated and analyzed. The sound created by firearms can generate the perception of tremendous damage, bulkiness, improved aim, a rapid fire rate, a futuristic aura, etc. This assertion is tested in the reality by Valorant, a competitive first-person shooter game in which two teams compete to kill each other with firearms. In addition, Valorant allows the employment of the same weapon with multiple sounds. I conducted a study of casual players utilizing the feature game that allows a player to employ. In addition, interviews with E-sports professionals were conducted to investigate the rationale behind their decisions. Due to these characteristics, this game is regarded the ideal candidate for testing this topic. Results are associated from the sound engineering perspective such as frequency content, dynamic range, and sustain of a signal with the support of the Perspective of the Emotions. This Perspective of Emotions content is taken from a related research called "Causing fear, suspense, and anxiety using sound design in computer games" by Toprac & Abdel-Meguid in 2010 and there are 4 types of Perspectives to base on the results of this research.
  • Öge
    Evaluating audience perception of iconic sound design elements: A Case study on the lightsaber sound from star wars
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-18) Barış, Orhun ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409191111 ; Music
    Star Wars is considered to be one of the biggest if not the biggest fantasy franchise in pop culture. The franchise has been mesmerizing the world with its vast universe and its unique atmosphere ever since the release of its first movie Star Wars: A New Hope. Because of that, Star Wars embellished many teenage childhoods such as mine. This appreciation expanded when I grow an interest in sound design since one of the most striking aspects of the movies that helped with the success of the franchise was the exceptional sound design. From the clash of lightsabers to Darth Vader's iconic breathing, many sounds from the original trilogy have become classics starting from 1977 and reaching today. The event that inspired the idea at the core of this research, was born as a result of my personal experience with one of the legendary sounds from Star Wars in an episode of The Mandalorian (2019-), a series show which tells a side story of a bounty hunter. Although it is a side story, it contained most of the iconic sounds and their source objects in the story. It was the sound of a lightsaber in one of the episodes that caught my ear. It felt and sounded different from what I knew as the sound of a lightsaber since my childhood. Then I began to question if other listeners, whether they are die-hard Star Wars fans or not, would react the same way I did. This was the question that inspired the core idea behind the listening experiment which was done in this research that is evaluating the perception of the audience concerning an iconic sound design element. The sound of a lightsaber was selected to examine. It was decided that 2 versions of the sound would be obtained and presented to the audience. For that, the iconic version of the lightsaber sound was extracted from the original trilogy, and the version of the weapons sound from The Mandalorian was selected to compare. The extracted files had to be from scenes that are as synchronous as possible for comparison since the sound of the lightsaber is highly tied to its movement or the action that is being done with the weapon for that matter. At this point, a frequency analysis had to be done to confirm that the versions were in fact different but more importantly, a frequency spectrum analysis had to be done to translate the audible differences between the 2 versions to actual numbers, and findings concerning frequency range and volume. To present the 2 versions to the audience as they are, would be too obvious for a comparison that seeks the perception of an iconic sound. Hence, it was decided a swap of audio between the original and the recent scenes would serve the aim of this research better. Three pairs of videos were created and each video had its audio exchanged with its conjugate with the exception of one pair. The medium for the listening experiment which would present these videos to the audience was chosen to be an online survey because of the ease of sharing it provides and the data representation and analysis tools that the online survey platforms offer. An online survey was constructed in Survey Monkey, and scenes with exchanged audio were presented to the audience together with questions that would help classify the overall participants. The first 4 questions aimed to classify the audience concerning their familiarity and the rest of the survey included 3 comparison question pairs. The pairs are meant to be 2-step comparison phases in which the first question would ask a pure immediate reaction without any guidance or hint concerning the lightsaber, and the second question would ask the participant to specifically comment about the differences that might have heard concerning the sounds of the lightsabers in the presented scenes. The hypothesis going to the establishment and the execution of the survey was, the part of the participants who stated that they are highly familiar with the Star Wars universe was expected to majorly spot the audio swap or comment that what they heard does not feel like it belongs to the image whereas, the participants who think their familiarity was average and below was majorly not expected to spot the audio swap or type a comment which would resemble the notification of the audio exchange. 123 results were gathered between the 6th of November and the 15th of December. The results were as expected for the group which stated average and below familiarity. However, the group which stated high familiarity did not behave as the hypothesis expected. The number of participants from this group that notice the audio exchange was lower than expected, and the number of responses that stated that they did not notice anything at all or the number of responses that commented about the visual components of the scene rather than the audible component, was higher than expected. For this, this research suggested 2 arguments to discuss the unexpected results. The first one suggests the iconic lightsaber sound that one would store in their memory was altered through time and what remains is an imprint that is altered through time and the various Star Wars productions that were made since the original trilogy. The second one was inspired by Michel Chion's (1994) concept of added value and suggested that the togetherness of audio and synchronized video, created a mode of perception that results in the lowered noticeability of the audio swap.
  • Öge
    Exploring the interpretive potential of Soundpainting: An experiment in musical indeterminacy
    (Graduate School, 2024-01-30) Göknel, Gökçe ; Aji, Jerfi ; 409191105 ; Music
    Soundpainting is a sign language for improvisation developed by Walter Thompson. It involves a Soundpainter who uses a vocabulary of gestures to guide performers through many musical and sonic parameters. Each gesture represents an instruction or musical idea, ranging from indicating changes in dynamics or tempo to suggesting particular playing techniques or even asking for improvised solos. The Soundpainter interacts with the performers in real time, shaping the music as it unfolds. The performers, in turn, respond in real time to these cues, exploring different sonic possibilities and contributing their own unique interpretations. On the other hand, various composers and musicians have explored the concept of indeterminacy in music throughout its history. It challenges traditional notions of composition and performance by introducing elements such as chance and performer's initiative. Composers either use chance or similar methods while creating their compositions or provide performers with vague or open-ended instructions, thus inviting them to actively participate in shaping the musical outcome. Thus, indeterminate music challenges conventional interpretation due to its inherent flexibility and variability in composition and performance. This study proposes Soundpainting as a dynamic tool for interpreting such works that resist traditional analysis. It looks closely at how effectively Soundpainting works as a way to understand indeterminate compositions. It focuses on the works of Christian Wolff, Pauline Oliveros, and Tom Philips. The goal is to evaluate how Soundpainting communicates the nuances contained within non-traditional scores characteristic of indeterminate music. The study also pays attention to how this method can be both faithful to composers' intentions and innovative for performers' expression. The study takes two consecutive routes. Firstly, it experiments with a Soundpainting ensemble to interpret selected indeterminate scores using the vocabulary of Soundpainting. Secondly, the study examines these practical interpretations with existing theories: the concepts of indeterminacy, Benjamin Brinner's theory of musical interaction, and Nattiez's tripartition model, which divides musical events into poietic (creative), esthesic (receptive), and neutral (objective) levels. The concept of indeterminate processes aligns with Soundpainting's spontaneous nature. Similarly, Christian Wolff's open-form compositions fit with Soundpainting's performer-driven musical content. Moreover, Tom Philips' graphic scores present a good opportunity to bridge visual art with sonic realization, which is already inherent in Soundpainting. Benjamin Brinner's musical interaction theory underlines the highly interactive aspects of Soundpainting. Such dynamics become crucial when interpreting scores that necessitate collective decision-making. Jean-Jacques Nattiez's semiotic approach provides a framework to dissect how meaning is constructed in Soundpainting performances. By exploring the theories mentioned, this research gives a more in-depth understanding of Soundpainting. Furthermore, the study looks at the potential for expanding the scope of Soundpainting by performing indeterminate pieces. The study involves qualitative analysis through experiments that illustrate effective uses of Soundpainting in interpreting indeterminate music.
  • Öge
    Gunther Schuller's third stream: Story of an invented music style
    (Graduate School, 2024-05-02) Bonfil, Cenk ; Altınbüken, Eray ; 409201127 ; Music
    Since its emergence in the United States in the early 20th century, coming mainly from the African-American community in New Orleans, jazz music has always been inherently a fusion, the most prominent inputs that shaped its characteristics being, broadly put, the African rhythmic structures and European harmony. New Orleans jazz, for one, featured elements from many musics, including minstrels, French marching bands and blues. Jazz, at least in its earlier times, has been seldomly defined in relation to its individual influences and came to be an established branch of musical tradition in its own right early on in its development. Yet, adopting new stylistic elements became a characteristic feature of the tradition throughout its later advancements, which functioned to drive it forward and led to the emergence of a distinctive style almost every decade throughout the first half of the 20th century. Classical music, however, despite that its earlier forms were very much influenced by a variety of European folk musical styles, by the late 19th century and early 20th century, was rather a fixed entity, being defined largely as "art music" belonging mostly to the elite. With the fast-paced advancements in virtually all artistic and scientific areas that came in the 20th century, classical music would also be carried away by the strong currents of change and innovation. It would develop non-tonal practices, be influenced by folk music more than at least the past century, utilize complex rhythmic textures other than the most common ones such as 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8 and develop many unconventional performance practices merely in a few decades of the century. While contemporary practices and techniques were opening up to outer influences more than ever, jazz has constituted a prime attraction for many composers like Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy and Bartók. In short, the trade between classical music and jazz was never a new notion. Third Stream, a term coined by the composer Gunther Schuller in a lecture he gave at Brandeis University in 1957, stands out among earlier confluences as being a conscious attempt at bringing the two traditions of music together to shape a third one, drawing elements from both but distinctive from either in its own right. He attempted to fuse compositional tools of contemporary classical practices, which is the first stream, with the improvisational nature and rhythmic subtleties of jazz, being the second stream, and produce a "third stream" that was neither one or the other but one that was in the midway. This thesis aims to examine the ways in which Third Stream combined certain elements from both kinds of music. It will look into the compositional tools Schuller used to achieve his musical objective, define the technical hardships faced while doing this and investigate how the composer attempted to solve these. To do this, musical pieces written by Schuller that make use of mixed instrumentation consisting of jazz and classical instruments and musicians, will be formally and harmonically analyzed, by utilizing several analytical tools. These analyses will be supported first by research regarding the historical development of both jazz and classical music, a short survey of the hybridization of the two that took place before Third Stream and a look at the biography of Gunther Schuller himself, to understand personal aspirations, musical, social and personal background that led to his coining the concept. The main discussion, however, will be a comparative one about the definition of the Third Stream and its development in the following decades in reference to several statements by Schuller and his close circle of colleagues who adopted the concept in their music, followed by discussion on several criticisms it received by other scholars. The thesis will be concluded with a brief discussion that will relate the previous material to the musical analysis of the three selective pieces, by pointing out the aspects that the criticisms remain strong and those that they lack. Lastly, several suggestions for future academic and artistic research will be shared.
  • Öge
    Increasing interactivity in video game music
    (Graduate School, 2023-08-01) Kuru, Aydın İbrahim ; Sarıer, Ozan ; Vasilakos, Konstantinos ; 409201130 ; Music
    This thesis studies the historical and current conventions, outlooks, applications and research in the field of game music systems and proposes its novel dynamic music strategy based on the musical and narrative principle of tension. The introduction section aims to illustrate the context and background for the research in addition to introducing the related terminology. The development of video game music systems is described in the first part, in which notable examples that are influential to this thesis are put forward together with a brief history of the medium. In the second section, the practice and theory of composing for video games is questioned. The process of composing for games, in addition the conventional models of synchronizing music to the narrative structure of games are analyzed. The second part of the thesis consists of the primary contribution of the paper and aims to put the background research into theoretical practice. It puts forward the novel dynamic music strategy of dynamic tension model which essentially proposes mapping game data, user output and game states and musical parameters in a way that facilitates dramatically conflicting structures of suspense and repose. First, the priorities and the approach of the proposed model are put forward. Afterwards, the related narrative and musical concepts are identified and explained. Then, a demo composition is realized for a specific video game. To conclude, the resulting score is evaluated and further discussed. The final part of the thesis consists of a conclusion which shows the effort of systemizing the findings of the novel compositions and the theoretical review. It discusses further application areas and elaborations of the dynamic music strategy as well as its advantages and disadvantages in the video game music paradigm.
  • Öge
    Integrating blockchain technology with user-centric payment system to form an alternative royalty distribution model for reducing royalty inequity
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-21) Günay, Bilge ; Öztürk Özgen, Yelda ; 409191120 ; Music
    Over the past few decades, digitalization plays a key role in shaping the music industry. By forcing radical changes, digitalization fundamentally disrupts the recorded music industry by changing how music is made, distributed, and consumed. Within years it becomes impossible to overlook the emergence and the impact of streaming services. The growing demand for accessing music through subscription- based streaming services transforms how the recorded music industry generates revenues. Even though streaming music is much more preferred and more accessible than buying physical copies, it becomes harder for musicians to collect their revenue share from streaming. Therefore, streaming services faces growing pressure and challenges to be more transparent with royalty management and faster with their payouts. This research discusses the current state of the recorded music industry by leading factors that led to the streaming services' lack of transparency and inequality in royalty payouts. This research summarizes copyright and royalties involved in music, and the complex structure of the recorded music industry by discussing the absence of standards for handling metadata and the lack of remuneration from music streaming. How royalties are allocated according to the current payment system, Pro Rata - Market Centric Payment System, is explained in this research. In return, an alternative royalty distribution model, User-Centric Payment System, has been described as reducing inequality in royalty payouts and compared with the current distribution model Pro Rata. Due to rapidly emerging technological developments, there are new opportunities for reevaluating the current royalty distribution model. Blockchain technology is being recognized as having the potential to change the music industry's ecosystem from its foundations. Further integration of blockchain technology with a User-Centric Payment System has been proposed to form an alternative royalty distribution model by providing insight into how blockchain may address these challenges by offering more transparent and almost instant royalty payouts. Finally, this research outlines further research and development on blockchain-based solutions for royalty distribution.
  • Öge
    Mode mixture and other modal harmony applications in Turkish rock music: An anthology
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-19) Karaağaçlı, Tunahan ; Aji, Jerfi ; 409181024 ; Music
    This study examines mode mixture and other modal harmony concepts in Turkish rock music. It is an anthology consisting of 40 songs with original transcriptions and analyses. In the introduction part of the study, the purpose and motivation of the study are stated. The primary purpose of the study is to create a resource containing the analysis of popular music songs to be used in music theory education. Thus, listeners and students who are familiar with popular music, not classical music, which is used as an example in the music theory curriculum today, will be able to understand the theory concepts more easily. Another purpose of the study is that this source is a guide for songwriters. At the end of the chapter, the connection between musicianship and music theory and the benefits of learning music theory as a songwriter are discussed. The second chapter discusses the relationship between popular music and analysis. Although it has been studied under disciplines such as sociology, literary and cultural studies, the study of popular music under the academic field of music is a relatively new phenomenon. Popular music analysis is inherently bound to be interdisciplinary and has not yet formed a discipline in its own right as it concerns smaller parts of each of the aforementioned disciplines. Despite their interrelation, different fields of study on production, consumption, musical text, and reception have attracted varying levels of interest from scholars of different disciplines. This chapter focuses heavily on discussions of why popular music should not be analyzed with the same analysis methods applied to common practice period music. In relation to analysis tools, three arguments have been offered. First, popular music is designed for mass distribution to large and often socio-culturally heterogeneous audiences. Second, popular music is stored and distributed in unwritten media. Third, popular music can only exist in an industrial monetary economy where it has become a commodity. These arguments point out that it is impossible to evaluate popular music according to some sort of Platonic scale of ideal aesthetic values, and that notation should not be the analyst's main source material. Moreover, popular music differs from common period music in terms of representation. Western music is represented by printed music material, while popular music is represented by studio recordings and live performances. This makes it difficult to analyze popular music on the basis of classical Western music. In the last part of the chapter, the inclusion of popular music in the music theory curriculum is discussed. Thanks to this approach, it is seen that students learn music theory concepts more quickly and their participation in the course increases, while the inadequacy of popular music in terms of printed music materials and the necessity of constantly updating the samples due to the rapid consumption of popular music songs is emphasized. While the third chapter includes a brief history of Turkish Rock music, the scope of the songs in the anthology and the song selection process are stated. There are forty songs from thirty-six different artists, and these forty songs are from twenty-two different years. While twelve out of the forty songs are from Turkish rock music's golden era, the 2000s, there are fourteen songs from the 2010s, six songs each from the 2020s and 1990s and two songs from the 1960s and 1970s. The song selection process started with choosing a random artist. All of the discography has been listened to and the songs that sounded as they included an instance of mode mixture were jotted down. Next step was to pick another artist from the artist's "Fans Also Like" section on Spotify. The process was repeated and finished once there were forty songs. The two features that these thirty-six different musicians have in common are that they are Turkish, and the songs have a guitar played on the records; mostly electric guitar but there are some songs that have acoustic or classical guitar as well. The genres that these bands/musicians are identified with vary from alternative rock to indie pop, jazz, grunge, folk rock, progressive rock, Anadolu rock, alternative metal, post hardcore, industrial metal, indie rock, protest rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, pop rock or simply, rock. The fact that this study's primary focus is mode mixture and to create a source that analyzes, illustrates, and explains the phenomenon with the songs of popular known artists, the entire anthology is gathered under the roof of rock music instead of going into a genre discussion. The fourth chapter comprises the theoretical and methodological content of the study. The concept of mode mixture is explained. Mode mixture is when a song "borrows" a chord or note from a tonality and/or modality other than the tonality and modality it is in. The scope of the study includes the seven modes of the diatonic scale and the harmonic minor mode. In the rest of the section, the structural elements of the popular song form and the outer forms are explained: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, transition, bridge; strophic form, AABA form and verse-chorus form. The section ends by specifying the analysis method: After determining the forty songs in the anthology, they have been transcribed by ear and the notations have been prepared in MuseScore. Chords have been labeled and after a Roman numeral analysis, the keys of the songs have been finalized. Any instances of mode mixture, modulation and secondary dominant/leading tone instances have been explained in the accompanying text. Regarding the chords, two functions have been taken into consideration: quality and category. The chord qualities of major, minor, diminished or augmented have been defined with the degree of the scale to which the chord corresponds. Category, on the other hand, refers to the chord's role within the harmonic circuit. That is to say, the iv chord has a quality of minor but in the circuit, it may function as the dominant. The basic harmonic circuit, T–PD–D–T has been taken into account and if needed, formal units have been also designated to have a harmonic function: a verse section that prolongs tonic, a pre-chorus section that has a predominant function in the harmonic circuit. Roman numeric identity of the chords displays the chord's relation to the tonal center, whereas its categorical function depends on its relationship with other chords. The fifth chapter contains analyses of forty songs released between 1966 and 2022. After giving a short information about the song and the artist, the chord progressions, the borrowed mode and chord(s), the quality and function of the chord and the formal sections in which mode mixture appears are indicated. The sixth chapter talks about the statistics that emerged as a result of the analysis of forty songs. Statistics such as the most used main mode, the most borrowed mode, the formal section where the concept is used the most, the percentage distribution of the concepts in the song form, the most borrowed chord are presented. The seventh and final chapter includes recommendations for songwriters, suggestions for future research, and the conclusion of the study. Under the guidelines for songwriters' section, recommendations are given to songwriters within the scope of the results in the sixth section: The formal section where mode mixture is used most often, the most frequently used mode for mode mixture, the most interacting mode pairs, and the most frequently used borrowed chords. The study ends with a conclusion that also gives a brief summary of the study, followed by a section of recommendations for future research.
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    Narrative contribution of immersive audio sound design in audio-visual works
    (Graduate School, 2022) Murtezaoğlu, Yusuf Can ; Karadoğan, Can ; 733200 ; Music Programme
    Audio-visual works, whether it be a film, tv show, documentary, animation, live/recorded performing arts or an entirely abstract work of artistic representation; often relies heavily on sound. It can be argued that this is a reflection of how human senses work in tandem to make sense of reality. This reliance on observation and comprehension with ears, puts an emphasis on sound design to take charge in structuring a world, describing a scene, enhancing what's seen and collectively furthering the storytelling. With the advancement of technology and knowhow, this effect has been more prominent as time passed. One of the most apparent re-imaginings of the aural part of audio-visual mediums came with an approach called immersive audio. This is somewhat of an umbrella term that encompasses any form of soundstage reproduction that has spatial components to it. This was a revolutionary step towards a more enhanced experience for the viewer to enjoy. It also opened many paths towards creativity, considering there are a multitude of ways to achieve a given thing. Music, dialogue, sound effects and other miscellaneous audio events coming from not only the screen (or in a stereoscopic array very close to the screen) but possibly all around the audience's aural perception sphere, stimulated the industry towards experimentation and creativity. In the decades following the invention of this approach we saw many standards were being implemented both in recording, editing and playback phases of a production. As in all things, there are advantages and disadvantages to an approach that is developing so fast and is prone to change. Most attempts to standardize it has either changed and evolved into something else or became obsolete. And some have emerged as dominant as prominent forms and have promising potential future use cases. One of these come in the form of ambisonics. Of the many benefits of working with ambisonics, a couple stand out and in fact, are the reasoning behind this study being done with it. The ease of use, accessibility, future proofing aspects are industry leading to say the least. Also the scalability and expanded/enhanced playback options to it are arguably unmatched. In this thesis, main purpose is to explore the possible narrative contributions of an immersive sound design in an audio-visual work, made with ambisonics method. This is achieved through both a manner of thought experimentation and a scientific observation approach that is highly repeatable.
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    Removing environmental factors of a recording with deconvolution technique and its potential uses
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-14) Alperten, Mert ; Kakı, Sertaç ; 409191109 ; Music
    The introduction of the first commercial digital audio workstation in the 90s has changed the focus in the recording business from large-scale studios to more digital-based approaches. One by one all the unique aspects of a recording studio have lost their importance to a degree, examples can be noted as reverberation chambers, editing tools, mixers, hardware tools (e.g. compressors, limiters, preamps, etc.), amps, room acoustics —can all be simulated in plug-in form for the use of a wider demography. There is an increasing demand for improved modeling and emulation of the hardware setup as mixing in your room is now being the preferred method for recording. The recording environment is one of the biggest contemporary problems of this era of the rising trend in home recordings. Problems like bad room reflections, bad room mods, bad microphones, cheap preamps, and interfaces are all included in this so-called "bad recording environment" of the home recording artist. Buying good microphones, preamps, and treating a room to improve your recording environment are all expensive solutions, hence this study seeks an alternative solution with a deconvolution technique. The impulse response technique is widely used on direct input (DI) signals of guitars to simulate amps and microphones, because DI signals are recorded without any environmental interference, it is easy to dress them into a recording environment. If there is a way to record an acoustic sound source without its environment as a "dry signal"; using the impulse response technique on this recording for changing its environment would be very easy in theory. Aim of this study is to use a deconvolution technique to remove a recording from its environment to attain this so-called "dry signal" so that it would be susceptible to be processed into a better recording environment.
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    Representation of sound synthesis as a compositional methodology in contemporary music
    (Graduate School, 2024-01-16) Türkoğlu, Şükran Gökçe ; Ekmektsoglou, Emmanouil ; 409201129 ; Music
    This thesis examines the contributions of sound synthesis techniques to a musical work during the compositional process. Since the 50s, sound synthesis has influenced musicians not only in the field of performance as an instrument but also in the process of generating unique ideas, providing a structural basis for their works. Sound synthesis and its concepts continue to be a source of inspiration for composers. Beginning with a general approach of the integration of electronic music into contemporary and popular music to the formation of a compositional concept by formalization has been investigated. Afterwards, the focal point of the study, sound synthesis techniques that are additive synthesis, frequency modulation, granular synthesis and stochastic synthesis were introduced and their active role during composition and orchestration processes were examined. The discussion focused on how to incorporate the techniques from a different domain into the instrumental realm, and the potential aesthetic and technical variations that might occur. A symbolic form of representation of synthesis results in timbral and textural enrichment of sonic material regardless of the instrumentation. Since the principle is based on the smallest component of a sound to the formation of a larger musical event, observing and manipulating physical qualities of this component such as harmonic and inharmonic content, amplitude and envelope allows for molding the overall sound of a piece. Subsequently, works in contemporary music repertoire in which each technique was used were identified and examined. The conceptual contributions and effects of these works and composers from different perspectives, from spectral music to stochastic music and microtonal music, were discussed. Finally, an empirical research in order to be able to examine the effects of sound synthesis techniques on music composition, to make deep inferences and to concretely base the effectiveness of the use of this technique. A composition was created employing stochastic synthesis, then was transcribed for a wind ensemble and the observed findings were conveyed.
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    Santur's visibility in Turkey; An ethnomusicological analysis of orientation towards an instrument
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-27) Çavaş, Bulut ; Tanır Özgün, Emine Şirin ; 409171004 ; Music
    The santur and santuri's existed in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey between the 16th and 20th centuries and gradually faded out in the 20th century. From the 2000s, santur have increasingly become visible through various genres and scenes. This presence within centuries comprised of several significant phenomena; having a critical place within Ottoman court music circles both as performative and pedegogic aspects, being at the first official conservatory (Dârü'l-Elhân) in the Ottoman Empire and its successor Istanbul Conservatory in Turkey, or taking as part of ensembles at crucial historical events. Covering those issues, this research mainly focuses on the 2000's and aims to investigate the extent of santur's reappearance, which inquires the aspects of visibility such as the evaluation of the orientation towards the instrument through its performers and the audiences. At the beginning of the fieldwork, it was noticed that among the majority of musicians, timbre was quite effective on the preference of santur, thus the roles and perception of timbre were also investigated. During the historical background analysis, it is observed that the change in the demand at the institutional level is one of the reasons that triggered santur's fade out through the 20th century, thus the relation between music and the construction of nation-state identity is examined. In parallel with the investigation of these two issues/periods in their own social and cultural contexts, an ethnomusicological perspective that centers the instrument and examines the relationship of its organological structure to these phenomena has been adopted. Regarding santur's reappearance, ethnography is used to inquire about the aspects of musical instrument preferences or related parameters. The study involves several fieldwork techniques such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, mapping, collecting and analyzing audio/visual materials, and informal interviews. For the historical background chapter, in addition to the literature study, an archival research has been added; through Cumhuriyet (oldest Turkish daily newspaper) digital archive, all the news that covers santur and santur players between 1930-2020 has been analyzed and incorporated into the related parts. Some of the collected data was quite parallel to the facts within other sources, yet some others reveal crucial facts regarding the social and political reasons of santur's disappearance. This study proposes an organological approach that centers around thinking through the roles of musical instruments in a particular place and time. In addition, being aware of the subjectivity of taste/preference and the incomprehensibility of the concept of popularity, the study argues that through ethnography, it is possible to understand the context of organological identity constructed around an instrument and related aspects of the legitimacies. It is expected that the investigation of the phenomena that constitute the individual and institutional preferences of a musical instrument, by focusing on musical instruments and timbre, will contribute to our understanding of the complex relationship between instruments, performers and listeners.
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    Sensory dissonance curves with ADSR envelope & partial type analysis as an additive synthesis strategy
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-16) Altaylar, Kerem Eren ; Ekmektsoglou, Manolis ; 409191115 ; Music
    This research focuses on the concept of sensory dissonance and its relation to the complex nature of tone and timbre systems. It can be described as the amount of harmonic beating occurring between two tones which corresponds to the fluctuation in the perception of their amplitude. Two research questions are set to investigate this concept. The first one is whether the envelope components of a partial, which are also known as ADSR parameters, affect the sensory dissonance calculation of that timbre which consists of the sine wave partials or not. Previous studies used pure amplitude values of partials for calculation and focused on theoretical aspects of sensory dissonance. The aim of adding envelope information and testing it is an attempt to extend the concept of sensory dissonance to more practical usage. The second question is, does the type of a harmonic partial affect the total sensory dissonance? In this research, there are virtual tests which were held to find possible answers to these questions. In the introduction section, the scope of computational analysis of sound and music is investigated through its components and methods. In addition to that, the concept of sensory dissonance is described with its mechanisms and is contextually connected to the research questions in terms of structure. The second section shows the test designs regarding the concepts in the introduction section. The first test includes timbre data generation consisting of sine waves, calculation of the weight for those timbres, and their effects on the amplitude weights of the partials. The second test includes the different types of harmonic partials and their effects on the sensory dissonance curves as well as the attempts to replace the integer frequency ratios of harmonic partials with inharmonic partial ratios consisting of different tone systems. Section 3 contains the results of two tests and Section 4 has the remarks on the tests.
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    Sonic symbiosis: The interplay of sound and spatiality in installation art
    (Graduate School, 2023-12-08) Gaferoğlu, Abdulfettah Salih ; Erek, Mehmet Cevdet ; 409201134 ; Music
    The primal need to discern the direction and proximity of sound sources for survival has greatly affected humankind's relationship with sound and its spatial properties. Cultivating this capability has significantly influenced cognition and spatial behavior, shaping how to prioritize auditory stimuli, and figuring out possible sources of sounds through it. To illustrate, consider early humans who relied on the accuracy of identifying the rustling of leaves to detect potential threats in a dense forest. This instinctual skill continues to resonate within the modern auditory perception. With this observation in mind, this research examines the broader context of the role of sound and its symbiotic bond with spatiality, in particular, its aesthetic interpretation within sound-related arts. It offers a detailed examination of sound spatialization techniques throughout history and their impact on human society at large. It explores historical milestones as well as their social context and the implications of burgeoning technologies while critically analyzing cognitive and societal evolution behind spatiality in sonic arts, the technological resources developed for sound representation, and the aesthetics of contemporary paradigms respectively. In the discussion chapter following this detailed context setting, two major issues are centered. The importance of linguistic tools to depict and evaluate a sonic artwork, and an examination of sound installations in the light of contemporary examples. This examination includes an assessment of distinctive qualities, what is diffusion and what does it mean to have a strategy regarding it in the context of sound installations, and the notion of focus in this context. At last, this investigation is enriched with a multi-channel sound installation named CLSR as an empirical dimension to the study. It challenges the perception of space as a transparent container for sound and art exemplifying the research's philosophical facet. Leveraging the real-time generative capacities of the SuperCollider audio programming language, CLSR employs reference tones for interactive spatial exploration and invites the audience into a dialogue between sound, environment, and perception. By probing the role of space and its influence on sound creation, the project fosters new ways of appreciation for soundscape.
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    The harmonic language of Tiny Kahn
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-26) Fratina, Daniel Rocco ; Ekmektsoglou, Manolis ; 409191118 ; Music
    This thesis explores the career of jazz composer Norman "Tiny" Kahn (1924-1953) and analyzes and historicizes his developing harmonic vocabulary and stylistic contributions from 1946 to 1951. Today, Kahn is best known as a pivotal figure in the development of bebop drumming, but despite receiving high praise for his writing from his colleagues during his lifetime, his work as a composer has received scant coverage today. This paper seeks to situate Kahn in a higher position of historical value as a composer, making the case that he made substantial contributions to jazz networks of the late 1940s, with the goals of increasing visibility of this oft overlooked musician and adding valuable analytical data to the overall jazz community's pool of knowledge. The body of this paper focuses primarily on Kahn's harmonic language—its historical relationship to the mainstream, the ways in which it deviated over time, and the social connections that helped authenticate these developments within the bebop community. Analysis of a selection of blues compositions revealed a variety of methods Kahn used to push functional harmony to new limits, some of which would later become standardized within jazz compositional networks. Research has also unearthed direct links between Kahn and Miles Davis's famous genre-defining Birth of the Cool band, and comparative score analysis has uncovered many compositional techniques—first pioneered by various Cool writers—located within Kahn's 1949 arrangement of "Over the Rainbow" for Charlie Barnet's band. The data points to Kahn—an outsider to the Cool project—immediately adapting to the new harmonic and formal frameworks propagated by the Cool writers. Harmonic analysis is based on chord scale theory, the dominant analytical framework of jazz theory for the past half century. As a self-taught composer whose work is almost entirely out of print, an investigation into Kahn's music also required extensive aural transcription by the author of this paper. Using the author's fifteen years of experience as a full-time professional big band and orchestra transcriptionist, the paper will collate authentic recreations of many of Kahn's (and his peers) out-of-print scores for comparative harmonic analysis to place Kahn as a significant supporting composer in the first decade of bebop and one of the first to successfully synthesize classic big band writing with the modernizing efforts of the Birth of the Cool project.
  • Öge
    The relationship between texture and tension in early French spectral music
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-21) Barış, Deniz Can ; Altınbüken, Eray ; 409191103 ; Music
    The aim of this thesis is to shed light on the relationship between texture and tension in early French spectral music and to make conclusions about the changes in texture that occur during the tension-increasing and tension-resolving processes. The analyses include excerpts from Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail's early pieces, both of whom are well-known composers and pioneers of French spectral music. The excerpts chosen were determined by taking into account the diversity of texture and tension curves. Along with the early period, an excerpt from second-generation composer Philippe Hurel's music is analyzed. Combined with the composer's approaches, the findings of research projects, approaches to texture and tension, the classifications for the texture of the music, and some parameters impacting the tension process serve as the primary sources of analysis. The thesis's main flow includes a brief history of French spectral music, texture definitions and comparisons, common texture types, some textural developments that occurred in the first half of the twentieth century prior to the French spectral music period, the timbral approach and its use in texture, definitions of musical tension and resolution, parametric and cognitive studies applied to these concepts, and analyses applied to clarify the relationship between texture and tension based on a parametric method. The introduction, the study's purpose, and a brief history of French spectral music are included in Chapter 1. The period's approach, the process of formation, influences, composers and their compositional attitudes, and the employed composition techniques are discussed. In Chapter 2, the texture is defined in line with the different approaches and definitions in the literature. Monophony, homophony, polyphony, and heterophony are defined under the title of common texture types and exemplified under this topic. Under the next subheading, some important developments and innovations in the texture of music and its components -in the first half of the 20th century, that is from the early 1900s to the first years of the French spectral music period- are discussed and exemplified. In the last part of Chapter 2, timbre, which has an important place in French spectral music is defined in line with different approaches, and its use in texture prior to the period is briefly discussed. In Chapter 3, texture in French spectral music, its form as a result of the use of instrumental and orchestral synthesis techniques, static sound masses, micropolyphony, and the shapes of texture created by layering these forms are demonstrated with the excerpts from the music by the composers of the period. The primary source and approach utilized in this chapter is the categorization made by Kari E. Besharse on the texture of French spectral music. In Chapter 4, concepts of tension and release in literature are defined and discussed in line with cognitive and parametric studies and approaches. In addition to associating parameters such as tonal harmony and melody, the concepts of consonance and dissonance, pitch movements, dynamics, tempo, rhythm, range in Western art music, and a number of studies, draw attention to the subjectivity and multidimensionality of the concept of musical tension, are discussed. The next subheading focuses on the process of tension and release in French spectral music, the period that the thesis aims to shed light on. Some experiments and studies carried out in this field are shared. In this section, the approaches of some spectral composers to tension, the results obtained from the studies of the researchers, the contribution of some physical properties, such as the harmony created on the basis of timbre, and the roughness of the sound to the tension process are presented. Under the last heading of Chapter 4, the parameters to be used to determine the approximate tension curves and texture types in line with all these studies, the findings, and the approaches to be considered are specified. Selected excerpts of early French spectral music are analyzed with the help of the composers' notes, information gathered from the scores, parametric transcriptions, spectrograms, quotations, figures, and tables. In the conclusion part, the data obtained as a result of the analyses are discussed, and the findings on the relationship between texture and tension are shared. The thesis is concluded with an overall assessment of the applied analyses and suggestions for possible further studies.