EMDM Dissertations | EMDM Work

Physical Computing

As part of the Cultural Computing focus area in the Center for Computation & Technology, DMC 1065 houses the Media Interaction Laboratory & Library (MILL), a lab space for creating electronics hardware based on cutting edge embedded technology and sensing devices. Specialties include making Embedded Acoustic Instruments and custom Haptic Devices. More about physical computing and haptics at LSU

Sound Spatialization and Diffusion

Sound diffusion, spatialization and localization is an ongoing passion for the LSU EMDM program. Using a loudspeaker orchestra or Massively Multi-channel Audio System, we perform pieces by diffusing sound across the array, taking advantage of the room acoustics, size and shape of the loudspeakers, and directionality of the speakers. More about sound diffusion at LSU

Mobile Music

EMDM students engage in programming networked interfaces, musical iPhone and Android apps, the creative use of iBeacons, and distributed web audio projects. More about mobile instruments and web audio at LSU

STEAM Initiatives

Adding the Arts into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) curriculum is transforming the way K-12 students engage with technology. As EMDM Academy, we teach digital audio engineering workshops to primary and secondary school students. We teach computer programming concepts through musical programming languages, and we help students build their own digital musical instruments using our NexusUI mobile music interface toolkit. More about the EMDM Academy teaching initiative


EMDM Student Dissertations

Jeffrey Vernon Albert (2014) – Interactive Musical Partner: A System for Human/Computer Duo Improvisations

Matthew Bardin (2023) – Cyberinet: Integrated Semi-Modular Sensors for the Computer-Augmented Clarinet

Zachary Andrew Berkowitz (2016) – Music in Virtual Space: Theories and Techniques for Sound Spatialization and Virtual Reality-Based Stage Performance

Michael Vincent Blandino (2021) – Musical Gesture through the Human Computer Interface: An Investigation using Information Theory

Matt Blessing (2021) – Living Room Orchestra: Designing Embedded Furniture as a Family of Electronic Musical Instruments

Tate Carson (2021) – Using Distributed Techology to Make Music in the Time of the Attention Economy

Brian A. Elizondo (2023) – Performative Mixing for Immersive Audio

Lindsey Elizabeth Hartman (2019) – DIY in Early Live Electroacoustic Music: John Cage, Gordon Mumma, David Tudor, and the Migration of Live Electronics from the Studio to Performance

Daniel Stuart Holmes (2019) – Mobile Music Development Tools for Creative Coders

Anthony T. Marasco (2020) – Bendit_I/O: A System for Extending Mediated and Networked Performance Techniques to Circuit-Bent Devices

Chase Mitchusson (2020) – Indeterminate Sample Sequencing in Virtual Reality

Yeamin Oh (2014) – Audio-Based Visualization of Expressive Body Movements in Music Performance: An Evaluation of Methodology in Three Electroacoustic Compositions

Andrew Pfalz (2018) – Generating Audio Using Recurrent Neural Networks

Eric Sheffield (2019) – Designing and Composing for Interdependent Collaborative Performance with Physics-Based Virtual Instruments

Benjamin Francis Taylor (2016) – McLuhan.js: Live Net Art Performance with Remote Web Browsers

William Alexander Thompson IV (2022) – Creating Musical Scores Inspired by the Intersection of Human Speech and Music Through Model-Based Cross Synthesis

Kathleen Alyse Winn (2019) – Music Reading For Everybody: Notation for Laptop Music Making

Landon Viator (2020) – Finding Music in Chaos: Designing and Composing with Virtual Instruments Inspired by Chaotic Equations

EMDM Minors

Nick Hwang (2016) Composition Major/EMDM Minor – AEMI: The Actuated Embedded Musical Instrument

Andrew Brian Larson (2013) Tuba/Euphonium Major/EMDM Minor – Investigating “experimentalism” : a case study of the tuba and its repertoire

Daniel Brian Heagney (2013) Percussion Major/EMDM Minor – Peter Klatzow’s Six Concert Etudes for Marimba : a performer’s guide

J. Corey Knoll (2014) Composition Major/EMDM Minor – Concerto for Laptop Ensemble and Orchestra: The Ship of Theseus and Problems of Performance for Electronics With Orchestra: Taxonomy and Nomenclature

Elizabeth Anne Knox (2018) Composition Major/EMDM Minor – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra and “Nevertheless, She Composed: A Contemporary Survey of Women Composers of the Twenty-First Century”

Christopher C. McCardle (2018) Composition Major/EMDM Minor – A Rhythmic Transcription and Spectral Analysis of Luciano Berio’s Thema (Omaggio A Joyce)

Samuel Howard Stokes (2013) Composition Major/EMDM Minor – An original composition, Symphony No. 1, “Eustace the Monk” and compositional techniques used to elicit musical humor


Access Our Work

GitHub – Our repository for Max externals, Java toolkits, and web audio environments.

Laboratory for Embedded and Interactive Media (LEIM)

Edgar Berdahl’s website

Jesse Allison’s website

Other Assorted Publications Stemming from the Program

Programming Music Camp: Using Web Audio to Teach Creative Coding – Allison, Holmes, Berkowitz, Pfalz, Conlin, Hwang, Taylor

Invisible: A Critical Digital Artwork as Performance 2017 – Nam,  Berkowitz, and Berdahl

Portable modeling of virtual physics for audio and haptic interaction design 2017 – Berdahl and Berkowitz

Usage of Physics Engines for UI Design in NexusUI – 2017 – Mitchusson, Marasco, and Allison

Lost In Space: Indoor Localization for Virtual Environment
Exploration 2018 – Mitchusson and Allison

An Initiative in Embedded Sound Art with Found Objects:“What’s Old Is New” – Berdahl, Mitchusson, Montgomery