Adrian Tregonning

Musician, engineer, producer, and adjunct professor in NYU's Music Technology program. Interested in spatial audio and DSP.

[adriantregonning]

After having written a couple of journal articles, this is my first magazine article. It was a really enjoyable exercise writing about this topic from a non-technical standpoint , and I hope to turn it into a series!

[adriantregonning]

AES 139

Last week was the 139th Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention. I was a member of the organizing committee, acting as the Volunteer Coordinator. It was a hectic but rewarding four days! I learnt a lot about the cutting edge of audio technology, and had many inspiring conversations with leaders in the field.

I also presented my peer-reviewed paper on the use of delay panning for height channels in 3D audio. The work was based on research I completed for my Masters thesis in Music Technology at NYU. After performing subjective listening tests investigating localization perceptions of vertical delay panning, I developed some guidelines for using delays in the Auro-3D 9.1 system. The abstract and paper are available online in the AES E-library.

[adriantregonning]

My first AES paper!

In October 2014 I published my first academic paper, with a colleague from NYU. We presented our results at the 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention in LA to a positive reception.

The paper investigates the use of delay panning in 5.1 surround sound systems to improve lateral (side) imaging. We obtained some promising results and will continue to investigate this area!

More information (and the paper itself) is available here.

[adriantregonning]

A recent Max/MSP project

In Spring 2014 I took Luke DuBois' class called Multichannel Media: Installation and Performance. This was a really rewarding class with a great teacher and artist.

For my final group project, we took feeds from 4 sonar distance sensors to track a person's position in a room. The immersive sound and visuals responded to their location; if they tried to approach the blurry, small text to read it it would fly around to the other side of the room, while whispers would follow them around. The project was a meditation on loneliness and isolation in the face of pervasive interconnectedness via social media.

I developed the position tracking algorithm in JavaScript that reads the distance information from the Arduino sonar sensors to triangulate the observer’s position. I also developed the control patches for the sound and visual positioning that utilized VBAP (Vector Base Amplitude Panning). While I was familiar with Max before this project, I feel like I am pretty adept at it now.

[adriantregonning]

Smearvolution - Convolution reverb with spectral editing

Inspired by spectral editing software like Izotope RX, I decided to make a prototype convolution reverb that incorporates spectral editing capabilities. Built in MATLAB, the program allows users to load a sound source and impulse response which can be manipulated by drawing on the spectrogram.

The photos below show the process. Individual bins of the FFT can be adjusted by choosing the dB magnitude from the colorscale on the right and then painting over the desired area on the plot.

This proof-of-concept shows that spectral editing can be used to tweak subtle properties of spaces used for convolution reverb. The next step is to turn the prototype into a real-time plugin for DAWs such as Pro Tools.

[adriantregonning]

The latest release from my band No Zu includes some tracks we worked on before I moved to NY early last year.

Mind Tape by NO ZU, the sequel to 2012/13's Body Tape (expect a Spirit Tape in the future..). A continuous 30 minute mix-tape of unreleased drum-machine ZU heat beat. To be released in early 2014 on the Heavy Lows cassette label.  Tracklisting: 'Global World Intro', 'Koo Wee Rup', 'Greek Key' (Mind Head Mix), 'Elation E' (Mind Face Mix), 'Mystik C' (Mind's Eye Mix), 'PVC', 'Essence Undone', 'Ancient Oz Outro'

Credits

released 28 January 2014  Tracks 3, 7 & 8 by Nicolaas Oogjes, Tracks 1,2, 5 & 6 by Adrian Tregonning/Nicolaas Oogjes, Track 4 by Kieran O'Shea/Nicolaas Oogjes  Additional vocals by Margarita Strateas and Daphne Shum  Additional conga by Mitch McGregor on track 7  Produced by Nicolaas Oogjes  Mastered by Nao Anzai  Cover art by Luke Brown

[adriantregonning]

In Fall 2013 I took Nick Didovsky’s Java Music Systems course. This covered JMSL (Java Music Specification Language) and JSyn. It was a fantastic course that expanded my Java experience and added some powerful tools to my computer music arsenal. Nick Didovsky is JMSL’s co-creator, and was an engaging and inspiring teacher with a thought-provoking approach to computer music and algorithmic composition.

For my final project, I developed an applet that integrates with JScore and allows the user to modify the tuning structure of a piece in real time.

[adriantregonning]

8on8 - a song inspired by UK Grime 8-bar instrumentals

Composed, arranged and mixed by me using Propellerheads Reason

[adriantregonning]

A track I mastered for a friend as part of an assignment for my Mastering subject at NYU.

I used Reaper as a DAW. It took 5 stages of gain reduction (ReaXcomp multiband compressor, FabFilter Pro-C, Flux Pure Compressor II, Stillwell Event Horizon & Flux Pure Limiter II) to achieve the desired loudness. Aside from that a small amount of EQ (Flux Epure II) was used to bring out the vocals and rein in the low end.

[adriantregonning]

A track inspired by Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4 and the Durutti Column. 

I play guitar on the track and composed, recorded and mixed the song using Propellerheads Reason and Pro Tools 9. 

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No Zu at Golden Plains in March 2013. It was already a hot day (35+ celsius) but we brought the heat beat!

http://goldenplains.com.au/

[adriantregonning]

No Zu - Emotion

Film clip for 'Emotion', single of our debut album Life. Made in collaboration with Melbourne production company Tooth and Claw (http://www.toothandclaw.com.au)

I play synths on this track.

[adriantregonning]

No Zu - Emotion (24th July 2012)

Live-to-air radio performance for Triple R in Melbourne, Australia (http://www.rrr.org.au)

[adriantregonning]

Rat vs. Possum - Fat monk video clip

This video was made by visual artist Lucy McRae (http://www.lucymcrae.net) and RMIT design students as part of her 'Summer School' project. It was a great experience working with an established artist like Lucy and being exposed to cross-media endeavours.

Released 08 August 2011 

Daphne Shum: vocals  Matt Kulesza: synths  Adrian Tregonning: synths  Kieran O'Shea: synths  Andrew Noble: drums  Recorded at Headgap Studios in June 2011 by Nao Anzai.  Mixed by Nao Anzai, Matt Kulesza and Adrian Tregonning at Reel 2 Real Mix Master Studios in July 2011 

Mastered by Nao Anzai at Reel 2 Real Mix Master Studios in July 2011. 

[adriantregonning]

Body tape:  A mix tape for the radio show 'Ears Have Ears' on FBi radio in Sydney, Australia (http://www.fbiradio.com/, https://soundcloud.com/ears-have-ears). This was a fun and challenging project to work on - the brief required a 'mix tape' of original material exactly 30 minutes in length. We aimed to highlight a different aspect of No Zu from the live performances, which are dynamic and spontaneous. The tape shows the underlying electronic aesthetic beneath the live show.

Tracklisting: 'Glamour Faces/Hi-Gloss (Smooth Skin)' (unreleased), 'Tattooed Head' (self release single, June 2011), 100% Viscose (Life, Sensory Projects, 2012), 'Medusa Head/Body Levitation' (unreleased), 'Spiritual Heatwave' (Life, Sensory Projects, 2012), 'Bust Body Move' (Life, Sensory Projects, 2012), 'New Erotic Old Exotic' (unreleased), 'Prstn F'ever' (Life, Sensory Projects, 2012), 'Glamour Faces Outro' (unreleased)

All songs written, recorded and mixed by Adrian Tregonning/Nicolaas Oogjes  or Nicolaas Oogjes

Additional vocals by: Daphne Shum and Margarita Strateas

Mastered by Nao Anzai

[adriantregonning]

Rat vs. Possum @ Sugar Mountain Festival, 30th April 2011.

We had the honour of playing the inaugural Sugar Mountain Festival at the Forum theatre in Melbourne in 2011.

http://sugarmountainfestival.com/ 

[adriantregonning]

In my Masters of physics, my work was concerned with first principles simulations of nanostructures for potential use as components in a silicon-based quantum computer.

To carry out the simulations required unix programming, shell scripting, LaTeX and some C programming.