What is Electroacoustic Studies?

Is this the program you're looking for?

Most students we accept have experience working with sound. They have worked individually, commercially or in school on a range of sound projects, and have mastered the fundamentals of commercial software apps. The Major and Minor in Electroacoustic Studies are not introductory sound programs. These fundamental skills should be acquired before applying.

Are you interested in all kinds of sounds? This program is for students who want to:

• invent sound-designed atmospheres
• tell stories
• transform sounds
• create imaginary audio soundscapes, or create sounds for dancers and animators
• work in multichannel environments
• perform with others
• record on location
• develop a critical ear
• explore analog modular synthesis, virtual synthesis, and live coding

If this resonates with you, this is the right program for you.

Consult our in depth introductory guide for more information.

Before you apply

Look closely at your portfolio and your interests

• Are your samples all recordings of you and your band? Perhaps you are looking for a dedicated recording arts program.
• Are you including videos of you singing your own, original songs? Perhaps the song-writing area of the Department of Music is what you are looking for.
• Are you really interested in the sociology and buzz around music? Perhaps the Communication Studies department is what you want to look into.

Do some research

• Wikipedia: electroacoustics
• Wikipedia: electroacoustic music
• Wikipedia: electronic music
• Wikipedia: musique concrète
• JTTP, a national competition for sound artists (listen to the top three or four winning pieces)
• sonus.ca, a web-based collection with a few thousand electroacoustic pieces
• Google historical composers such as Pierre Schaeffer or Karlheinz Stockhausen
• Concordia Electroacoustics on Youtube

Contact an instructor

Having done some research, you will want to contact an instructor in the program. The fulltime instructors are the admissions committee. You will be able to get strong, useful directed advice about the works for your portfolio by contacting the department before the submission deadline.

• Mark Corwin: mark.corwin@concordia.ca
• Kevin Austin: kevin.austin@concordia.ca
• Ricardo Dal Farra: ricardo.dalfarra@concordia.ca
• Andrea Young: andrea.young@concordia.ca