Immersive Sound
Immersive Music
Immersive Computing
The quest for immersion is — quite literally — all around us, and it has been a significant driver of research and development in the academy, the industry, and within artistic communities in the past decades. But what makes an experience immersive?
Spatial sound quickly comes to mind, and it will be a very relevant part of SMC 2024, both in the paper and the music / sonic art sessions. But there is more to immersion than spatial sound alone:
- the timbral possibilities afforded by novel sound design and synthesis algorithms certainly play a big role in the envelopment of a sonic experience (immersive sound);
- the temporal development of musical discourse and performance can determine its ability to become, as T. S. Eliot famously wrote, “Music heard so deeply / That is not heard at all, but you are / The music / While the music lasts" (immersive music);
- new strategies to engage with digital sound and music, both on studio and on stage, can open new paths for involving human computer interaction (immersive computing).
All of these themes — and much more — will be addressed in SMC 2024: welcome to Porto!
Call for Papers
As in previous years, SMC welcomes original, previously unpublished contributions between 4 and 8 pages, written in English, which must be submitted as PDF documents generated from the SMC paper template. Authors of accepted papers will be required to prepare 2-minute video presentations of their work, to be made available on the conference website. Those attending in person will be presenting their work in poster and demo sessions preceded by a short kick-off oral session featuring a 5-minute presentation per poster or demo.
This year's theme is Immersive Sound, Immersive Music, Immersive Computing. Submissions emphasizing these topics are strongly encouraged. Other topics include, but are not limited to:
- Algorithms and Systems for music composition
- Auditory display and data sonification
- Automatic separation, recognition, classification of sound and music
- Automatic music generation/accompaniment systems
- Computational musicology and ethnomusicology
- Content processing of music audio signals
- Digital audio effects
- Hardware systems for sound and music computing
- Humanities in Sound and Music Computing
- Interactive performance systems
- Interfaces for sound and music
- Languages, protocols, and software environments for sound and music computing
- Models for sound analysis and synthesis
- Multimodality in sound and music computing
- Music creation and performance
- Music information retrieval
- Music performance analysis and rendering
- Perception and cognition of sound and music
- Social interaction in sound and music computing
- Sonic interaction design
- Sound and music for accessibility and special needs
- Sound and music for Augmented/Virtual Reality and games
- Sound/music and the neurosciences
- Sound/music signal processing algorithms
- Spatial sound, reverberation, and virtual acoustics
- Technologies for the preservation, access and modelling of musical heritage
All submissions will be peer-reviewed, but authors are not required to anonymize them: SMC 2024 applies a single-blind peer review. All accepted papers are to be included in the SMC 2024 Conference Proceedings, but please note that publication is conditional to conference registration of the presenting author. Kindly indicate in the submission form if the first author of a submission is a student author. Registration instructions and fees will be published in January 2024. The Proceedings will have an ISBN and the electronic version will be available on the SMC website and Zenodo.
Submissions should be made using the SMC2024 Conference Management Toolkit's website. The submission of the title, abstract, and complete list of authors should be done first, followed by the submission of the full paper as PDF (maximum file size: 20MB).
Title & abstract submission deadline (strict!): February 24th, 2024.
Paper submission (strict!): March 11th, 2024
For any questions, please contact the SMC 2024 Scientific Chairs: Guilherme Campos, Inês Salselas and José Vieira.
Call for Music & Sonic Art
SMC 2024 welcomes Music & Sonic Art contributions that are related to the core topics in Sound and Music Computing research for the concert program during the conference week. Concerts, performances and installations during SMC 2024 will be programmed in the most appropriate space at or around ESMAE and live performances are specially encouraged.
The theme of this year's SMC conference is Immersive Sound, Immersive Music, Immersive Computing. Submissions emphasizing these topics are strongly encouraged.
Music & Sonic Art from any genre and in any formats is invited for submission. All submissions will be peer-reviewed, but authors are not required to anonymize them: SMC 2024 applies a single-blind peer review. The review will happen in two rounds:
- The first is a single-blind peer review by the Artistic Committee, that will judge the quality and relevance of the proposal for the SMC conference.
- On the second round, the Organising Committee will address the feasibility of the selected pieces and build the concert and installation programmes for the conference.
It is thus very important that all submissions state very clearly the human and technical resources needed for each performance and installation, as well as which of those resources will be provided by the authors and which are expected to be provided by the host institution. ESMAE hosts state of the art audio equipment (including immersive sound systems), as well as musicians in various traditions and formations (from solo to symphonic orchestra).
Participants are encouraged to explore, but of course not limit to:
- Live solo or ensemble: solo or ensemble performances that can be performed live, with or without the use of immersive audio and/or video technologies. A recording of the edited ensemble has to be submitted for review, however the accepted works will be performed live on-site.
- Media-based performances: pre-recorded music & sonic art performances leveraging immersive audio and/or video technologies.
- Installations: music & sonic art installations, with or without the use of interactivity.
Submissions should be made using the SMC2024 Conference Management Toolkit's website. The submission of the title, abstract, and complete list of authors should be done first, followed by the submission of the proposal and supplementary files:
Mandatory files (two PDF files, maximum size 20MB each):
- A submission proposal with description of the performance / installation in the form of program notes.
- A detailed technical rider, which should clearly specify how long the performance will last and include the details of both technical requirements and setup times.
Supplementary files (up to five files, maximum size 500 MB each, using formats mp4, mov, wav, aif, flac, mp3, and pdf), which can be added using the option "Upload Supplementary Material", available in CTM's Author Console after the creation of the submission:
- Audio / Audiovisual performance / documentation of the piece.
- The score of the work (if applicable).
- Other relevant files.
Title & abstract submission deadline (strict!): February 24th, 2024.
Music & sonic art submission (strict!): March 11th, 2024
After notification of acceptance, all participants have a chance to further edit the uploaded material to make a performance-ready submission. Only one submission per participant will be accepted. Please note the submission proposal is for informative purposes for the selection and will not be included in the conference proceedings. Artists must hold the copyright of submitted materials to be used in SMC2024.
Each accepted music submission needs to be covered by an in-person registration (student or full, as appropriate). If the authors of the music submission are already SMC 2024 paper authors and have registered for the conference, their music submission can be covered with the same registration. Kindly indicate in the submission form if the first author of a submission is a student author.
For any questions, please contact the SMC 2024 Music Chairs: Ângela da Ponte, Dimitrios Andrikopoulos and Rui Penha.
Important Dates
- November 7th, 2023: SMC 2024 web site is launched.
- November 15th, 2023: Calls for papers / music & sonic art published.
- February 24th, 2024: Deadline for submitting an abstract and registering the paper music & sonic art on the conference portal (strict!).
- March 11nd, 2024: Deadline for paper / music & sonic art submission (strict!).
- March 30th, 2024: Deadline for submitting reviews.
- April 6th, 2024: Notification of acceptance.
- April 7th, 2024: Conference / Summer School registration open.
- May 11th, 2024: Camera-ready version due.
- May 18th, 2024: End of early-bird registration.
Committees
Organising committee:
- Ângela da Ponte (ESMAE / CESEM), Music & Sonic Art co-chair / Summer School co-chair
- Dimitrios Andrikopoulos (ESMAE / CESEM), Music & Sonic Art co-chair
- Gilberto Bernardes (FEUP / INESC TEC), Summer School co-chair
- Guilherme Campos (DETI-UA / IEETA), Paper co-chair
- Inês Salselas (ESMAE / CESEM), Paper co-chair
- José Vieira (DETI-UA / IEETA), Paper co-chair
- Marco Conceição (ESMAE / CESEM), General chair
- Nuno Fonseca (Sound Particles), Industry liaison chair
- Rui Penha (ESMAE / CESEM), Music & Sonic Art co-chair
Scientific committee:
To be announced.
Artistic committee:
To be announced.
Location
The School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE) is a national and international reference for higher education in arts. Located in the centre of Porto, ESMAE has an international standing, and offers customised and cutting-edge higher education programmes in music and drama.
Built in 1985, on the foundations of the former School of Music, this is one of the founding schools of the Porto Polytechnic. Today it features two departments - music and theatre - and a postgraduate programme in Dance was created in 2016.
ESMAE is home to the Helena Sá e Costa Theatre and to the Café-Concert Francisco Beja, and apart from being a space for creating and experimenting, it is the venue of over 500 art events annually. The ESMAE Symphony Orchestra, the ESMAE Baroque Orchestra and the ESMAE Jazz Orchestra, among many others, are often the performers in many of those events.
Porto is the capital of the second largest metropolitan area in Portugal and one of Europe's leading city destinations. It is served by an international airport and is home of some of the major cultural, industrial and economic activities in Portugal.
