Barry Truax Explained

Barry Truax (born 1947) is a Canadian composer who specializes in real-time implementations of granular synthesis, often of sampled sounds, and soundscapes.^[1]

He is credited with developing the first ever implementation of real-time granular synthesis in 1986, with being the first composer to explore the range between synchronic and asynchronic granular synthesis in Riverrun (1986), and being the first to use a sample as the source of a granular^[2] composition in Wings of Nike (1987).^[3]

Truax is Professor Emeritus of Simon Fraser University, where he taught both electroacoustic music and acoustic communication. He was one of the original members of the World Soundscape Project.^[4]

Selected compositions

• The Blind Man (1979)
• Riverrun (1986, Wergo WER 2017–50)
• Wings of Nike (1987, Cambridge Street Records CSR CD-9401 and Perspectives of New Music CD PNM 28)
• Tongues of Angels (1988, Centrediscs CMC CD-4793)
• Beauty and the Beast (1989, Cambridge Street Records CSR-CD 9601)
• Pacific (1990, Cambridge Street Records CSR CD-9101)
• Pacific Fanfare (1996)
• Wings of Fire for female cellist and two digital soundtracks including the Joy Kirstin poem "Wings of Fire" read by Ellie Epp (1996)
• Androgyne, Mon Amour for amplified male double bass player and two digital soundtracks including text from Tennessee Williams' 1977 book of the same title read by Douglas Huffman (1997)

Further reading

• Interview with Truax by Toru Iwatake (online version). Accessed 4 February 2010 Print version: Computer Music Journal, 18(3), 1994, pp. 17–24.
• Interview Asymmetry Music Magazine. Accessed 4 February 2010.

External links

• "Barry Truax: Electroacoustic Composer & Acoustic Communication Researcher", Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

Notes and References

1. Book: Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought. Paynter. John. John Paynter (composer). Routledge. 1992. 9780415086950. Electroacoustic music and the soundscape: the inner and the outer world. Barry Truax. 374–398.
2. Web site: Granular Synthesis . 2024-06-17 . www.sfu.ca.
3. Web site: WINGS OF NIKE . 2024-06-17 . www.sfu.ca.
4. Web site: Bios . 2024-06-17 . www.sfu.ca.