Liminal Village 2018: Audio Alchemy - Let Music Be Thy Medicine
Channel: Claude
Date: 2018-08-13

AUDIO ALCHEMY: LET MUSIC BE THY MEDICINE
An interactive workshop in music production: Audio Alchemy is a unique approach to music production that relates the ancient science of alchemy with modern digital audio synthesis. It empowers creators by treating music production as a self-transformational process, and thus as a work of Alchemy. 

The musician and the alchemist are fundamentally concerned with the same thing: transformation of energy into a more harmonious state, both within themselves and the world around them. 

The classical alchemist may turn a toxic rock into a precious metal, but the audio alchemist can turn a bad day into a great song.  In both cases there has been a thorough transformation of the initial conditions brought about by a series of careful creative operations.  

The result of alchemical work is a harmonious final product with far greater potency and effectiveness than the raw materials from which it was made. In electronic music, the gold is to synthesize vibrational medicine from basic geometric waveforms and samples, transmuting our own inner suffering in the process.

The workshop is conducted as a keynote presentation with Ableton Live demonstrations.Three main areas will be explored:

Philosophical - Esoteric alchemy and its relationship to music and artistry;
Theoretical - Music theory, harmonic sciences, and the universe as a vibrational system;
Practical - Synthesis, instrument design, live jamming, composition, mixing, editing etc.

Steve Young (aka Hedflux)

Steve was born in Scotland, and has been working as a DJ and producing electronic music since the early 90s. Between the years 1996-2004 he accomplished both a Masters degree and PhD in Theoretical Physics, where he developed a passion for scientific enquiry, teaching and mentoring.

After 5 years working in the tech industry, Steve finally left employment in 2010 to pursue his love of music as a full time career. He has been privately coaching people in music production for most of the last decade, and also giving talks and workshops at festivals and music schools across the world.

Andy Freist (aka Opulence)

Andy is a multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer and event creator based on the Big Island, Hawaii. In 2016 he co-founded Audio Alchemy alongside Hedflux. Having spent the last decade creating immersive audio-sensory experiences, he has developed a deep ability to conduct dancefloor alchemistry and lead dancers into states of ecstatic emotion.

An Opulence dancefloor experience transcends limitations based on style and genre, and gets straight to the heart of music's unquestionable ability to uplift and refine the human spirit.