Bob Pritchard ~ Composer
Charred Media
Research
Interests
My research combines music composition and technology, with a focus on creating tools that expand the expressive resources available for concert works, dance, and sound installations. I also investigate various aspects of the human voice and voice synthesis.
I have a strong interest in using new interfaces for performance, especially those that capture gesture in some manner and provide performers and audiences with new emotional and musical experiences. The interfaces make use of visual tracking, accelerometers, pitch or volume detection, e-textiles, on-body sensors, or other means, with Max/MSP or Processing being used for software creation. The Responsive User Body Suit (RUBS) interfaces use conductive and resistive fabrics, with the performer's conductive gloves completing the circuits in order to trigger media, scrub through samples, or generate data for processing media. The Kinect Controlled Artistic Sensing System (KiCASS) uses the Kinect-for-Windows camera with custom written software to track the coordinates of 25 joints/body locations on multiple performers. Examples of the RUBS and KiCASS systems in use can be seen on the video page. in works such as Cheap Loops, ...To Travel the Distance, and Welcome to Paradise. The TASTE blog can be seen here.
Determining Regional Accents With Literature DRAWL
I have been collaborating with Profs. Molly Babel and Amanda Cardoso of the UBC Dept. of Linguistics to carry out studies on accents in British Columbia. As part of this study we created a DRAWL website where participants can register for the study, record themselves reading a story, and submit the data. Molly and her team have been able to isolate regional differences in English pronounciation across British Columbia.
To date we have carried out and published four studies dealing with English pronunciation in British Columbia regions. Click on the citation to see the published abstract, paper, or slides.