Electronic Music Production

Electronic music has become a cultural and economic asset with wide recognition:

According to the Goethe Institute, "electronic music from Germany [...] enjoys a great deal of attention worldwide"^[1].

Suhrkamp Verlag has also dealt with the history of electronic music in the form of a number of “Oral History” publications ^{[2], [3],[4]} in recent years.

Services rendered in the field of electronic music can be classified as economic goods in the “culture and creative industries”.^[5] The importance of the creative industries for the metropolitan region was recently examined by the "Economy and Infrastructure" forum of the European Metropolitan Region Nuremberg ^[6]and identified a "great importance of the metropolitan region of Nuremberg within the German music industry" (page 48) and sees Nuremberg "as that Bavarian city which offers the most efficient breeding ground for innovative music scenes ” (page 52). The American sociologist Richard Florida^[7]  repeatedly emphasises the positive influence of the so-called “creative class” on a region.

So far, there has been a lack of suitable offers in the academic teaching landscape in Germany - the demand has so far mainly been met by private providers. This is where this summer school course should start.

One can say that there has been a real democratisation of music production in the last few decades:

In the past, the results of one's own work were distributed on tapes by mail, today platforms such as Soundcloud or Bandcamp offer the possibility not only of producing but also distributing the result with the support of modern technologies. The partly very good information on the internet has also contributed to a better understanding by society.

_[1]

_{^{www.goethe.de/de/kul/mus/gen/ele.html}}

_{[2] Felix Denk, Sven von Thülen: Der Klang der Familie - Berlin, Techno und die}

_{Wende. suhrkamp taschenbuch 4548, Berlin, 2014}

_{[3] Jürgen Teipel: Mehr als laut - DJs erzählen. suhrkamp taschenbuch 4482, Berlin, 2013}

_{[4] Tobias Rapp: Lost and Sound - Berlin, Techno und der Easyjetset. suhrkamp taschenbuch 4044, Berlin, 2009}

_{[5] Jan-Michael Kühn: Die Wirtschaft der Techno-Szene. Arbeiten in einer subkulturellen Ökonomie. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden, 2017}

_{[6] eGschäftsstelle des Forums „Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur“ im Wirtschaftsreferat der}

_{Stadt Nürnberg (Hg.):“Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft in der europäischen Metropolregion Nürnberg”. Nürnberg, 2010}

_{[7] Richard Florida: The Rise of the Creative Class. Basic Books, 2003}

In this summer school course you will learn about

• History of electronic music genres
• Electronic sound synthesis (subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, FM-synthesis) 
• Structure and functionality of digital audio 
• Workstations (DAWs)
• Digital effects (chorus, phaser, flanger, distortion, tremolo)
• Dynamic processor (compressor, limiter) 
• Equalizer
• Beatmaking
• Song arrangement

In week 1 of this summer school programme we will lay the fundamentals in sound synthesis and sound design which will be applied by all participants in week 2 to work on a production of their own electronic music song project. The quality of this song will be basis for assessment in the course.

The summer school course is taught by Alexander von Hoffmann and Garri Steba.

Applied Software: Reaktor and Maschine from Native Instruments (Berlin). Every participant will get access to a computer with the required software installations. Please bring your own headphones with a jack cable connection.

Course is designed for: students from different fields of study. No prior knowledge necessary!

Fundamentals of Hydrogen Technology

The energy transition and climate protection are the central challenges of the coming years and decades. Hydrogen will play a key role as a versatile energy carrier. Hydrogen produced in a climate-friendly way makes it possible to significantly reduce CO2 emissions, especially in industry and transportation, where energy efficiency and the direct use of electricity from renewable sources are not sufficient. The move away from fossil fuels to alternative forms of propulsion such as hydrogen is a key challenge in many industries.

In this summer school course, you will get an overview of the most important basic concepts and interrelationships in the application and development of hydrogen-based propulsion systems. You will learn answers to the following questions:

• What are the properties of hydrogen, where is hydrogen used?
• How and where is hydrogen produced?
• How and where is hydrogen stored?
• How is hydrogen transported and traded?
• What are the energy conversion processes?
• How can fuel cell-based propulsion systems be used for vehicles?

You will be able to link your knowledge from basic natural sciences with new fundamental knowledge on fuel cell-based propulsion systems and will have the competence to classify properties of hydrogen-based propulsion systems in vehicles in a future hydrogen economy and the hydrogen energy chain and to assess interdependencies.

The summer school course will cover the following topics (subject to changes)

• Introduction to hydrogen technology in the context of the energy transformation in Germany and worldwide
• Properties of hydrogen
• Conversion process
• Propulsion systems and conversion processes
• Transport of hydrogen
• Hydrogen storage

Course is designed for: bachelor’s students in at least their third year, master’s students, and graduates. Fields of study: chemistry, physics, engineering
Students and graduates from other fields of study, for example business engineering, can also participate in this summer school programme, if they have good prior knowledge in natural science.