SHAWN GREENLEE




WORK SELECTIONS

Sluicer (2023-curr.)

SFFX (2022-curr.)
Quarries (2016-22)
Sifting (2018-21)
Outwash (2019)
Rhythm Studies (2017-18)
Substitutions (2015)
Missents (2015)
Multipass (2015)
Emerald Tablets (2014)
10K Descents (2014)
Impellent (2012-14)
Locks (2013-14)
Adder (2012-13)
Sieves (2011-12)



Selected discography



ABOUT

Shawn Greenlee is a composer, sound artist, and Professor at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where he leads the Studio for Research in Sound & Technology (SRST) and is the Department Head for Digital + Media.  His recent work explores spatial audio, high density loudspeaker arrays, and erratic sound synthesis techniques.

Greenlee has been active as a solo electronic / electroacoustic improvisor since 1997 and has toured extensively across the US and Europe. Conference and festival performances include New Interfaces for Musical Expression (2024 Utrecht, 2018 Blacksburg, 2015 Baton Rouge, 2014 London, 2013 Daejeon), International Computer Music Conference (2021 Santiago, 2018 Daegu, 2011 Huddersfield, 2005 Barcelona), BEAST FEaST (2017 Birmingham), PdCon16 (2016 New York), Cube Fest (2024, 2019, 2016 Blacksburg), Re-new (2013 Copenhagen), IN TRANSIT (2008 Berlin), and Elevate (2007 Graz), among others.

Greenlee’s solo and group discography spans over fifty releases. He is a founding member of Landed, active since 1997 and known for its deconstructed rock, rhythmic noise, and intense live performances. From 1999-2001, he performed with Six Finger Satellite.

Greenlee holds a Ph.D. in Computer Music and New Media from Brown University




Sieves (2011-12)





Sieves is an audio-visual series where continuously shifting image scans are interpreted as the parameters for spectral audio signal processing. What is heard as the soundtrack of the video is the video itself interpreted as a sonic effect. In this series, the audio processed through the visual is from field recordings of environmental noise. On screen, rows of pixels are constantly updated to reveal new variations of intensity information evident as grayscale values. This data is utilized to control frequency domain audio filters that enhance or reduce spectral content in recorded sound.
The process may be described as a graphically dependent form of subtractive synthesis or noise shaping where analyzed pixel data becomes a tool to sculpt frequency-rich sound sources. Here, grayscale values moving towards black suppress content, while values approaching white reveal it. Graphic form is listenable as new sound shapes are revealed.

Sieves was featured in the Controlled Evidence exhibition in November-December of 2012 at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University. In this exhibit, three selections from the series ran in tandem and asynchronously resulting in chance, multichannel correspondences.