WORK SELECTIONS
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.
Sluicer (2023-curr.)
Sluicer is a performance system for spatial audio improvisation, adaptable to
various output channel configurations from stereo to high density loudspeaker
arrays. In this work, two 20-voice, erratic synthesizers operate as a roving
“chorus” under the player’s direction. Both synths have a series of multichannel
effects designed to work specifically with high order ambisonic signals, allowing
the player to create and alter spatial dimensions. As audio flows, the guiding
action is like closing/opening gates in a lock on a waterway. The results are
timbral and spatial churns, swells, floods and drains, motion in repetition,
expansion, and contraction. Sluicer is programmed in Max with tactile interfaces
being high resolution, multi-touch control surfaces and a DJ-style MIDI
controller.
Sluicer has been performed at Virginia Tech’s Cube Fest 2024 ︎︎︎ on 140 loudspeaker channels and at the New Interfaces for Musical Expression ︎︎︎ conference in Utrecht, Netherlands on September 3 and 5, prepared for the 160 loudspeaker channels of the Game of Life Wave Field Synthesis speaker array ︎︎︎.
