\" That's why I'm writing this book, so people who want to make IDM can get into all this technical stuff without it feel overwhelming or disconnected from what they actually want to be composing
.CHAPTER 1
.CHAPTER 1
.CHAPTER_TITLE "Preface"
.CHAPTER_TITLE "Preface"
.HEADING 1 "Preface"
.HEADING 1 "Preface"
@ -8,34 +7,31 @@ I think of IDM not as a style, but an approach to electronic music that presents
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Access to music technology is universal for anyone with a computer, but education isn’t. To write this book, I conducted endless experiments in SuperCollider and studied computer music textbooks to discover what’s useful. Through experimentation, I found that certain tools suit certain purposes — but if one piece of intellectual advice is missing, the results can be boring or hideous.
Access to music technology is universal for anyone with a computer, but education isn’t. To write this book, I conducted endless experiments in SuperCollider and studied computer music textbooks to discover what’s useful. Through experimentation, I found that certain tools suit certain purposes — but if one piece of intellectual advice is missing, the results can be boring or hideous.
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Many sound design tools aren’t difficult technically—they become approachable once you understand the mechanics at a bare minimum. The real challenge is knowing what to do with them. Most tutorials cover the “how,” but rarely the “why” or “what next.” This book aims to fill that gap by offering compositional strategies and aesthetic direction that make these tools composable. We’ll explore how to select source material, set meaningful constraints, and create signal paths that lead to expressive, intentional outcomes. You’ll also learn to work with techniques that go beyond conventional use—like clustering wavesets or reshaping impulse responses—not just applying synthesis, but inventing it.
Many sound design tools aren’t difficult technically—they become approachable once you understand their basic mechanics. The real challenge is knowing what to do with them. Most tutorials cover the “how,” but rarely the “why” or “what next.” This book aims to fill that gap by offering compositional strategies and aesthetic direction that make these tools composable. We’ll explore how to select source material, set meaningful constraints, and create signal paths that lead to expressive, intentional outcomes. You’ll also learn to work with techniques that go beyond conventional use—like clustering wavesets or reshaping impulse responses—not just applying synthesis, but inventing it.
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While the chapters can be read in any order, they are structured to build a listening practice: from how pitch systems reshape your perception of timbre, to how granulation and vocoding reframe time, to how convolution embeds context into every sound.
.LIST
.LIST
The chapters build conceptually in this order:
The chapters build conceptually in this order:
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Alternative Tunings - <why?>
Alternative Tunings – Because tuning systems define what’s possible and train your ears to hear consonance and dissonance in specific ways.
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Microsound - <why?>
Microsound – Because it provides an alternative world of synthesis that conceptualizes sound as bursts of energy encased in envelopes rather than periodic waveforms.
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Phase Vocoding – Because it gives full control over source material, allowing us to deconstruct sound and rebuild it from spectral fragments.
Phase Vocoding – Because it allows detailed spectral editing and resynthesis of source sounds, giving full control over their microscopic components.
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Convolution – Because it does more than simulate space—it can completely recolor a sound, revealing hidden harmonics like a filter on an FM patch.
Convolution – Because it does more than simulate space—it can completely recolor a sound, revealing hidden harmonics like a filter on an FM patch and embedding sonic context.
.LISTEND
.LISTEND
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IDM has a unique role in pushing experimental sound design into the mainstream, raising the bar for what listeners expect and appreciate. Landmark albums like Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II shifted cultural attention toward texture, timbre, and sonic detail in unprecedented ways. I hope to reclaim and continue that legacy. IDM’s potential lies not only in innovation but in its ability to challenge and engage a broad audience, encouraging deeper listening and fresh perspectives on sound.
IDM has a unique role in pushing experimental sound design into the mainstream, raising the bar for what listeners expect and appreciate. Landmark albums like Aphex Twin’s *Selected Ambient Works Volume II* shifted cultural attention toward texture, timbre, and sonic detail in unprecedented ways. I hope to reclaim and continue that legacy. IDM’s potential lies not only in innovation but in its ability to challenge and engage a broad audience, encouraging deeper listening and fresh perspectives on sound.
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This book is aimed at intermediate electronic music composers working within the IDM tradition, which generally doesn’t rely on formal music theory—and often for good reasons. Personally, I don’t use theory in my compositions, and IDM rarely builds its complexity through traditional music theory. Instead, that complexity often comes from experimental sound design, processing, and texture. Overly elaborate musical structures can actually get in the way—dense harmonies and melodies tend to clash with detailed timbres, muddying the results. Many Boards of Canada tracks, for instance, use simple modal ideas—often just Mixolydian or pentatonic scales—but achieve emotional and sonic depth through dense processing. That is to say, complexity doesn’t have to come from synthesis itself.
This book is aimed at intermediate electronic music composers working within the IDM tradition, which generally doesn’t rely on formal music theory—and often for good reasons. Personally, I don’t use theory in my compositions, and IDM rarely builds its complexity through traditional music theory. Instead, that complexity often comes from experimental sound design, processing, and texture. Overly elaborate musical structures can actually get in the way—dense harmonies and melodies tend to clash with detailed timbres, muddying the results. Many Boards of Canada tracks, for instance, use simple modal ideas—often just Mixolydian or pentatonic scales—but achieve emotional and sonic depth through dense processing. That is to say, complexity doesn’t have to come from synthesis itself.
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By contrast, Mark Fell’s work exemplifies algorithmic rigor, using formal systems to explore how certain sound structures behave under constrained conditions. This speaks to how wide-ranging IDM approaches can be—remarkably diverse for such a small and hard-to-define field, if it can even be called one at all.
By contrast, Mark Fell’s work exemplifies algorithmic rigor, using formal systems to explore how sound structures behave under constraints. Though this book doesn’t focus on algorithmic music or data sonification, those practices are part of the broader sound art ecosystem that IDM overlaps with.
\" though this book is not about algorithmic music CFell) or data sonification (Ikeda)
\" would also like to turn the readers onto 19-t, since it never gets talked about and it's such a good label
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If you’re struggling with basics like melody, harmony, or rhythm and want explicit tools to develop those, traditional music theory can help—but keep in mind that IDM typically stays simple on the theory side while exploring rich sonic detail.
If you’re struggling with basics like melody, harmony, or rhythm and want explicit tools to develop those, traditional music theory can help—but keep in mind IDM typically stays simple on the theory side while exploring rich sonic detail.
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If I eventually work professionally in sound design beyond electronic music—in film, animation, or games—this book could expand to explore how sound design functions across those mediums. In IDM, sound design is foreground: it carries the structure and invites focused listening. In visual media, sound design supports narrative, mood, and environment without drawing attention away. While the techniques overlap, the intent shifts: IDM prioritizes sonic innovation for its own sake, whereas film and animation sound serve timing, emotion, and story. In both cases, understanding how to shape, place, and transform sound is a core compositional skill.
If I eventually work professionally in sound design beyond electronic music—in film, animation, or games—this book could expand to explore how sound design functions across those mediums. In IDM, sound design is foreground: it carries the structure and invites focused listening. In visual media, sound design supports narrative, mood, and environment without drawing attention away. While the techniques overlap, the intent shifts: IDM prioritizes sonic innovation for its own sake, whereas film and animation sound serve timing, emotion, and story. In both cases, understanding how to shape, place, and transform sound is a core compositional skill.
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I used to wish I could compose faster, but now I realize the time spent is due to constant experimentation — and that’s not a flaw in the process, it is the process. Each piece grows through trial and discovery. I’m not just composing; I’m conducting research. This book maps that ongoing research: a record of tools tested, techniques uncovered, and paths that led to unexpected places.
I used to wish I could compose faster, but now I realize the time spent is due to constant experimentation — and that’s not a flaw in the process, it is the process. Each piece grows through trial and discovery. I’m not just composing; I’m conducting research. This book maps that ongoing research: a record of tools tested, techniques uncovered, and paths that led to unexpected places.
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@ -43,11 +39,11 @@ This book does not include companion code, and that’s intentional. The ideas a
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These tools don’t succeed because they’re inherently powerful—they succeed because they change how you listen. Most start simple or limited, but with intention, they open new worlds. If this book helps you hear differently, it has succeeded.
These tools don’t succeed because they’re inherently powerful—they succeed because they change how you listen. Most start simple or limited, but with intention, they open new worlds. If this book helps you hear differently, it has succeeded.
.HEADING 2 "Why Sound Design?"
.HEADING 2 "Why Sound Design?"
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Sometimes I wonder how many versions of rain I can make before it stops sounding like rain—still recognizable, still evoking the feeling. What if it becomes ghostly tonal water? Water that speaks unintelligibly? These questions don’t come from textbooks. They come from somewhere deeper—a need to understand how sound shapes perception, how it marks a world and makes it real. Sound design gives us tools for understanding how sound shapes our perception
Sometimes I wonder how many versions of rain I can make before it stops sounding like rain—still recognizable, still evoking the feeling. What if it becomes ghostly tonal water? Water that speaks unintelligibly? These questions don’t come from textbooks. They come from somewhere deeper—a need to understand how sound shapes perception, how it marks a world and makes it real. Sound design gives us tools for understanding how sound shapes our perception
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Alternative tunings is part of that. Using alternative tunings isn’t just about sounding weird or experimental. It’s about breaking out of defaults we’ve inherited uncritically. The twelve-tone equal temperament we’ve all been conditioned to hear as "correct" isn’t neutral—it’s a historical compromise, a flattened grid imposed on something that should breathe and bend. When I use alternative tunings, it’s not to sound different—it’s about challenging myself to think differently, in that new language. I’m trying to shake myself loose from habits, from unconscious assumptions about harmony, consonance, and the supposed "limits" of musical space.
Alternative tunings is part of that. Using alternative tunings isn’t just about sounding weird or experimental. It’s about breaking out of defaults we’ve inherited uncritically. The twelve-tone equal temperament we’ve all been conditioned to hear as "correct" isn’t neutral—it’s a historical compromise, a flattened grid imposed on something that should breathe and bend. When I use alternative tunings, it’s not to sound different—it’s about challenging myself to think differently, in that new language. I’m trying to shake myself loose from habits, from unconscious assumptions about harmony, consonance, and the supposed "limits" of musical space.
