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.CHAPTER 1
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.CHAPTER_TITLE "Preface"
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.HEADING 1 "Preface"
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.PP
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To me, I think of IDM not as a style, but an approach to electronic music that presents experimental sound design and compositional techniques in the context of techno. This book frames sound synthesis methods and alternative tunings in the context of IDM in order to make these concepts practical and applicable for intermediate electronic music composers.
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.PP
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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.
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.PP
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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 handle techniques that evolve beyond conventional use—like clustering wavesets or reshaping impulse responses—so that you’re not just applying synthesis, you’re inventing it.
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.PP
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IDM doesn’t just make experimental sound design accessible — it also pushes complex, meaningful music into the mainstream, raising the bar for what listeners expect and appreciate. When artists like Aphex Twin released landmark albums like *Selected Ambient Works Volume II*, it was an immediate success that shifted the musical landscape of its time. Suddenly, mainstream culture started paying attention to texture, timbre, and sonic detail in ways it hadn’t before. That kind of impact is rare, and it’s something I want to reclaim. IDM’s potential lies not only in innovation but in its ability to challenge and engage a broad audience, encouraging deeper listening and new ways of thinking about sound.
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.PP
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This book aims to give intermediate electronic music producers advice on how to think more critically about their sound design choices. For true beginners without any music or technology background, this book might be too advanced — you might benefit more from starting with foundational music theory, especially if you struggle to create melodic or harmonic content. Although IDM compositions tend to be simple theory-wise, they're still strong compositions. You need a stable structural base to build the complex sound design.
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.PP
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If I end up working professionally in sound design — not just for electronic music, but for film, animation, or games — this book could eventually expand to explore how sound design functions across those mediums. In IDM, sound design is the foreground; it carries the structure and invites deep, focused listening. In film and animation, sound design supports another medium — it sets the mood, enhances the world, and reinforces narrative without drawing too much attention to itself. The techniques often overlap, but the intent shifts: where IDM prioritizes sonic innovation for its own sake, film sound must serve timing, emotion, and story. In both cases, though, sound design is applied sound art — and understanding how to shape, place, and transform sound remains a core compositional skill.
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.PP
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I used to wish I didn’t take so long to compose. But I’ve come to realize the reason it takes so long is because I’m constantly experimenting — and that’s not a flaw in the process, it is the process. Each piece is built through trial and discovery. I’m not just composing, I’m conducting research. This book is a map of that ongoing research: a record of the tools I’ve tested, the techniques I’ve uncovered, and the paths that led somewhere unexpected.
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.PP
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This book doesn’t include companion code, and that’s intentional. The techniques and ideas here aren’t meant to be copied line-for-line — they’re meant to be interpreted, reshaped, and reimagined in your own workflow. Whether you work in SuperCollider, Max/MSP, a DAW, or something else entirely, the act of implementing these ideas yourself is part of the creative process. Writing your own patches or building your own signal chains will teach you more than any prewritten example ever could. Along the way, you’ll uncover your own tricks and pathways — discoveries that only emerge through doing, not downloading. I want this book to guide your thinking, not limit your results.
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\" Dad: maybe provide a paragraph overview of all the different sections before getting into micro sounds? It might help people to consider how the different processes work together to create the whole composition before they start navigating the details of one.
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\" Me: yes, once I've written the chapters, that'd be a good idea.
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.TOC
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.COLLATE
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