B team, or not to Beam?
B team, or not to Beam?
In August 2020, a multi-headed beast of eclectic skills was born. From the South American Andes, north through the North American Rockies, and east to the beautiful fjords of the Norwegian coastline, the pieces came together and the beast emerged. Together we represent three time zones on opposite sides of our beloved earth, so as we like to put it - wherever you are in the world, you can always reach the B-team.
Team B is passionate about nerdy tech, questionable noises, instrument modification, audio-visual synchronization, signal chain design, craft beers, and coffee.
The Team
Pedro Lucas
I am from Manta, Ecuador. I obtained an undergraduate degree in Computer Science. Since I was a student, I have been involved in projects related to multimedia technologies. I worked in a game development team as a programmer with an emphasis in audio. Also, I am an empirical musician interested in the fusion among audio, music, and algorithms. My experience and my educational background have helped me to implement solutions and prototypes related with artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and sound synthesis.
In the MCT programme I want to explore about innovative instruments, music generation from a human perspective, and experience a multidisciplinary environment as well as learn from mentors and classmates, and share my knowledge with them.
Willie Mandeville
Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, starting with the conflicting influences of classical piano lessons, the cacophony of my dad’s bluegrass band throughout my childhood, and the even louder cacophony of my teenage metal/jazz/whatever bands. Despite this unholy mix of influences, I completed my degree in composition and had a brief and unproductive fling with graduate studies in musicology. My interests during this time shifted to string pedagogy, research in renaissance music, and the loud desecration of my amplified renaissance lute in bluegrass and jazz bands.
Today I play the lute, guitars, and guitars tuned like lutes (“luitars”). In the interest of having enough money to eat, I also work as a web content management systems (CMS) contractor. I see technology as a key tool for the democratization of music education access and improved sustainability in the greater music industry.
Anders Salomon Lidal
I’m a left-handed guy who told his music teacher he didn’t have to rearrange the strings, because «I’m never gonna play the guitar anyway». Since then I’ve played right-handed guitar, bass, synth and made soundscapes in bands for the last 30 years. I never cared for the technique (maybe I would be better at it if I played leftys), only for making sounds, so I developed interests for gear for soundmaking, like instruments, FX-pedals, computers, samplers and test equipment. I’m teaching music and arts and crafts, and I always have enough lefties for any of my classes.
Besides playing in bands, I also compose. My compositions are mainly sound-textures growing out of the oblivion, sometimes slowly moving towards a kind of song, before disintegrating back into oblivion.
I have a cat, a wife, and we all like to sail.
Check out this great band I’m playing in, Oslo Oscillator. You’ll find it on your favorite streaming service.
Henrik Haraldsen Sveen
I’m Henrik. I have a dog. I produce music for artists and I programme synthesizers and effects that I use in my work. Really love audio rate modulation and distortion and things like that. Always on the lookout for developing new ways to DSP and generate sounds. I’m also fascinated with how we interact with music technology - how a simple twist of a knob can give you great feedback and inspire you to work. Also invested in how the visual design will affect use or whether you like to work with a tool or not. Somewhat less is more. My academic background is a bachelor’s degree in Music Technology at NTNU with courses in Design Thinking, innovation and economy. Been working with music ever since. Looking forward to new inspiration and exciting projects at MCT.
- hmu @henriktheartist
- Pridactiøns
TEAM REFLECTION, TWO WEEKS IN
Two weeks into the program, the B-team still feels like we’re in the introduction phase and learning what this program is all about. We’re still trying to get to know one another through the zooming meetings, and trying to find out where our place is; where do our competencies fit in? We’re also trying to get a feeling of our fellow students in the other teams, and found the two-minutes presentation both fun and meaningful. Hopefully everyone can bring some food when you come to Norway, which we really look forward to; the coming-to-Norway part. Because it is a bit challenging to always meet on zoom. Nice to see everyone there, but real face-to-face always beats the digital meetings. The difference in time zones is also a challenge, because it makes it a little harder to find time for group-meetings. It seems like the MCT-group of 2020-2022 has a very widespread joint competency, and the B-team probably speaks for everyone when saying that we look forward to exploring together with you all.
