{"id":33022,"date":"2022-05-26T15:37:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T19:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/?p=33022"},"modified":"2022-05-27T16:42:55","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T20:42:55","slug":"the-rapid-growth-of-music-visualization-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/visualization\/the-rapid-growth-of-music-visualization-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The rapid growth of music visualization history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
What is music visualization?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Introduction to the topic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report\u2019s topic is about music visualization history, I chose this topic because I\u2019m obsessed with music, and also interested in how the auditory products are presented visually as time passes by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you try to type \u201cmusic visualization\u201d into the search bar, Google would tell you that it is an emerging feature in electronic music visualizers and media player software. Believe it or not, this feature, which has been developed only 40 years ago, is covering various aspects of modern society at an astonishing rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Search for the term in Google<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From a designer\u2019s perspective, I would like to discuss the timeline of music visualization history from a more comprehensive and design-related perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials and Softwares<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interactive TimelineJS<\/a> tool allowed for the creation of a timeline that not only gives accounts of the different events but also allows for the different display visualization. It is stunning to see how the \u201cboring\u201d history and timeline can be visually displayed for the public to get to know about it more attractively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A screenshot of the TimelineJS document<\/em> in Google Sheets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Design Process<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So for the first step, I decided to choose the music visualization topic. In order to clarify the timeline of it, I googled to collect the data. To begin with, I attempt to categorize the timeline from different aspects, including theory, inspiration, installation, art, commerce, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, I used the Google Spreadsheet format to make up the timeline, which includes the date, headline, text, media displays, media credits, and also the backgrounds in the columns. This method is quite easy for beginners to use, and its outcome is also surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing the format, I just needed to publish it and then copy the link to generate the music visualization timeline, which I’ve attached the link below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visualization and results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY TIMELINE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
a screenshot of the cover of my timeline<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The visualization process actually consists of three ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first idea was that I chose strongly contrasting tones for the background images of the adjacent slide pages. The contrast between dark and light colors can make the users less likely to get visual fatigue when reading. At the same time, with the change of background tones, the font color also produced a strong visual impact of black and white. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second idea is that I chose to use a sans serif font (PT Sans Narrow) as the headline font and a serif font (Pan Serif) as the body font, again the strong contrast between the two is to attract the audience to read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last idea was to choose video as the major media format for Timeline’s slides, because video fits best with the visual dynamic effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To start with, the inspiration for music visualization goes back to 1974, when Stephen Malinowski uses his own creation, the Music Animation Machine, to create easily interpreted musical scores. After taking LSD and listening to Bach, he created the word on the street which shows the start of the music visualization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Stephen Malinowski\u2019s animations<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A few years later, in 1976, Brown Robert released the Atari Video Music system, which truly marks the origin of music visualization on a historical level. It was recognized as the first commercially available music visualizer, essentially a video game where you input your Hi-Fi stereo system to see its visual representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brown Robert’s Atari Video Music system<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, the mature application of music visualization in the commercial field was not really mastered until the beginning of the 21st century. Since 2014, a company called SoundViz has made its mission to enable people to easily tell their stories through audio and visual media. The company’s site allows you to capture your favorite sound in a visual format, a clean and geometric graphic wave that\u2019s customizable in color and shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
SoundViz – the first company which applicates music visualization in commercial field<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Besides the commercial field, music visualization is also widespread in the arts field. Many artists and designers from different fields have tried to combine sound with their expertise to produce new artistic products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A photographer called Martin Klimas created a series of sculpture works, aiming to use the high-speed shooting to capture the movement of paint splattered on speakers, to vibrantly demonstrate raucous sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Martin Klimas’s sonic sculpture works<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Another Japanese artist \u2014\u2014 Tokujin Yoshioka \u2014\u2014 successfully combined the music visualization with art pieces. He has made perhaps the most elegant interpretation of this group, growing delicately ethereal crystal sculptures from the vibrations produced by looping Tchaikovsky\u2019s Swan Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tokujin Yoshioka’s crystal sculptures<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the above fields, music visualization is also proven to be applied in the education field. Humanities teacher Dan Myers at Zionsville Middle School (Zionsville, IN) executes this strategy with his fifth-graders a few times throughout the school year. While listening to the music a second time, have students sketch their frame-by-frame visualizations with crayons, colored pencils, or markers. Guess what, the students become the music video directors for the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection and future directions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The information above has proven that although music visualization only has a 40-year history, it is rapidly developing and being used in a wide range of different fields. From where we can easily draw the conclusion that music visualization has a promising future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the next steps, I will dig into the music visualization field. How does the visualization process of music change the public\u2019s perception of music? What factors can affect the public\u2019s feedback about the music? Does the pandemic accelerate or hinder the growth of music visualization? And what factors can better drive the visualization process of the music during pandemics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference list:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Stanford, Nigel. \u201cLet sound visualization blow your mind – The Creative Edge.\u201d 99Designs<\/em>, 2015, https:\/\/99designs.com\/blog\/design-other\/sound-visualization-design-inspiration\/. <\/li>
  2. Sparks, Nicholas, and Michael Bay. \u201cMusic Visualization: An Impressive 40-Year History.\u201d Kernel’s Corner<\/em>, 3 August 2015, https:\/\/www.kernelscorner.com\/2015\/08\/music-visualization-impressive-40-year.html#.Yo71_PPMI1J.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Introduction to the topic The report\u2019s topic is about music visualization history, I chose this topic because I\u2019m obsessed with music, and also interested in how the auditory products are presented visually as time passes by. If you try to type \u201cmusic visualization\u201d into the search bar, Google would tell you that it is an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4006,"featured_media":33024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,119],"coauthors":[1788],"class_list":["post-33022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visualization","tag-information-visualization","tag-timelinejs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/05\/1b137816-c385-4646-b1e4-1c2307c3b101.jpeg?fit=367%2C228&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paBdcV-8AC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33022"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33064,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33022\/revisions\/33064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33022"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=33022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}