Halldór Eldjárn: curator of computer-generated music
Last years’ Antenna talent Halldór Eldjárn makes his return to Dutch Design Week. This time, he shares his avant-garde computer-generated music. Halldór will create the intro tunes for all podcasts of the World Design Embassies (WDE) themes. He composes electronic soundscapes that are beyond the ordinary by humanizing the artificial. His creations push the boundaries of computer-generated music and take it to the next level.
An orchestrated composition
The Icelandic programmer and musician starts with a well thought out plan before his algorithm starts its work. Halldór’s creative approach is similar to the process that many product designers go through. He starts with a prototype and envisions the detailed outcome. Then, he layers in his musical talent, creating a meticulous electronic composition that defines the parameters for the generative algorithms. This stage comprises selecting sounds, instruments and harmonies and programming accordingly. The programmed algorithms produce a database of sounds that feed into his final creative process where he composes video soundtracks, podcasts, and even whole music albums. At the moment, he is running a crowdfunding campaign for the release of his Poco Apollo Album. In this album, he generates musical soundscapes based on over 15,000 images from NASA’s photo archive.
Innovative soundscapes
In anticipation of Dutch Design Week 2019, Halldór will launch the Music Generator he especially created for WDE, which invites the public to contribute. Via this link, people can listen to samples of Halldór’s generated music and co-create with him. Halldór strives to stretch the perception of sound and aims to surprise his listeners with the unexpected. This ambition is reflected in the unusual selection of instruments and tones. He subverts expectations by inverting the range of instruments: a contrabass is selected for high pitch tones, and a violin plays the low pitch tones. He explores the limits of software and instruments, producing novel but highly aesthetic music pieces. Halldór is considered one of the leading progressive composers of curated-generated music, which is why he was selected as one of the 20 top talents worldwide for Antenna in 2018.