Live music lessons by Tom Cosm

Tom Cosm from New Zealand, who will be sending the good vibes from the Festival’s Psy Trance stage, does not only play music, but also uses it a means of communication. “It is immediate communication surpassing all other forms of human socialisation,” says Tom. Known not only as a producer of electronic music, but also a teacher and an author of tutorials for Ableton Live software, Tom Cosm offers an exclusive opportunity to the Festival’s guests to communicate through music by dancing to it till dawn and by gaining knowledge during his workshops.

The maestro of computer music production software will hold two workshops for electronic music composers with different levels of experience. The first workshop is intended for beginners and hobbyists, who have an interest in digital audio production/performance, but have never known how or where to start. First, the participants will gain solid knowledge of how technology has influenced the creation of modern day music. Tom Cosm will move through several areas, starting with the physics of sound and the effects it has on the human brain; right through to creating sound from scratch in the studio using sequencers and synthesizers. The workshop will be interactive, and participants will be able to watch and contribute to real time examples of how sound can be produced, layered and structured using a computer. The second part of the workshop will show how to move the tunes that have been created in the studio into a form that can be performed live using a laptop and other equipment.

The second workshop will be slightly more advanced and is intended for producers who already have written tunes, but want to know how to turn those tunes into something they can perform live. An introduction to Ableton Live and advice on how to move from the studio to live performance will help overcome the fear of live performance and start experimenting. Tom Cosm will share his own developed techniques of easily getting through this process, with a focus on making it smooth and lots of fun. Thus, this workshop is an exclusive chance to gain experience from a person who has been doing it (and doing it great) for a long time.