Aims

• Nationwide database and web site of Australian sound designs
  
• Define the field of Australian sound design, identifying private and public spaces.
  
• Provide models of successful sound designs.
  
• Show the variety of methodologies used by designers.
  
• Provide a bibliography of related research materials.
  
• Open debate on how public and private space affects sound design.
  
• Raise the consciousness of the importance of Australian sound design by
  establishing a presence nationally and internationally.

Over the past five years the Australian Sound Design Project (ASDP) has pioneered the interdisciplinary field of sound design in public space through its website, database, publications, exhibitions and public advocacy. The original works of over 200 sound designers, artists and composers have been published in sound text and image in the gallery. All entries can be accessed through the browser, by work, artist, place, function, organisation and events. These free and accessible research tools, the text, graphics, video, sound, two advanced search engines and multi-media refereed articles have been used by academics and the public sector to source information, and as a basis for sound courses worldwide. The ASDP has championed audible interactive research and has been internationally applauded by IRCAM, ASCA, Canada and America for its in depth and sustainable data. It has become the premier voice of Australian sound in public space on the net, establishing Australia's contribution worldwide. The ASDP has curated two exhibitions for the World Forum of Acoustic Ecology, including an international audiotheque and published audio CD, Hearing Place.

The Australian Sound Design Project, is the first national website and database dedicated to researching and publishing original works and the discourse relating to sound and its design in public space. The project is hosted by the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne and funded by a large grant from the Australian Research Council. To date, 129 sound designs in public space have been collated and published, using multimedia formats of sound, video, text and image. In BROWSE, designs and designers may be accessed under 'Works' or 'People'. Sound, Images and video for each work are located in the gallery link.

Sound designs already published on this site include permanent, public and ephemeral sound works, sculptures, time dense computerised sound installations, museum designs, exhibits in airports, art galleries, car parks, digital and interactive media exhibitions, and real-time virtual habitats on and off the web. In March to June 2006 we will be targeting sounding works in the Melbourne CBD with the City of Melbourne. If you have designed sound works in the city, we would like to hear from you. See CONTRIBUTE.

If you are interested in the discourse of how Australia is becoming inscribed with designed sound, visit PAPERS, BIBLIOGRAPHY and LINKS for information and research tools.

The comprehensive database and cross-referenced web site provides a platform for further discourse and analytical study. Historical and stylistic trends can be observed. The language and practice of sound design will be further developed through ensuing discourse and the importance of sound profiled for interdisciplinary designers, curators, museologists, acousticians, communications engineers, architects, urban and regional planners, environmentalists, sound artists and musicians. This is an invitation to be part of a new nationwide network of sound design, fostering its practice, implementation and critique.

Editorial Board

The Australian Sound Design Project is a fully refereed site with nation-wide representation.

ASDP Board Members

Dr. Ros Bandt (VIC) Director Australian Sound Design Project, Sound Artist and Researcher
Mr. Iain Mott (VIC) Sound Artist, Web Manager Australian Sound Design Project

External Board Members

Prof. Andy Arthurs (QLD) Head of Music and Sound, Creative Industries, QUT
Assoc. Prof. Stephen Barrass (ACT), Associate Professor, School of Creative Communication and Co-Director of the Sonic Communications Research Group at the University of Canberra
Dr. Andrew Brown (QLD) Composer, Senior Lecturer Music and Sound, President of ACMA
Prof. Paul Carter (VIC) Interdisciplinary scholar, Historian, Writer and Artist, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne.
Assoc. Prof. Kate Darian-Smith (VIC), Historian, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne
Dr. Lisanne Gibson (VIC/QLD) Researcher in Cultural Policy, University of Leicester, UK
Dr. Nigel Helyer (WA) Sound Artist and Designer
Prof. Julian Knowles (NSW) Head of the School of Music and Drama at the University of Wollongong
Dr. Garth Paine (NSW) Composer, Interactive Sound Designer,Senior Lecturer in Music Technology, School of Communication Arts, University of Western Sydney. Research Associate, MARCS, Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney.
Dr. Greg Schiemer (NSW) Composer and Programmer, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, University of Wollongong
Mr. David Worrall (ACT) Freelance experimental composer and artist working in sound sculpture and immersive polymedia as well as traditional composition.