I released a playlist with all the electric car external sounds born from my collaboration with IRCAM and Renault. Starting from 2010 (Zoé), up to the E-Tech collection (2022): twelve years have flown by, between the sound of the present and the silence of the future.
Back to Chill
Out on the Jazz-o-Tech label (Milano/Berlin), 3 ambient/jazz tracks + 2 remixes.
https://jazz-o-tech.bandcamp.com/album/phosphorescent-line
Sound Design and Coffee
This is a view from the Faema Flagship Store in Milano, during the FuoriSalone week (September 2021).
I created the sound design for the wall projection. The main challenge is that these sounds have to coexist, without being intrusive, with other music (in this case a playlist by the Berlin-based label Jazz-o-Tech).
Architecture and Scenography : http://www.traverso-vighy.com/
Graphic Design : https://www.manuelabucci.com/
Music : https://www.jazzotech.com/ – https://www.grandessocera.it/
https://artandcaffeine.faema.it/en/
New collection of sounds for electric cars
Renault announced the upcoming collection of new sounds for electric cars.
After 3 years of work in the shadows, this is the moment from which I can finally communicate about this new creation.
In this post from Renault’s blog :
Nicolas Misdariis and Laurent Worms revisit the long collaboration between IRCAM and Renault, of which I’m lucky enough to be part. The video was shot inside IRCAM, always a breath-taking view.
Low-Intrusiveness Notification Sounds
With this collection of notification sounds I close a project that started 2 years ago.
The main goal was to create low-intrusiveness sounds for everyday use.However, the project has gone beyond a simple exercise in sound design. It has become a journey to the border between conscious and subconscious listening : an exploration of how the self and external reality are not separated by a clear and sharp line, but by an infinite layer of interactions.
Thanks to Sean Michael Lawler for the drawings which appear on the 3 collections’ covers – and to the people who helped testing the sounds.
Sonification of movement fluidity
A new project with Infomus – Università di Genova.
A series of movement exercises for the elderly, in interaction with video and sound. My role is to design algorithms and sounds which create a low-stress environment; reassure participants; enhance / augment the perception of fluid movements.
A new text on low-intrusiveness sound design
In collaboration with IRCAM’s Nicolas Misdariis, I wrote a text on low-intrusiveness sound design, for LINKs, a French transdisciplinary review. Download here :
Click to access 30-Cera_Misdariis-Intrusiveness_Annoyance_and_Sound_Design-LINKs_serie_5_6.pdf
Pre Wake-Up Sounds
I created a collection of sounds which try to awaken the brain out of sleep in the least invasive way possible, as slowly and gently as possible. This video shows one of them at work :
You can download and test it from here :
https://andreacera.bandcamp.com/album/five-pre-wake-up-sounds
These pre wake-up sounds have two features :
1) they delicately infiltrate our auditory system during sleep, activating conscious brain activities in a gradual way (instead of the sudden activation caused by a traditional wake-up sound).
2) they offer a low intrusiveness sound when the person is awake (instead of the highly intrusive sounds of traditional wake-up sounds).
These alarms are not aimed at waking you up at all costs. If you are in a very deep sleep, it could happen that your brain will continue to dream. So, don’t use these alarms if you absolutely need to wake up to catch a plane, or to go to a meeting. In this case, combine them with a traditional, intrusive alarm, maybe set 5 minutes later.
_(lockdown ideas)_ : some old work based on data/video/sound transmission between distant places
Zoom Up (2010)
– networked musical performance between two players
– bilateral transmission of video and performance data (not audio)
– between Paris and Graz
Invisible Line (2009)
– interaction between 2 persons in separate locations
– bilateral transmission of body analysis data and low-res image
– between Hamburg and Genova)
They are Here (2008)
– 2 networked spaces
– unilateral transmission of video and sound from outside to inside
Reactive Ambient Music (2004)
– unilateral transmission of sound from different parts of a building / also used to transform the soundscape of home
Interview on Radio Primavera Sound
Conversation between Dickon Stone and Andrea Cera. Topics include psychoacoustics, sci-fi influences, and Andrea’s role in the development of sounds for the Renault ZOE.
andrea cera 