Welcome to Integra Lab
Integra Lab is the music interaction research lab founded by Jamie Bullock and Lamberto Coccioli in 2009, at the end of the first phase of the EU-funded Integra – Fusing Music and Technology project. The experience of Integra convinced us that musician-centred interaction design and sustainability of live electronic music were two promising but relatively neglected areas of practice-based research. Integra Lab was set up to expand our work in those areas and continue the development of the Integra Live software.
Music
Music
Based at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK, we collaborate with performers, composers and sound artists, supporting them in the creation and performance of innovative music projects.
Research
Research
We bring together musicians, researchers, designers and developers to explore music and human-computer interaction.
Innovation
Innovation
We are motivated by producing work that benefits the arts, culture and the wider society. Alongside our research and creative projects, we have a growing portfolio of external collaborations.
Our Work
Blog
Integra Lab is a continually evolving group of talented individuals working on a variety of different projects. Our blog is a one-stop place to keep up to date with both our work and research.
Adding vibrotactile feedback
One of the findings from our first round of tests for the system we have developed for our AHRC Digital Transformations project "Transforming Transformation" is that users have difficulty precisely grabbing an object within a virtual 3D environment if they only have visual feedback to guide them. The final phase [...]
Artistic commission
We're pleased to announce that composer and sound artist James Dooley has accepted the artistic commission for our AHRC-funded Transforming Transformation project (working title "Integra Forms"). The aim of the project is to develop new ways of transforming sound through touch-free interaction. An important element of the project is an [...]
Initial test results
We have now completed the first round of testing on the system we've been developing for our AHRC Digital Transformations "Transforming Transformation" project. Full results will be available in due course through peer-reviewed publication, but in summary we conducted a system usability and user experience (UX) study involving 14 participants [...]
Transforming Transformation at Music Tech Fest
Today I demo'd the first prototype of our 3D Sound Transformation system at Music Tech Fest Central in Ljubljana. The system-in-progress, has been given the working title "Integra Forms" on account of our aim to enable sound to be transformed (or formed) in space as though it is an invisible [...]
Transforming Transformation experiment 3
https://vimeo.com/139458528 This is the third experiment in a 1-year AHRC Digital Transformations project run jointly between Birmingham Conservatoire’s Integra Lab and Glasgow School of Art’s Digital Design Studios. The project explores new ways of positioning sound in space using touch-free interaction. In this experiment we use the Microsoft Kinect [...]
Events
MiXD: Music Interaction Design
Music Interaction Design is at the heart of Integra Lab’s activities. We have gained considerable reputation in music and human-computer interaction, culminating in our hosting of NIME – the New Interfaces for Musical Expression International Conference – in July 2020. Our research work focuses mainly on:
- Developing interactive systems for music creation, performance and education;
- Undertaking applied and practice-led research in musical creativity and sustainability of music with live electronics.
As pioneers of the conceptual framework ‘musician-centred design’, we place musicians and music making at the heart of what we do, developing technologies that empower users and let them think musically. The Integra Live software, for example, was specifically conceived to support musicians in the design and control of their live interaction with electronics.
Composition and performance with technology
Integra Lab has a strong history of supporting the production of compositions and performances, and exploring novel applications of technology both in the creative process and in performance. We have worked on a range of composition and performance projects with composers such as Jonathan Harvey, Kaija Saariaho, Julian Anderson, Hilda Paredes and Philippe Leroux, to name just a few. Outputs from Integra Lab members include works for instruments and live electronics, digital instruments, mixed media and audiovisual, and sonic installations. The Technology in Music Performance (TiMP) Study Group of the Royal Musical Association is based at Integra Lab, and in December 2019 we hosted TiMP’s first Symposium.
Sustainability of music with live electronics
Ensuring the long and successful life of musical works using interactive technologies is a complex and challenging proposition, involving many artistic and technical considerations. Integra Lab’s members have considerable experience in providing training and support to ensembles and composers in the performance of works from the live electronics repertoire that make use of technologies now obsolete. We have “modernized” works by Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, Roger Reynolds, Edwin Roxburgh, Tristan Murail, Luca Francesconi, Jonathan Harvey, Philippe Hurel and many others, often working directly with the composers themselves, and we have supported performances of the new versions of the works all over the world.
Funded Research
Over the past ten years our team has secured over £2m in grants and research funding.
Who we are
The lab team is an experienced group of musicians, designers and developers with expertise in interaction design, music composition and performance with live electronics, digital musical instrument design, haptic interaction, gestural control and mixed reality.
Past Members
