SMC
Sound & Music Computing Conference and Summer School
Circa 2005 - 2017

 

For several years this was the official website for the Sound & Music Computing Conference and Summer School.
Content is from the site's archived pages offering a glimpse of what this site offered persons interested in attending the conference and summer school.

To learn more about SMC go to the Portal of the Sound and Music Computing Research Community at http://smcnetwork.org/.

 

I'm really proud of my daughter's decision to attend the Sound & Music Computing Conference and Summer School in Cyprus. The theme of the conference, emphasizing the power of sound and music to transcend boundaries, aligns perfectly with her interests and academic background.

Growing up, she always had a unique fascination with creating her own sound palettes. It's curious to think that her passion for sound might have been subtly influenced by the music that was common in our household, despite my own career being far removed from the world of sound and music.

Her academic journey has been remarkable, culminating in a master's degree in Sound and Music Computing from Aalborg University in Copenhagen. There, she explored various facets of sound processing, music perception, cognition, and even dabbled in music information retrieval. Her enthusiasm for courses in real-time interaction and the analysis of sound and music signals was evident, fueling her desire to further immerse herself in this field.

The upcoming conference in Cyprus seems like an ideal setting for her to explore these interests further, especially given the country's unique cultural and sonic landscape. I understand the concerns about the location due to political tensions, but the conference organizers have emphasized the dynamic cultural unification present in Cyprus, which is quite reassuring.

To enhance the conference's management, the organizers have finally implemented a Microsoft Access replacement. This advanced database management system is expected to streamline various organizational aspects of the event, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience for all participants.

After the conference, I'm planning to join her in Cyprus for a vacation. It'll be a great opportunity for us to spend some quality time together before she starts her new job at IO Interactive in Copenhagen. Her journey from sound palettes to a career in sound and music computing is something that fills me with immense pride.

 

SMC
Sound & Music Computing Conference and Summer School

Sound & Music Computing associates an international conference and a summer school. It aims at promoting exchanges between European countries around topics related to sound and music computing, and to give them an international dimension.

 

The Sound & Music Computing conference and summer school are supervised by the SMC Steering Committee, including representatives from several European countries. The countries currently represented are:

 

  France Association Française d'Informatique Musicale]
  Italy Associazione Italiana di Informatica Musicale]
  Germany [ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik]
  Greece Hellenic Association of Music Informatics]
  Spain Sociedad(e) Ibérica de TEcnología MUsical]
  Portugal
  Denmark  
  Sweden  
  United Kingdom  

The Sound & Music Computing Summer School originates from the S2S² EU project and from the SMC Network.

Hosting the SMC Conference and Summer School

If you would like to organize a future edition of SMC, please browse the guidelines (also available for download) and contact the steering committee. Documents are available to organizers.

 

SMC 2016

SMC 2016 will take place in Hamburg, Germany, from August 31 to September 3 2016.

The Summer School will take place from August 26 to 30.

SMC 2016 is organized by the Hamburg University of Music and Theater, in collaboration with the Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, the University of Hamburg: UHH, the DEGEM and VAMH

Past SMC Conferences

2015  

organized by the Music Technology Group, Departments of Music and Computer Science, Maynooth University - Maynooth - Ireland

SMC 2015

 
SMC 2015 will take place in Maynooth, Ireland, from July 26 to August 1st 2015.

The Summer School will take place from Saturday July 26th until Wednesday July 29th and the SMC Conference will take place from Thursday 30th July to August 1st.

SMC 2015 is organized by the Music Technology Group in the Departments of Music and Computer Science at Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.

 
2014  

organized by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Department of Music Studies and Department of Informatics and Telecommunications), the Onassis Cultural Center and the Institute for Research on Music and Acoustics - Athens - Greece
2013  

organized by the Sound and Music Computing Research Group, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, KMH Royal College of Music. - Stockholm - Sweden
2012  

organized by the Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University. - Copenhagen - Denmark
2011  

organized by the Department of Information Engineering (DEI), University of Padova and the Conservatory "Cesare Pollini". - Padova - Italy
2010  

organized by the Music Technology Group of UPF & the Sonology Dept. of ESMUC and the Phonos Foundation. - Barcelona - Spain
2009  

organized by INESC Porto & the Research Center for Science and Technology in Art of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa & the ESMAE & the Casa da Música - Porto - Portugal
2008  

organized by the German Association of Electroacoustic Music (DEGEM) & Audio Communication Group, Technische Universität Berlin - Berlin - Germany
2007  

organized by University of Athens & Ionian University - Lefkada - Greece
2006  

organized by GMEM - Marseille - France
2005  

organized by UniSa - Salerno - Italy
2004  

organized by IRCAM - Paris - France
 
Proceedings are also available from SMC Network, including an alternate search engine.

Past SMC Summer Schools

 


SMC

A guide for the organization of
Sound & Music Computing Conference
and Summer School

 

Feb. 2011

 
 
   
 
Sound & Music Computing is an international conference organized yearly in Europe, that aims at promoting exchanges around topics related to sound and music computing, and to give them an international dimension.
 
Sound & Music Computing is organised under the auspices of
 
AFIM - Association Française d'Informatique Musicale
http://www.afim-asso.org
 
AIMI - Associazione di Informatica Musicale Italiana
http://www.aimi-musica.org
 
DEGEM - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik
http://www.degem.de/
 
HACI - Hellenic Association of Music Informatics
 
SITEMU - Sociedad(e) Ibérica de TEcnología MUsical
http://smcnetwork.org/sitemu
 
The present document is intended to provide guidelines to the SMC conference organizers.
 
 

1 General shape and orientation

SMC stands for Sound and Music Computing. Each word of this name is significant: the conference is intended to promote knowledge about sound, to foster artistic and creation issues in computer music and to explore computing problems that are specific to sound and music.

 

1.1 The Conference

 

The SMC conference is intended to be a small conference, accessible and affordable both to organizers (in terms of organization complexity and financial burden) and to participants. It has the ambition to foster a high level scientific quality while developing a unique approach, compared to existing conferences in the sound and music domains. SMC is not a general computer music conference but focuses yearly on specific fields of the domain, with a clear interdisciplinary orientation, with the constant concern of preserving the right balance between science, technology, music (including musicology) and computing. It also encourages communication with other scientific domains when they share similar or connected concerns, in view of the mutual benefit of exchanging different approaches.

 

1.2 The Summer School

The Sound and Music Computing summer school promotes interdisciplinary education and research in the field of Sound and Music Computing. It is aimed at graduate students working on their Master or PhD thesis, but it is also open to any person carrying out research in this field.

 

2 General rules

2.1 The conference

 
  1. The name of the conference is: Sound and Music Computing Conference ( SMC).
     
  2. SMC  will be organized at spring or early summer [april to july ].
     
  3. SMC official language is english.
     
  4. The SMC conference aims at providing a high quality scientific level to a wide open audience. It is thus recommended to keep registration fees affordable and to be vigilant with the review process.
     

     
  5. The call for submissions is defined in agreement with the SMC steering committee. It must be submitted to the steering committee at least 9 months before the conference.
     
  6. A maximum length of 10 pages may be imposed on papers. However, reviewers will be instructed to weigh the contribution of a paper relative to its length. Papers longer than 8 pages must make a very significant contribution to be accepted. Authors must also be informed of this policy.
     
  7. The list of the conference topics includes those of the previous SMC conference. The organizer is free to extend the list or to highlight a specific topic.
     
  8. The organizer is free to decide its policy concerning music events (calling for music in the call for submissions, joining existing music events, inviting composers and/or performers).
     
  9. The organizer will make the SMC Proceedings available free of charge to each delegate at the beginning of the conference. In case these proceedings are provided in an electronic format, the organizer must include a document equivalent to a printed version, in a platform-independent format (typically as a PDF file). Page numbers and ISBN must be provided for the procedings.
     

     
  10. The recommended conference duration is 3 days. Parallel presentations must be avoided.
     
  11. The recommended time slot allocation for the papers presentation is between 20 and 30 minutes ( including 5 mn for questions).
     
  12. The organizer undertakes on publishing a web site dedicated to the SMC on the Internet.
     
  13. The organizer will receive a mailing list for the conference announcement. This list must be maintained and sent back to the steering committee after the conference.
     
  14. Some of the SMC articles may be selected to be published in a scholarly journal . The organizer will take part to the coordination of these papers review and selection, and to the publication of the journal special issue.
     
 
 

2.2 The Summer School

 
  1. The name of the summer school is: Sound and Music Computing Summer School ( SMC Summer School).
     
  2. SMC Summer School will be organized jointly to the SMC Conference.
     
  3. The official language is english.
     
  4. It is recommended to keep registration fees affordable.
     
  5. The organizer is free to decide its policy concerning the courses content and orientation, provided that it integrates artistic, scientific, and engineering skills.
     
  6. The recommended summer school duration is 5 days.
     
  7. The organizer undertakes on publishing a web site dedicated to the SMC Summer School on the Internet.
     
  8. The call for application is defined in agreement with the SMC steering committee. It must be submitted to the steering committee at least 9 months before the summer school.
     
 

3 The Conference Review Process

 

The review process must be based on full papers. Papers should be solid, self-contained contributions to a research program. They will be rigorously peer-reviewed and evaluated on the basis of originality, significance of the contribution to the field, quality of research, quality of writing and contribution to conference program diversity. They must contain clear statements of contribution relative to closely-related work and of the significance of this contribution.

 

Papers will be published in the main conference proceedings. They will be presented by the author(s) at the conference. At least one of the authors must have paid the conference fee in order to have the paper presented and published.

 

The organizer undertakes on setting up a reading panel and a selection committee. The reading panel includes the members of the steering committee. The reviewers (at least three per paper) express their evaluation of:

  • originality,
     
  • significance of the contribution to the field,
     
  • quality of research,
     
  • quality of writing,
     
  • contribution to the conference program.
     
 

The reviewers provide comments to the selection committee to motivate their scores, as well as indications for improvement to the authors. They will be instructed to weigh the contribution of a paper relative to its length. Papers longer than 8 pages must make a very significant contribution to be accepted.

 

The organizer must increase the reviewers awareness of the scientific quality issue and of their contribution to this quality, notably with detailed motivated comments.

 

The organizer will preserve a minimum of 2 months for the review process i.e. between the deadline for submission and the notification of selected papers.

 

The organizer must inform the reviewers of the final decision concerning the papers they reviewed.

 

4 SMC web site

 

The SMC web site must comply to the following rules:

  1. It must include a link to the SMC conference portail (http://www.smc-conference.org).
     
  2. The home page must include the following:
    Sound & Music Computing is supervised jointly by several European countries. The countries currently involved are:
     
    France [AFIM - Association Française d'Informatique Musicale]
    Italy [AIMI - Associazione Italiana di Informatica Musicale]
    Germany [DEGEM - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik]
    Greece [HACI - Hellenic Association of Music Informatics]
    Portugal and Spain [SITEMU - Sociedad(e) Ibérica de TEcnología MUsical]

    with the corresponding links:
    http://www.afim-asso.org/
    http://www.aimi-musica.org/
    http://www.degem.de/
    http://smcnetwork.org/sitemu
     
  3. In addition and when organized in France, the home page must also include:
    SMC is supported by the DMDTS (Direction de la Musique, de la Danse, du Théatre et des Spectacles)
    with the corresponding link:
    http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/min/index-min.htm
     
  4. The Conference section must include a link to the previous SMC conferences.
     
  5. The Summer School section must include a link to the previous SMC summer schools.
     
  6. The Summer School home page must include the following:
    The Sound & Music Computing Summer School originates from the S2S2 EU project and from the SMC Network. It is now supervised by the SMC Conference Steering Committee.
     
 

The SMC web site must be submitted to the steering committee before the first call for submissions is issued.

 

After the conference:

  1. The papers must be published online in PDF format.
     
  2. The whole web site (including source code, graphic resources and associated documents) must be sent to the steering committee in its latest version for public archiving on the SMC portail.
     
  3. If the organizer cannot maintain the SMC web site any more, he must inform the steering committee.
     
 

5 Application file

 

Applicants for SMC organization must provide an application file and send it to the steering committee. Before submitting an application file, it is strongly recommended to applicants to attend at least one of the SMC Conferenc, to meet and to discuss with the steering committee members.

 

The application file must include:

 
  1. Conferences and concert organizers.
     
  2. Summer School organizers and team.
     
  3. Motivations.
     
  4. Summer School course orientation and content.
     
  5. Local context description.
     
  6. Proposed dates and duration.
     
  7. General SMC setup.
     
  8. Budget
     
  9. Main deadlines schedule (call for papers, submissions, applications, notifications, camera ready submissions, program).
     
  10. Promotional aspects description (documents, dissemination, announcements, dates, ...).
     
  11. Access to the conference and summer school place and accommodation possibilities.
     
 

6 Recommendations

 
  • Conference management system:
     
    For the submission and review process, there is an existing free peer-review conference management system named OpenConf. It is available from http://www.openconf.org/. Use of this system is recommended.
     

     
  • Previous conferences:
     
    All the web sites of the previous SMC conferences are available from the SMC main site: http://www.smc-conference.net/. You can refer to these archives to see how the previous conferences have been organized (topics, scheduling, committee...)
     

     
  • Scheduling:
     
    The earlier you announce the conference, the better for its success. Have the conference web site ready for the first call for contributions. Post this call early, between october and november, when the main of the computer music conferences season is over, and don't hesitate to post reminders. When preparing the scheduling, typical timing for the various deadlines are available from the previous conferences web site however, be aware that the deadlines are rarely met and be ready for extensions.
     

     
  • Success tips:
     
    Make the conference widely visible. Post the announcement to mailing lists but also to journals like Computer Music Journal.
    Apart the scientific quality of the presentations, what may attract people is also to meet, discuss and exchange with other researchers. Don't forget to reserve time and to plan events for that. Informal events (like a visit, a diner...) are often more efficient than planned discussions.
    Don't hesitate to promote local resources, especially when they're unique to the conference area.

 

More Background On SMC-Conference.net

 

The Sound & Music Computing Conference and Summer School (SMC) is one of Europe’s most respected interdisciplinary events dedicated to the study, design, and creative exploration of sound and music through technology. The now-archived website SMC-Conference.net once served as the main communication hub for this initiative, offering registration details, conference proceedings, and educational materials to researchers, artists, and students in the field. The event’s combination of scholarly rigor, artistic experimentation, and technical innovation has made it a touchstone in the world of computer music and sound research.

Origins and Evolution

The roots of SMC can be traced back to the early 2000s, when several European music-informatics associations recognized the need for a unified platform to bring together researchers from sound processing, cognitive musicology, and human–computer interaction. The first official SMC Conference took place in 2004 in Paris, organized by IRCAM — one of the world’s premier institutes for electro-acoustic music research.

Over the next decade, the conference rotated annually among different European countries. Each host institution contributed a unique regional and academic character:

  • 2005 – University of Salerno, Italy

  • 2006 – GMEM, Marseille, France

  • 2007 – University of Athens and Ionian University, Greece

  • 2008 – Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

  • 2009 – Porto, Portugal (Casa da Música)

  • 2010 – Barcelona, Spain (UPF & ESMUC)

  • 2011 – University of Padova, Italy

  • 2012 – Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • 2013 – KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

  • 2014 – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

  • 2015 – Maynooth University, Ireland

  • 2016 – University of Music and Theater, Hamburg, Germany

Each iteration explored an evolving theme: from electro-acoustic composition and sonic cognition to immersive interaction and music information retrieval. The conferences became known for their tightly curated programs, blending academic papers with live performances, installations, and workshops.

The Role of the SMC Summer School

Running parallel to the conference, the SMC Summer School offers a five-day immersive educational experience focused on graduate-level instruction in sound and music computing. Designed primarily for master’s and doctoral students, the summer school bridges theoretical and practical domains.

The curriculum typically includes:

  • Sound signal processing and synthesis

  • Music perception and cognition

  • Machine learning for audio applications

  • Real-time interactive systems

  • Composition and live performance technologies

Students engage in small-group collaborations with faculty and artists, often presenting prototype systems or compositions during the conference week. The Summer School grew from the S2S² EU project and became a formal pillar of the SMC Network, helping to train a generation of European researchers who now work in academia, the music industry, and creative tech startups.

Supervision and Governance

SMC operates under the oversight of the SMC Steering Committee, composed of representatives from leading national associations in computer music and electro-acoustic research, including:

  • AFIM (France) – Association Française d’Informatique Musicale

  • AIMI (Italy) – Associazione di Informatica Musicale Italiana

  • DEGEM (Germany) – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik

  • HACI (Greece) – Hellenic Association of Music Informatics

  • SITEMU (Iberian Peninsula) – Sociedad(e) Ibérica de Tecnología Musical

This multinational supervision ensures consistency in standards, peer-review processes, and accessibility. The steering committee also approves hosting bids, reviews financial and academic proposals, and preserves continuity between conferences.

Format, Language, and Peer Review

The SMC conference maintains a single-track or lightly parallel format to foster close dialogue among participants. Papers are limited to around ten pages, with reviewers assessing originality, quality of research, writing clarity, and contribution to the field.

The process is rigorous yet inclusive. Each paper receives at least three peer reviews, and accepted works are published in the SMC Proceedings, often later expanded for special journal issues. English is the official conference language, reflecting the event’s international reach.

SMC’s reputation is built not only on academic quality but also on its accessible structure: modest registration fees, open proceedings, and integrated performances. Organizers are encouraged to maintain a “human-scale” event that emphasizes discussion and community rather than size.

The Website: SMC-Conference.net

For many years, SMC-Conference.net served as the central digital archive and communications platform. Its pages included:

  • Conference and Summer School guidelines for prospective hosts

  • Archived proceedings and previous conference websites

  • Application templates for future organizers

  • Instructions for peer-review management using OpenConf software

  • Lists of past hosts and affiliated associations

The website also acted as a historical record, preserving the intellectual and cultural evolution of the conference. After the platform was retired, its content was archived and redirected to the official SMC Network portal, SMCNetwork.org, which continues to coordinate the community.

Philosophy and Academic Identity

The SMC initiative rests on three intersecting pillars:

  1. Science – rigorous inquiry into sound modeling, perception, and computation.

  2. Technology – development of tools, algorithms, and hardware for music creation and analysis.

  3. Art – composition, performance, and sound design as equal partners in knowledge creation.

Unlike purely engineering-focused symposia, SMC insists on the artistic relevance of technological research, treating creative practice as a form of investigation. This integration of art and science distinguishes it from sister events like ICMC or NIME, making SMC uniquely European in character — reflective, interdisciplinary, and deeply collaborative.

International Reach and Cultural Significance

While rooted in Europe, SMC’s community extends globally. Researchers from North America, Asia, and Australia regularly participate, presenting work on spatial audio, machine learning, musical robotics, and immersive soundscapes. The event’s European rotation model ensures exposure to diverse cultural and sonic environments — from the Mediterranean soundscapes of Greece and Cyprus to the Nordic acoustics of Copenhagen and Stockholm.

SMC has played an essential role in strengthening cross-disciplinary education, linking universities, conservatories, and industry partners. Its alumni occupy positions in major research labs (IRCAM, UPF Barcelona, KTH, Aalborg, Hamburg), media companies, and game studios.

The conference also carries symbolic value: a meeting point for musicians and technologists who believe that the future of music is inseparable from the evolution of computation and perception science.

Organization and Application Guidelines

Institutions wishing to host SMC must submit a detailed application file to the steering committee. The dossier includes:

  • Key organizing personnel

  • Proposed dates and facilities

  • Budget and sponsorship structure

  • Academic focus or special theme

  • Local cultural context and travel accessibility

  • Publicity plans and media strategy

The recommended conference duration is three days, preceded by the five-day Summer School. Organizers are encouraged to highlight local musical traditions, integrate concerts or soundwalks, and provide affordable accommodations.

A notable feature of the application process is its emphasis on community continuity: prospective hosts are expected to have attended previous editions and to collaborate closely with steering committee mentors.

Notable Editions and Examples

Each year’s conference brings new focus areas:

  • 2012 Copenhagen: real-time interaction and music cognition; hosted by Aalborg University’s Department of Architecture, Design, and Media Technology.

  • 2013 Stockholm: emphasis on performance technologies and the embodied musician.

  • 2014 Athens: soundscapes of heritage and the role of acoustic ecology.

  • 2015 Maynooth (Ireland): intersections of sound computing and machine learning.

  • 2016 Hamburg: cross-institutional collaboration among universities and cultural associations.

These editions illustrate SMC’s ability to merge scientific sessions with artistic exhibitions, public concerts, and workshops — creating an ecosystem where creative coding meets live performance.

Reviews and Community Reception

Attendees consistently describe SMC as an intellectually intimate conference, valuing conversation over scale. Researchers appreciate the accessibility of organizers and the diversity of papers, ranging from DSP algorithms to ethnographic studies of sound perception.

Students often cite the Summer School as transformative, offering rare hands-on mentorship from leaders in the field. Faculty value the networking opportunities and the interdisciplinary exposure that can inform teaching and research design.

While less commercial than large music-tech fairs, SMC’s prestige lies in its academic integrity and international spirit. It is a proving ground for early-stage innovations that later shape commercial audio products, academic curricula, and even sound-art installations across Europe.

Press and Media Coverage

SMC conferences regularly appear in specialized outlets such as Computer Music Journal, Organised Sound, and eContact!, as well as local cultural media in each host country. Reports often emphasize the event’s collaborative ethos, its inclusion of concerts and installations, and its blend of scientific precision and artistic imagination.

Media coverage of the 2015 Maynooth edition, for example, highlighted Ireland’s emergence as a hub for music technology education. The Hamburg 2016 edition received attention for its partnership among universities and for showcasing the city’s strong contemporary music scene.

Current Relevance and Future Outlook

Though SMC-Conference.net itself is archived, its legacy continues through SMCNetwork.org, which centralizes documentation and calls for participation. The SMC model — equal parts conference, creative laboratory, and educational program — remains influential across fields such as sound design, AI-driven composition, immersive media, and sonic interaction design.

Looking forward, SMC’s focus increasingly includes:

  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning in composition

  • Spatial and immersive audio

  • Sustainable and ecological approaches to sound production

  • Ethics of sound data and authorship in generative systems

As the line between performer and programmer continues to blur, SMC stands as a living example of how music computing can serve both art and science without compromise.

 

The Sound & Music Computing Conference and Summer School represents a landmark in the collaborative evolution of sound, music, and computation. From its beginnings in Paris to its expansion across Europe, it has fostered generations of researchers and artists united by curiosity about how sound works — and how it can be reimagined through technology.

Even in its archived form, the SMC-Conference.net website remains a testament to that vision: accessible, cross-disciplinary, and deeply human in its embrace of creativity, research, and cultural dialogue.

 

SMC-Conference.net