The History of Electronic Music
Sabrina Wu
What does sound look like?
Throughout the twentieth century, music was radically reimagined. In 1930s Paris, Pierre Schaeffer, a telecommunications engineer, cut and rearranged reels of tape to create strange new loops of sound. As a key figure in musique concrète, he helped begin a sonic shift that still shapes music today. In this project, I trace that evolution, from early electroacoustic experiments to Acid House and beyond.
Freed from traditional instruments, electronic music can take on almost any form. Through a series of works, I translate these sounds into real-time interactive visualizers. Some are flat and geometric, others spatial and immersive. Each responds to the music as it plays, turning frequency, amplitude, and rhythm into moving image. This project explores how these abstract forms can be turned visible.