The Interdisciplinary Nucleus for Sound Communication – NICS was founded in 1983 at Unicamp with the aim of scientific research into sound communication, integrating technology and art. In recent years, it has focused on music creation and analysis with computational support, multimodal performance, sound modeling and musical cognition. With national and international partnerships, it stands out for its scientific research and artistic production of a very interdisciplinary nature.
The Interdisciplinary Nucleus for Sound Communication (NICS) develops scientific and artistic research around sound and its multiple manifestations. It currently conducts its research around the following themes: Analysis of Musical Practices and Sound Art Studies; Interactive Environments and Interfaces in Extended Music; and, Analysis, Synthesis and Perception of the Sound Scene.
NICS concentrates various scientific research projects at different levels involving students and researchers. We disseminate scientific knowledge through academic production, congresses, seminars and lectures, as well as concerts and artistic productions, reinforcing its interdisciplinary nature. To this end, we have established national and international partnerships.
Raul do Valle – Professor At Arts Departament, de Music Institut
Carlos Arguello – Professor at Instituto de Física “Gleb Wataghin” da Unicamp
Jacques Vielliard – Professor at Instituto de Biologia da Unicamp
Furio Damiani – Professor at Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica da Unicamp
In the 1980s, NICS was born with the aim of establishing a dialog between science and contemporary music. Four professors formed a multidisciplinary team that laid the foundations for NICS with a visionary perspective, interdisciplinarity between the sciences and the arts, by combining their expertise around sound: composition, acoustics and sound resonance, bioacoustics and birdsong, sound spectrum analysis and signal processing.
NICS is located in the complex of buildings of the University Rectory of Unicamp. Unicamp is one of the five best universities in Latin America and one of the three best in Brazil. NICS is part of a group of 22 research centers coordinated by COCEN. Our center has a multipurpose room, an acoustics and digital immersion laboratory, a hybrid room prepared for online transmissions and a highly efficient network.
NICS has spaces and equipment for academic production and dissemination for researchers with active research accredited at NICS. It also has partnerships with other laboratories, such as the SEC (Critical Listening Room) at FEEC.
The laboratory covers a range of research in digital immersion, sound spatialization, accessibility and rehabilitation, musical composition with new media, contemporary music practices, analysis and more.
NICS research is carried out by a multidisciplinary team made up of the center’s researchers together with professors from different Unicamp institutes, Collaborating Researchers from other national and international universities, Post-Doctoral Students, Doctoral Students, Master’s Students and undergraduate students. The research areas are centred around sound phenomena with an interdisciplinary approach. Counting with its own management structure, as well as the assistance of technical team for the development of projects and agreements.
NICS promotes scientific knowledge through academic production, congresses, seminars and lectures and its strong artistic production is a reflection of its scientific achievements, which are presented through concerts, exhibitions and cultural activities, reinforcing its interdisciplinary approach.
The Interdisciplinary Nucleus of Sound Communication (NICS), created on April 5, 1983, has the main objective of researching different manifestations of the sound, in all its aspects and applications, as a source of informational, cognitive and creative content.
The center was born out of a vocation for interdisciplinary research, tackling themes that were innovative at the time and which continue to be updated, including sound pollution, analysis of animal songs, phonetics, electronic music and ethnomusicological recordings.
NICS currently has agreements with 15 foreign universities, such as University of Plymouth, University of Coimbra and University of Évora. Additionally, the Nucleus has joint activities with many other institutional partnerships, such as IRCAM, UPF/Barcelona, Mus3 and TedX, as well as partnerships with other Brazilian universities, institutes and Unicamp’s research centers.
