In our eighth instalment, The Cooler Lumpur Festival returns with its first-ever online festival
Southeast Asia’s first and only festival of ideas The Cooler Lumpur Festival returns for our eighth instalment The Cooler Lumpur Festival presents Audio > Music happening from 14 to 15 December 2021. This year, we aim to explore the bigger universe of audio beyond just music, and how existing and aspiring music practitioners can apply their skill sets in entirely new ways.
As our eighth and first-ever online instalment, we invite discerning explorers, learners and curious cats to a series of conversations featuring leading experts and practitioners in industries adjacent to music. Our hope is to raise awareness of emerging audio and sound industries, broaden the understanding of how current and aspiring music practitioners can apply their existing skill set and inspire the music community to consider other opportunities outside of their comfort zone.
Read on for our festival blurb below:
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a rapid decline in major income streams within the music industry, causing many music industry practitioners including performing artists, producers and sound recordists to venture into short-term work unrelated to their craft.
However, music is just one planet within the universe of audio. Think about it – a music practitioner’s skill set from playing, producing and recording isn’t only applicable to live music performances or producing a music album. Think podcasts, audiobooks, music therapy and sonic branding. All these outputs require the same skill set – just a different application.
Coupled with evolving industries and lightning-speed advancements in technology, the audio cosmos opens up opportunities across many economic sectors in the next decade – education, health care, entertainment, business. With emerging avenues outside of the music industry for music practitioners to explore, it is time for the community to unlearn everything they know about music and relearn how they can apply their skill set in vastly different formats. Music practitioners need to embrace new audio and sound frontiers that go beyond just music to enable them to be front and center as these anticipated audio industries continue to grow in importance.
Festival attendees will be able to join the two-day discovery featuring international and award-winning speakers including:
- Max De Lucia (UK) – Founder of specialist sonic branding agency DLDMDD
- Dr. Heiko Maus (Germany) – Forensic Musicologist
- Dr Low Ming Yuan (USA) – Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at Berklee College of Music in Boston and founding committee member of the Malaysian Music Therapy Association
- Kim Lim (Malaysia) – Managing Director of Universal Music Malaysia
- Elmer Ho Lok Zhan (Malaysia) – Producer, Audio Director, Composer and Sound Designer
- Axle Kith Cheeng (Malaysia) – Award-winning Sound Designer
- Dr Shasa Aziz (Malaysia) – Head Audiologist of Eartistic Malaysia
People of all ages from all walks of life are invited to explore and embrace new audio and sound frontiers. The online festival is free of charge.
Details of the festival are as follows:
Day/Date: Tuesday, 14th December and Wednesday, 15th December 2021
Time: 10.00 am – 6.00 pm
Venue: Online
To register, click here: https://www.coolerlumpur.com/programme
This project is supported by MyCreative Ventures, Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) and PENJANA (Pelan Jana Semula Ekonomi Negara).
Programme schedule includes:
| No. | Programme | Details |
| 1 | Cultivating Entrepreneurial Music Artists Speaker/s: Kim Lim – Managing Director of Universal Music Malaysia Musicians are in many ways entrepreneurs. They have to figure out many moving parts from packaging their act, personal branding, marketing and musical collaborations. Wearing both hats as musician and entrepreneur isn’t a walk in the park though. It’s challenging to look for new opportunities whilst making new music. Join Kim Lim, Managing Director of Universal Music Malaysia, as she shares a 360 perspective on new opportunities that existing and aspiring music artists can tap into, how these opportunities can create a sustainable business, what Universal Music looks for when working with upcoming artists and where the music industry sits in the new ‘creator economy’. | Tuesday, 14 December 2021 11.00 am – 12.30 pm REGISTER HERE |
| 2 | Levelling Up the Music in Video Games & Films Speaker/s: Elmer Ho Lok Zhan – Producer, Audio Director, Composer and Sound Designer Axle Kith Cheeng – Award-winning sound designer Moderated by: Matt Armitage – Founder of Kulturpop Do you feel terrified yet exhilarated when you hear chaotic heavy metal music as you run around trying to escape the hellish demons in Doom? Or do you get all happy and teary when the two leading actors in that rom-com film finally kiss? As a tool that can control emotion and establish the tone of a story being told, music is an especially important component within video games and movies. With story-based outputs as its main similarity, music enhances the experience of the video gamer and film-viewer and plays an important role in story development. On the flip side, this can be an incredibly exciting and lucrative career for those coming from the music industry as soundtracks coming out of these two parallel universes become more mainstream and impressive. Hear from producer, audio director, composer and sound designer Elmer Ho and award-winning sound designer Axle Kith Cheeng as they share their journey breaking into their respective worlds of music in video games and movies, where these industries are headed and what opportunities existing and aspiring music practitioners can take advantage of. | Tuesday, 14 December 2021 1.00 pm – 2.30 pm REGISTER HERE |
| 3 | The New-Age Musical Sleuthing that is Forensic Musicology Speaker/s: Dr. Heiko Maus – Forensic Musicologist When you hear the term forensic musicologist, you might think that it’s CSI meets music – which is not too far off. When a music copyright lawsuit is filed, forensic musicologists are brought in to provide their expert analysis including examination of lyrics, melodies and rhythm to arrangement of instruments, chord progressions and harmonic elements. Sounds like what musicians can do? Well, if you’re a musician (or not), you most certainly can. Join one of the most highly-sought after music reviewers in the German-speaking area Heiko Maus as he shares his accidental journey into forensic musicology, some of the most interesting cases he’s worked on and his advice for those looking to enter the industry. | Tuesday, 14 December 2021 3.00 pm – 4.30 pm REGISTER HERE |
| 4 | How Music Therapy is the Newest and Most Expressive Form of Therapy Speaker/s: Dr. Low Ming Yuan – Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at Berklee College of Music in Boston and founding committee member of the Malaysian Music Therapy Association Music is soothing to the soul but did you know that it can also play a part in health care and educational wellbeing? In comes music therapy – a clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualised goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional. Music therapy makes use of various elements to assess and understand one’s emotional wellbeing, social functioning, communication abilities and cognitive skills through music responses. Listen in on what Dr Low Ming Yuan – committee member of the Malaysian Music Therapy Association and Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, USA – on the significance of music therapy and its benefits as a form of communication that honours unique identities and voices. | Wednesday, 15 December 2021 10.00 am to 11.30 am REGISTER HERE |
| 5 | The Anatomy of Audiology Speaker/s: Dr. Shasa Aziz – Head Audiologist of Eartistic Malaysia The world of audiology encompasses more than just hearing aids. It requires a deep understanding of hearing, balance and other neural systems of a human’s set of ears. With sound as one of a human being’s five primary senses, the lack of it can severely impact the health and wellbeing of an individual. Dive into the study of audiology and its mission to improve the quality of life for hearing-impaired individuals with the founder and Head Audiologist of Eartistic Dr Shasa Aziz. | Wednesday, 15 December 2021 1.00 pm to 2.30 pm REGISTER HERE |
| 6 | The Art of Sonic Branding
Speaker/s: Max De Lucia, Founder of DLMDD That hard-to-miss “ta-dum” sound when you’ve switched on Netflix. The orchestral opening at the start of every Disney movie. Soothing sounds of local instruments as you board your Malaysian Airlines flight. Sound is more powerful than we think. It can evoke instant recognition and even an emotional response – the same way a visual logo would. As more brands embrace creating a signature sound for itself, this has given rise to the growing popularity of sonic branding – otherwise known as sound branding. When done right, it can lead to greater brand awareness, stronger customer loyalty, better brand recall and communicate your brand purpose and value. Discover the art and science behind sonic branding with Max De Lucia, Founder of DLMDD – a specialist sonic branding agency based in London – as he delves into the art form that is sonic branding and the scientific reasonings behind why sound is so incredibly powerful. These guys are responsible for creating some of the world’s leading brands most signature sounds including Singapore Airlines “Batik Symphony”. | Wednesday, 15 December 2021 5.00 pm – 5.45 pm REGISTER HERE |
For more information and latest updates, follow The Cooler Lumpur Festival on Instagram (@CoolerLumpur) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/CoolerLumpur/) and check out the website at www.coolerlumpur.com.
