news

It has been an incredibly busy year so far, filled with diverse and exciting projects.  In February and March, I worked as producer on Jason Robinson’s latest project, Tiresian Symmetry.  We had the privilege to record at Systems Two in Brooklyn, and then to mix at the studio of Rich Breen in Burbank.  This project was the first collaboration between Jason and myself – all the more fun, since he is my husband of ten years.

In March, I concluded the recording, mixing and mastering of my first solo album.  This will be released under the artist name of sroM in the fall of 2012.  I am pleased to announce that the record will be released on Accretions Records, and will be coming out in two formats – a limited edition 12” vinyl (180 gram) and full quality digital download via bandcamp.com.  The album title is “one;” this reflects the artistic concept of the album, which is the idea that true creativity thrives under extreme restraint.  In this album, I recorded each song using only one note on one patch on one synthesizer in one improvised take.  The idea is that an entire world of sound can be found even within one note; musical textures were created by the use of on-the-fly programming techniques through a combination of “knob turning” and CV controllers.  All of the synthesizers used on the album are vintage analog gear from my studio, and the album was recorded at high sampling rates directly to Pro Tools using Apogee converters.  Audiophile-level sound quality is extremely important to me in this day and age of what I consider to be “disposable music:” the world of iPods, compressed audio, and sub-quality headphones.

Also during the month of March, I concluded production on vocal and keyboard/sampled orchestral tracks for the pagan metal act Helsott.  Our first EP, Folkvangr, will be released on June 1.  I have greatly enjoyed working with this band, and had a blast playing the Los Angeles date of the Paganfest tour.  Horns up!

In terms of theatrical projects, I designed for two productions this past year at Amherst College in the department of theatre and dance.  One production, Going Public, conceived of by Elias Johannson-Miller, was directed by Andy Paris, from Tectonic Theatre.  It was a great pleasure to work with Andy, as I am a huge fan of Tectonic’s work, from the days of The Laramie Project.  This next fall, I will be teaching a course on creative sound design in the Amherst College department of theatre and dance.

Two new projects are currently on the horizon.  I am waiting now to hear about the scheduled dates for the run of Serena in X-tremis, my musical which will be produced by the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj in Cluj, Romania during the next season.  This project has been a ten-year long collaboration with my dear friend, Ted Shank, and it is exciting to see it finally come to fruition.  Additionally, I have been asked to create a sound installation for Stearns Steeple at Amherst College in the spring of 2013, as part of the upcoming year’s Copeland festival, which is focused on site-specific artistic creations.

I also continue to actively teach college-level courses on music and music production.  Although I now live in New England, I am still the acting program head for the Digital Music Technology program at San Diego City College; my program was recently awarded a training partner status with the Avid Corporation as a Pro Tools certification center.  As an adjunct instructor, in fall of 2012, I will be teaching at Amherst College (theatre/sound design) and also at Smith College (music/electronic music).

Stay tuned for news about the solo album release!  In the meantime, you can stay connected here or on my facebook page.

Electronic sound artist Stephanie Robinson is active as a composer, keyboardist, recording engineer, and vocalist. She has concentrated many of her recent compositional efforts on theatre projects and completed an experimental music theatre piece, Serena in X-tremis, with collaborator Theodore Shank in 2006. This piece is slated for a full production run at the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj during the 2012-2013 season (director: Istvan Albu).  Robinson has received critical acclaim for her work in theatrical sound design (Patte Award, 2002, for Edward II, UCSD Theatre and Dance). Past sound design projects have included King Lear, Intimate Apparel, and The Clean House at San Diego Repertory Theatre, where she was an artist in residence from 2005-2008.  She is currently working as a sound designer for the Department of Theatre at Amherst College, and designed for the college’s fall production of 2 Washington Square (written by Constance Congdon, directed by Ron Bashford).

As a composer of acoustic music, Robinson has received numerous awards and honors, including the Hans J. Salter Prize for orchestral music and First Prize in the NACUSA Young Composer’s Competition. She was featured as a “Woman Composer at the Millenium” by Feminist Theory and Music 6 in June 2001, and she continues to receive frequent performances of her acoustic compositions throughout North and South America. She completed a Ph.D. in music composition at the University of California, San Diego in 2005; she also holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan (M.M., 2000) and the University of Southern California (B.M., summa cum laude,1998).

Robinson is an active performer of a variety of musical styles and genres. She is a former member of the Bach Collegium San Diego, an early music ensemble specializing in the music of J.S. Bach, as well as the San Diego Master Chorale; she also formerly worked as an organist/choirmaster/soloist/section leader in countless (!) churches. In addition, she has performed as a lead vocalist and keyboardist in several rock and metal bands, both original and tribute/cover projects. In the past, Robinson has appeared as a performance artist (vocalist/keyboardist/electronic musician) at varied events, such as the Platinum Oasis Festival in Los Angeles.

Robinson is an Associate Professor of Music at San Diego City College, and is the director of the Digital Music Technology program. In her spare time, she runs ultramarathons, specializing in 100 mile events.