When preparing SMC 2012, our goal was to offer a stimulating cultural and social event, while having  the possibility of experiencing the city of Copenhagen. We believe we successfully reached our goal, and the positive feedback received from many participants confirms it.

Right before the conference, a summer school on product sound design, innovation and entrepreneurship gathered 40 students worldwide, working with experts in sonic interaction design and procedural sound such as Cumhur Erkut, Andy Farnell, Davide Rocchesso, as well as experts from industry such as head of research from Bang and Olufsen Søren Bech and head of research for Sennheiser North America Veronique Larcher. For their final projects, students were engaged in creating novel interactions and sound effects for different models of Sennheiser headphones. The five groups of students proposed several innovative solutions. 

The technical program of the conference had 78 contributions, in the forms of talks, posters and demos, selected among the 142 received submissions. Among the highlights of the conference, there were three keynote speakers: Professor Michael Kubovy from the University of Virginia presenting his work on audio-visual objects, Esben Skovenborg from TC Electronic talking about current challenges to good sound quality and Professor Lars Kai Hansen from the Danish Technical University talking about cognitive components of audio spaces.

We received the unprecedented 123 music submissions, representing creators from 5 different continents. Juraj Kojs, the Music Programme Chair led the team of 6 curators (Scott Barton, Paula Matthusen, Chikashi Miyama, Steven Kemper, Troy Rogers and Spencer Topel) in the discussion on the artistic and technical qualities of the submissions. Together with the invited composers¹ pieces and works by the curators, the final program consisted of 31 works. This year¹s special edition also featured the invited composer Judith Shatin who has championed the world of electroacoustic music around the globe.

I would like to thank all the chairs of the conference, the curators, the local organizing committee, the students' helpers, the reviewers, and all the participants for the success of this event.

Videos, pictures, and updates can be found in our website (smc2012.smcnetwork.org) as well as in our social page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sound-and-Music-Computing-SMC-2012-Copenhagen-Denmark/251408924900346).

Stefania Serafin
SMC 2012 General Chair