The electro-acoustic music

Such is the suggestion of the acousmatic: deny the instrument and the cultural conditioning, put in front of us the sound and its musical "possible"
Pierre Schaeffer : Traité des objets musicaux

Acousmatic art is a powerful free style form of expression encapsulating the very foundations of music itself. It exposes the wide universe of sound. It delves into the primitive base and it is from this that all ambivalence and privilege of this ultra modern art form can plunge back through the ages right to the very first libation and the very deepest roots of music and sound.
Patrick Ascione

Electro-acoustic music was born in 1950s thanks to the development of electronics and sound means of recording and restitution. It is a music without interpreter, resulting from a pure work on studio: Recording of " sound sources " (instruments, motor, train, birds, symphony,...), use of purely electronic sounds, then manipulations of the sounds (acceleration / slowing down, filtration, reversal, modulations) and spatialisation. It allows to achieve a sound world completely disconcerting and of a deep originality. This music gives a complete freedom of creation. Today, thanks to the equipments of "home-studio" it is approachable to all.

The words "concrete music" or "acousmatic music" are also used.

Some books on the contemporary music:

The &quote;bible&quote; of the acousmatic         The american composers

How to locate electro-acoustic music in contemporary music:


Note: This figure is inevitably approximative and incomplete. It misses many composers.
It is an attempt at synthesis and, as in any synthesis, there is simplification.