Experimental Sound Studio

Experimental Sound Studio ESS is a non-profit, artist-run organization focused on sound in all its exploratory cultural manifes November is Membership Month!

Join at https://ess.org/donate. Experimental Sound Studio is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound. As an international hub for sonic experimentation, ESS nurtures artists, heralds new works, and builds a broad, supportive community of makers, enthusiasts, and creative partners through preservation, production, presentation, and education.

It takes more than just providing space or putting on shows - we deserve intentional spaces that are increasing access. ...
11/19/2025

It takes more than just providing space or putting on shows - we deserve intentional spaces that are increasing access. Help us continue the work in 2026!

Over the past year, ESS organized 11 artist-led events for women, trans, and non-binary folks working and experimenting in audio, attended by nearly 100 people. We continue this work, as well as expanded efforts in learning, connecting, and sharing, in 2026. The impact of these programs is exponential.

Let’s make sure it’s well resourced!

Ten $50 donations fund a workshop and skill-share event. Over 2k people will see this post. Let’s do this. Donate link in bio.

We’re excited to announce Sonic Pavilion Redux, an immersive audio exhibition opening Dec 5, 6-9 PM at ESS’s Audible Gal...
11/18/2025

We’re excited to announce Sonic Pavilion Redux, an immersive audio exhibition opening Dec 5, 6-9 PM at ESS’s Audible Gallery.

Experimental Sound Studio
5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60660

Sonic Pavilion Redux is an iterative expansion of this summer’s Sonic Pavilion Festival, staged for Experimental Sound Studio’s Audible gallery. Eight multichannel sound compositions originally created for the 24-channel trellised speaker system at Jay Pritzker Pavilion are reimagined here for ESS’s immersive 8-channel system. This presentation offers a second chance to experience the work after the festival’s final outdoor performance was cut short by severe weather. Featuring work by ten artists from the 2025 Sonic Pavilion Festival, Sonic Pavilion Redux invites audiences to encounter the same dynamic sound worlds within the focused acoustics of ESS’s gallery space.

Sonic Pavilion Redux artists:
Angel Bat Dawid & Eyeisha Sistrunk
Anna Friz & Jeff Kolar
David Bird
Glenn Kotche
Myles Emmons
Paige Alice Naylor
Saapato
Zouning Anne Liao

Sonic Pavilion Festival is developed by Experimental Sound Studio. It was originally presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and was supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.



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We should all have access to the legacies that built today.Every $10 donation gets a recording from the Creative Audio A...
11/18/2025

We should all have access to the legacies that built today.

Every $10 donation gets a recording from the Creative Audio Archive onto ESS’s website for free access (priceless).

Creative Audio Archive currently holds 8,000+ recordings of experimental music and sound from the 1950s through today.

Help open up these histories to new ears - donate today. Link in bio.

We believe that space (mental and physical) to experiment should not be a privilege. In 2026, we’re growing our investme...
11/17/2025

We believe that space (mental and physical) to experiment should not be a privilege. In 2026, we’re growing our investment in that belief by piloting free access to engineered studio sessions (more details after Thanksgiving!) and studio access to a growing collection of (often cost prohibitive) electronic instruments and equipment.

Help us make space for experimentation and keep building our artist resources.

This week only, your donation is tripled via matching donations from the community. That means that every 8 donations of $20 provide an artist with a full day session at the studio. That’s huge.

Click the link in bio to give what you can.

We can still feel the resonance of Sarah Belle Reid’s immersive performance that celebrated the opening of “Semblance of...
11/14/2025

We can still feel the resonance of Sarah Belle Reid’s immersive performance that celebrated the opening of “Semblance of Fern,” her contribution to our ongoing Florasonic series. The site-specific installation runs through Nov 23 in the Lincoln Park Conservatory’s iconic Fern Room.

In this work, composer-performer Sarah Belle Reid’s installation explores the formal connections between mathematical and natural order using a mixture of deep observation, algorithmic modeling, and multichannel audio to blur the line between natural and invented growth.

Experience this unique sound installation during Conservatory open hours (Wednesday-Sunday, 10am-4:30pm). The piece plays at the top of every hour.


Let’s get loud. Over the next 10 days, we’re asking you to invest what you can into the idea that experimental art—art a...
11/12/2025

Let’s get loud. Over the next 10 days, we’re asking you to invest what you can into the idea that experimental art—art at the front line of defining what comes next—is a valuable part of our culture.

The goal: raise $7,500 to unlock an additional $7,500 in matching donations. Take action via the link in bio.

Who is amplifying your impact:

is matching all new and increased donations*. A group of community members is further compounding these efforts by pooling their resources into an additional match for all donors, new and existing.

The power to impact the arts—and so culture in America—lies with the community. ESS has always been powered by people giving what they can, an aggregate force that makes things happen. We don’t need big money (though if you have it, we’ll take it!), we just need everyone to feed back into the loop that is our culture.

Thank you. Let’s do this.

*”New” is defined as not having given in the past two years. Need more info to increase your donation or have another question? Contact Olivia at [email protected].

Join us November 18 at ESS for “Transcendent Souls III,” a special evening presented by New Music Chicago.J Holzen’s “Tr...
11/11/2025

Join us November 18 at ESS for “Transcendent Souls III,” a special evening presented by New Music Chicago.

J Holzen’s “Transcendent Souls” is a concert series that aims to celebrate trans artistry and illuminate the intersection of values central to trans and Christian religious communities, such as the sacredness of the human body, cosmic inheritance, and transness as participating in the divine act of creation.

This third chapter offers a q***r reimagining of the “Ordinary of the Mass” and features pieces for singing cellist with works by Jacqui Armbruster, Benjamin Britten, Caroline Polachek, Yaz Lancaster, and J Holzen.

Additionally, the trio Vanishing Point, Dylan Feldpausch (violin), J Holzen (cello), and Rebecca Miller (viola), will perform “The Companion Guide To Rome,” by Andrew Norman, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The work features nine sonic portraits of Roman churches and their saints.


Friday morning at One State in the Arts & Humanities Golden Egg team members Kelsey McFalls & Deidre Huckabay lead a ses...
11/06/2025

Friday morning at One State in the Arts & Humanities Golden Egg team members Kelsey McFalls & Deidre Huckabay lead a session entitled Aftermath: The Effects of Capacity Building in the Arts.

Join us if you’re at the conference!
Session Block D, Friday 11/7, 9-10:20am

Arts funders often ask artists and grassroots organizations to deliver systems change but their one-off investments frequently result in burnout shame and abandoned innovation. This roundtable discussion brings together artists and arts workers who have led innovation projects to share what worked, what didn’t, and what they learned about sustaining these projects.

This discussion is facilitated by Golden Egg, a 2024 artist-led pilot program to create the nation’s first retirement matching program for freelance musicians in Chicago. Golden Egg is supported by ESS.



11/04/2025

A very special sneak peek at a new addition to the ESS SYNTH[bank]! The Phase 8 acoustic synthesizer from Korg Berlin.

In this performance, the Phase 8 is synchronized using analog triggers from the System 80 880 drum machine. Synth melodies by the Korg Multi/Poly. Textural ambience from the Stereo Field feedback synthesizer by Landscape FM.

Thanks to Korg Berlin, System 80, & Landscape FM for all of the support!

Kate In: Stereo Field
Alex Inglizian: Phase 8
Adam Vida: Korg Multi/Poly
James Wetzel: System 80 880

This week, 2025 Spain/Chicago Artist Exchange resident Maguette Dieng (.adouna ) has been exploring Chicago and working ...
10/31/2025

This week, 2025 Spain/Chicago Artist Exchange resident Maguette Dieng (.adouna ) has been exploring Chicago and working in the studio at Experimental Sound Studio.

Maguette, a Barcelona-based DJ, producer, and programmer, brought with them a deep interest in mixing footwork, a music style born in Chicago, with Mbalakh, a traditional music from Senegal.

Huge thanks to local legend Jana Rush ( ) for joining us in the studio and supporting Dieng’s work.

The Spain/Chicago Artist Exchange is an annual collaboration between The Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain ( ) and Experimental Sound Studio.

Here are some highlights from the third season of Patchbent workshops. Thanks to Sarah Belle Reid, Senem Pirler, and Nic...
10/29/2025

Here are some highlights from the third season of Patchbent workshops. Thanks to Sarah Belle Reid, Senem Pirler, and Nicole Alonso for leading such thoughtful and engaging presentations. Huge thanks to the workshop participants, too.

We’re planning some winter opportunities to be together and share work before we come back with more workshops in the spring. Stay tuned, and keep in touch with what you’d like to see next season.

Videos of past Patchbent Sessions will be available on our YouTube channel soon. Keep an eye out for that announcement!



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5925 N Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL
60660

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+17739981069

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