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.

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!



Making Multichannel Music, a series of artist-led introductory workshops to spatial audio, kicks off tonight at Elastic ...
10/28/2025

Making Multichannel Music, a series of artist-led introductory workshops to spatial audio, kicks off tonight at Elastic Arts with musician, filmmaker, and arts worker, Sam Clapp.

We’re excited to partner with Elastic for this innovative educational opportunity for working artists. The workshops are free, so don’t miss out!

October 28: Sam Clapp
November 4: Scott Rubin
November 11: Kate In
November 18: Hugo Flores Garcia

This program is supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.





Huge thanks to  for including ESS in their Music 45 list, a biennial survey of Chicago’s music world. We’re honored to b...
10/28/2025

Huge thanks to for including ESS in their Music 45 list, a biennial survey of Chicago’s music world. We’re honored to be included and to be in such great company.

Since 1986, ESS has been a core supporter, partner, and driver in Chicago’s vibrant experimental music community. We were one of the first non-profit cultural institutions in the U.S. dedicated entirely to the sonic arts and remain the only one in the Midwest.

Co-directors Adam Vida, Olivia Junell, and Alex Inglizian (pictured here) took the reigns of the organization in 2016 after the retirement of co-founder Lou Mallozzi. Formalizing the collective ethos that ESS was built on, the trio have been instrumental in guiding ESS’s forward-thinking trajectory.

2026 marks the 40th year of the organization, and we’ve got some big plans in the works. As we continue to grow and evolve to support the changing needs of contemporary artists, we are thankful for everyone who has worked alongside us over the years.

On Thursday, October 30, 2025, from 4–4:30 PM CDT, we are hosting our final “Plugged-In Virtual Happy Hour” of the year....
10/27/2025

On Thursday, October 30, 2025, from 4–4:30 PM CDT, we are hosting our final “Plugged-In Virtual Happy Hour” of the year.

Joins us for curated round up of ESS events, exclusive content, and more.

This time around, we’ve got insights from our 2025 ALBA Residency with Sarah Lutkenhaus; a deeper look at Sarah Belle Reid’s Florasonic installation, “Semblance of Fern,” and her recent Patchbent workshop; a performance from Jaap Blonk via our friends at Catalytic Sound; a sneak peak at some exciting new additions to the ESS SYNTH[bank]; and a video from artist, Itsï Ramirez.

This is a no cameras, no mics, come-and-go event featuring exclusive content from the ESS world. Kick back with a beverage, connect in the chats, and take a little curated break.

“Plugged-In” is an ESS fundraising initiative that generates financial support for our organization through one-time or recurring donations. Being a “Plugged-In” supporter is easy. Just make a donation of any amount to ESS to receive a windfall of perks.




ESS’s Creative Audio Archive (CAA) is dedicated to the preservation of innovative and experimental sonic arts and music....
10/24/2025

ESS’s Creative Audio Archive (CAA) is dedicated to the preservation of innovative and experimental sonic arts and music.

The CAA is not a gilded vault or mausoleum. Instead, it’s a porous interface. Working with contemporary artists and musicians, we facilitate direct activations and investigations of these materials. The Sun Ra / El Saturn collection is one of our more well known collections. However, the objects, the audio, and what they inspire continue to surprise and delight.

Artists Angel Bat Dawid and Sophiyah E., known collectively as MOTHABOARD, have been exploring the Sun Ra / El Saturn collection through dedicated research and expressive performance. Their recent project “Cosmic Echoes” explored Ra’s profound legacy through his connections to Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood and the historic Forum.

Several pivotal recordings from the collection, cited in their recent research are shown here, as well as a snippet from the performance.


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Florasonic continues through Nov 23!Composer-performer Sarah Belle Reid’s installation “Semblence of Fern” in the Lincol...
10/23/2025

Florasonic continues through Nov 23!

Composer-performer Sarah Belle Reid’s installation “Semblence of Fern” in the Lincoln Park Conservatory’s Fern Room explores the formal connections between mathematical models and natural order.

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

Sarah began her journey of creating the work by studying Barnsley’s Fern, an algorithm first described by Dr. Michael Barnsley in 1988. The algorithm’s fern-like logic was then compared to the rich diversity of natural ferns: intricate spore patterns, fuzzy fiddleheads, tangled root systems. From these explorations, Reid imagined a series of “mutant ferns” by altering various aspects of Barnsley’s original fractal algorithm to generate fern-like abstractions, suggesting unfamiliar ecosystems and conditions, blurring the line between natural and invented growth.

To realize this piece, Reid collaborated with musician and electronic instrument designer Ryan Gaston. This instrument translates the Barnsley Fern and eight mutant variants into interwoven streams controlled with a digital modular synthesizer system of Gaston’s design. The device produces fern-inspired voltages that animate and spatialize the sounds you hear, moving them through the quadraphonic field—like organisms spreading and intertwining.

You just have to experience this.



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