GT3D Contest

2024–2025

/assets/3dcontest-2425/participants.jpg All students who participated in the GT3D Contest.

With the first GaTech 3D Composition Contest — or short 3D Contest — the School of Music invited students to compose for our 3DBox. Organized by the Lab for Interaction and Immersion, the call was open to all students at Georgia Tech and also open to any genre — from popular music to sound art and audio plays.

The only requirement: the resulting pieces should be compatible with our system, using the Ambisonics format. Students worked from Fall 2024 to January 2025 with free access to our spatial sound system. The three finalists received prizes to continue their work in spatial audio: equipment for Ambisonics and binaural field recorders.

We wanted to create a creative culture around spatial sound. We are proud to present the winners of our first contest:

GT3D Contest Winners

Ishaan Jagyasi, Peyman Salimi, and Jacob Westerstahl

1. Peyman Salimi — Volt Era

About the Composition

“Volt Era” is a five-minute composition created and arranged in 5th-order Ambisonics for immersive 3D spatial audio. The piece was composed for the 3D Composition Contest and mixed in Georgia Tech’s 3D Audio Box at the Rich Building, with a separate binaural mix also created for headphone listening.

The title, “Volt Era,” is a play on the name “Volterra,” referencing the ancient Roman thermal pool in Tuscany where the water sounds were recorded.

“Volt” evokes energy and fire, creating a thematic tension between the opposing elements of water and fire that defines the piece. Inspired by Xenakis’ Concret PH, Volt Era juxtaposes organic field recordings with synthetic textures, weaving an intricate soundscape of contrasts—chaos and calm, tension and release, synthetic and acoustic.

About the Composer

Peyman Salimi is a composer, music producer, and vocalist whose research examines how lyrics shape emotional responses to music, blending academic inquiry with his experience as a multilingual artist.

He has released three solo albums, two albums with his Florence-based band The Allophones, and composed works like Doublethink, an electroacoustic piece for piano, fixed media, and live electronics, as well as the soundtrack for Audenie, a short film nominated at international festivals.

Peyman’s work bridges creative and academic perspectives, exploring new ways to connect artists and listeners.

2. Ishaan Jagyasi — Against the Grain

About the Composition

Against the Grain is an experimental techno track inspired by the biological processes that activate when a host faces danger from an external entity.

Complex beings like us have survival mechanisms that start functioning without even requiring conscience, and these reactions are hardcoded inside the savior cells — which is fascinating.

Survival is essential for the sustainability of life, and that has been the case since the day life came into effect on this planet. Billions and trillions of probabilities had to align for life to develop on Earth, and it still remains a mystery why it happened that way.

The sense of survival exists not only within living creatures but also on a cosmic level. The fact that Earth’s magnetosphere perfectly deflects harmful solar radiation is one of many examples of how survival manifests beyond our nature.

Against the Grain is inspired by these instincts of survival that exist within and around us.

About the Composer

‘knordest’ is the artistic identity of Ishaan Jagyasi, a music producer from Mumbai, India.

‘knordest’ was born out of Ishaan’s curiosity and passion for exploring music at the intersection of technology, human psychology, and modern art. His music carries emotional resonance alongside intricate sound design, providing an immersive and otherworldly listening experience.

Though inspired by genres such as Electronica and Experimental, his music blends elements of Hindustani Classical, Orchestral, Ambient, IDM, and Melodic Techno.

3. Jacob Westerstahl — Unnamed

About the Composition

The piece begins with an analog synth swirling around the listener before moving to a spliced interview with a “catatonically” schizophrenic man from the 1960s, raising questions about what it means to be a musician and the pursuit of meaningful art.

The song also samples parts of Sweet Trip’s “Fruitcake and Cookies” during its bridge before returning to a soaring chorus.

About the Composer

Jacob Westerstahl is a first-year undergraduate student at the School of Music, passionate about researching how sound can make the world more accessible to people with vision and hearing disabilities.

He is interested in the impact of noise pollution and our auditory environment on mental and physical well-being.

As a musician, Jacob plays electric guitar, sings, and creates house, ambient, and electronic music. His inspirations include early post-punk artists such as Wire, Gang of Four, and Minutemen, as well as electronic icons like Aphex Twin, BICEP, and Eric Prydz.

🎓 Judges