Avid Technology > Case Studies > Aliya Cycon: Leveraging IoT for Cultural Diplomacy Through Music

Aliya Cycon: Leveraging IoT for Cultural Diplomacy Through Music

Technology Category

Sensors - Acoustic Sensors
Sensors - Voltage Sensors

Applicable Industries

Education
Equipment & Machinery

About The Customer

Aliya Cycon is a passionate musician who has been using music to raise awareness for people suffering from disease and hardship around the world. Since her first album with her ensemble, the Aliya Cycon project, she has toured through the Middle East and Asia, performing her music and spotlighting her instrument, the oud. With her ensemble, she has written and performed numerous energetic and haunting pieces for the oud, a stringed instrument commonly used to play traditional Arabic music. She uses her videos, recordings, and live performances for cultural diplomacy, raising awareness and funding for causes including the Wounded Angels project and the Playing for Change movement.

The Challenge

Musicians seeking to explore new horizons and share their experiences with a global audience face the challenge of finding software that provides them with the versatility and power to capture their vision and create work that will inspire listeners worldwide. This challenge is particularly significant for musicians like Aliya Cycon, who uses her music to raise awareness for people suffering from disease and hardship around the world. With her ensemble, the Aliya Cycon Project, she has written and performed numerous pieces for the oud, a stringed instrument used to play traditional Arabic music. The challenge was to find a way to communicate her music and its message to people in the States who might not be exposed to it, and to create a bridge for them to see a different, more positive side of the culture she represents.

The Solution

Pro Tools provided the solution to this challenge. This software offers composers, musicians, and producers powerful features to support music creation and recording for any type of ensemble and environment. This allowed Aliya to bring her music to audiences both live and online. The recording process for the oud is unique, requiring a mic for the fingerboard and another on the strings, usually condensers. Another pair of condenser mics are used to pick up the room. Pro Tools gave Aliya the opportunity to try new things when she was writing and creating ideas outside of the studio environment. It became a useful tool in recording herself at home, empowering her to have a software that accurately captures the sound and makes it sound great.

Operational Impact

The use of Pro Tools has enabled Aliya to capture the unique sound of the oud and her own style of writing, translating it to the instruments she writes for. The software has allowed her to experiment with new ideas outside of the studio environment, recording herself at home and capturing the sound accurately. This has empowered her to share her music and its message with a wider audience, bridging cultural gaps and raising awareness for important causes. The ability to perform, share her musical message, and bring it to audiences all over has become something she can’t live without.