Jean-Claude Risset

Jean-Claude Risset (March 13, 1938 in Le Puy, France) is a French composer of electronic music. He is a former student of André Jolivet and former coworker of Max Mathews at Bell Labs.

Jean-Claude Risset (March 13, 1938 in Le Puy, France) is a French composer of electronic music. He is a former student of André Jolivet and former coworker of Max Mathews at Bell Labs.

Arriving at Bell Labs, New Jersey in 1964, he used Mathew's MUSIC IV software to digitally recreate the sounds of brass instruments. He made digital recordings of trumpets and then studied their timbral composition using "pitch-synchronous" spectrum analysis tools, revealing that the harmonics of these instruments would differ greatly depending on pitch, duration and loudness. He is also credited with performing the first experiments on a range of synthesis techniques including FM Synthesis and Waveshaping.