Music . Entertainment . Technology

...email ME

Education:

• BA Psychology: Oberlin College 2004

• Presently Enrolled: Drexel University, Graduate College of Engineering, ECE

Bio:

I started out as laboratory technician for the MET-lab, and now I am a Graduate Student in the Graduate College of Engineering. I still oversee the lab's recording and music equipment, and I assist professors, students and guests in utilizing the lab for research and education.
I also facilitate the Structured Audio research project, within which I am conducting interviews with experts and professionals in music recording, production, and performance and distribution. If you are a musician, recording engineer, or other interdisciplinary artist in music media, please review my solicitation, and contact me.


In Spring of 2007, I have applied to Drexel's College of Engineering, as a provisional graduate student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department. I began taking graduate courses in digital signal processing (DSP) and computer based statistics and probability, and software game design in the 2008-2009 academic year.


Beginning the Fall of 2008, I matriculated into the Masters DSP track in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
I am eager to apply my psychology background into computer programming and DSP software and hardware.

As a student, a scientist, and a musician, I'm listening forward for a lot of exciting changes.

Research Projects and Interests:

Evaluating the Impact of Music Video Games on Musical Skill Development

Motion-driven Interfacing for Music and Sound Applications

Presented Posters:

Grounds for Debate:

I am keenly interested in interdisciplinary research on music and music technology. Music, both as craft and business, is becoming increasingly reliant on computer technology. In the past, the sound and style of music was more confined, and less defined, by the methods and tools used in recording. Every genre of music recording was created within the same boundaries of the technology (i.e. tape) used to record it, concentrated in the studio workspace.

Musical usage of computers is changing this. Now, due to the expanding power of multi-track DAWs (digital audio workstation), software synthesis, sampling, sequencing, and real-time processing, the aesthetic of some music is defined less by the initial performances and more by the editing process within the digital workspace. Some styles lend themselves more to having the "producer as composer," but the DAW has catalyzed all realms of commercial music.
At the same time, portable computing and increased connectivity (wired and wireless) empowers new horizons for mobile creativity and even remote collaboration.
Digital storage and internet community have created and sustained a market for music recording to exist as a commodity outside of a physical artifact (i.e. records, tape, cd, etc), where music can now propagate as a self-replicating digital file, or even stream automatic music programs across web radio channels.

However, while the tools, talent, and market in recorded music change with computer technology, the structure of the end-product song remains the same.

I believe that the future of music, both in creation and consumption, will be forged not from it's technological advancement of it's historical aesthetics, but more from the scientific innovation of new mediums of artistic expression and connectivity. At present, the majority of innovation remains within serving the purpose of wholesale emulation/simulation of known sounds, products, and creative methods/artifacts. This is the trap of want a more powerful and easier version of a "familiar sound."
Neither scientists, researchers, nor artists can alone take music to new places. True innovation to unlock the full potential of digital music will require collaboration among engineers and artists who are not only technically savvy, but also curious and visionary.

Background


Work

Research Lab Technician (2006-present). Assisted in design, budgeting, and setup of digital music studio for music and speech research. Managed solicitation and outreach for Structured Audio research project.

Live Music Technician (2003-2007) Live sound stage technician, monitor engineer, indoor and outdoor stage construction. Served with the World Cafe Live, the Rotunda, and other Philadelphia commercial and community venues.

Manager of Research and Education, at R.K. Froom and Co. Inc(2005). Assisted in venture capital business for medical supply sales.

Research Assistant (2004), contracted by the Center for Outcome Analysis (Havertown, PA), as data analyst and statistical consultant for meta-analysis of healthcare compliance in special needs homes.

Study

Student (2000-2004) at Oberlin College, Oberlin OH
Bachelor of Psychology (2004)...cognitive neuropsychology, psychobiology of emotion, psychobiology of art and music, abnormal psychology.
Music Recording and Technician...Digital Music editing, electronic sound design, digital and analog circuit design.
Musician (drummer)...performing with various bands (1991-present), teaching lessons (1998-present), experiementation/integration/performance with digital instruments (2001-present)

Other Fun... dance (Contact Improvisaton), bicycles, cooking, movies, video games,

...email ME