Research

The first is the evolving world of portable, multi-touch digital music applications and the new developments in controlling them. There has never been a time in history when a musician could literally purchase a new instrument each month for around five dollars. With the release of the iPad and an endless stream of music apps, musicians have unprecedented access to low cost tools with which to generate music. My invention of “The Phantom” for Keith Urban’s world tours grew directly from this interest, using iPads and later a large touchscreen monitor to create a custom sampling instrument controlled through Ableton Live and OSC.

The product of my master’s thesis was the creation of an electronic textbook covering six foundational EDM genres. The process opened my eyes to the possibilities that the eBook format offers for educators, particularly in Music Technology pedagogy. The interactive, intuitive qualities of using a multi-touch device to process information are on full display when textual content is reinforced by embedded multimedia. My AES Convention paper, “Tools for Visual Thinking: Teaching Electronic Music,” extended this research into visual methodologies for analyzing electronic music arrangements.

More recently, my sabbatical in Thailand has led to cross-cultural research. I am currently co-authoring a study on English pronunciation challenges for Thai singers with Parichat Maew, a member of the Rangsit Conservatory vocal faculty, using spectral analysis to visualize formants. This collaboration reflects my interest in research that crosses disciplinary and cultural boundaries.

In addition to scholarly research, I am continually creating new music and documents on general music technology. 

You can find examples of these Sounds and Documents here on my website.