Audio Arts and Acoustics Commons^™

Reconciliation: An Auditory Exploration Of Redemptive Suffering, Emily Eid

MFA in Visual Art

Reconciliation examines the intersection between chronic pain, Catholic theology, and contemporary sound art through the lens of radical honesty. It documents a dramatic aesthetic and spiritual pivot in my art practice, moving from grotesque, abject portrayals of agony to a hopeful representation of redemptive suffering. I share how the project evolved from an installation of anthropomorphic furniture to a sculptural work using my bed, to an audio piece presented in a semi-private “confessional booth,” all while challenging the misconceptions surrounding chronic pain and disability. Utilizing the theories of Roland Barthes, I break down the semiological and authorial aspects of the …

Resilience In Recreation: Stories Of A Changing Climate, Casey L. Auberle

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

As the impacts of climate change become increasingly prevalent, the outdoor activities that bond us to our local communities and environments are under threat. In Missoula, MT, drought, rising temperatures, and wildfire smoke change what it means to fish, ski, run, and recreate in our town. In a series of Q&A style podcasts, environmental philosophy graduate student Casey Auberle creates a platform to share stories of a changing climate through the lens of local recreators and climate activists. Capturing these voices invites us to consider our relationship with nature on both an individual and communal scale, to find unity in …

Memory Organs, Coco Ma

Theses and Dissertations

Working across architectural sculpture, sonic works, and monoprints, this thesis explores the body as a site where memory, materiality, and cultural history converge. Drawing from muscle memory, Chinese architectural thresholds, and female narratives, it traces a body that is simultaneously physical and psychological, personal and collective, constant yet always shifting.

Learning Spaces As Pedagogy In Audio Education: Designing For Collaboration, Listening, And Mixing In Higher Education, Dean Belcastro

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

The rapid transformation of the music and audio production industries has significantly altered how people engage with audio creation and learning. While technologies for music production have become more accessible and decentralised, the pedagogical challenge of developing critical listening and audio mixing skills remains ongoing. This paper reflects on the design principles underpinning group learning environments intended to support the teaching of critical listening and audio mixing within higher education. Drawing on practice-led reflection, learning-space literature, and industry change, the paper argues that intentional learning-space design plays an active pedagogical role in fostering engagement, collaboration, and the development of shared …

No Limits: Exploring The Limitless Possibilities Of Creativity Within Extreme Limitations, Ashley J. Hanson Mr

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This essay examines the exponential evolution of digital music production technology, from the MIDI and sampling revolution of the 1980’s, to the contemporary DAWs, virtual instruments and AI-driven tools that have democratised creativity within the modern discipline. However, it also explores how an abundance of cost-effective tools introduces psychological challenges that inhibit creative potential. It critiques "choice overload," where a multitude of options induce decision paralysis, homogenise outputs and stifle innovation. Countering this, the essay advocates for self-imposed constraints as a catalyst for focused ingenuity and flow states, exemplified by legendary musicians such as Fatboy Slim and David Byrne. Objectives …

Cim221 - Example 6 - Rainbow Tree, Lily Hackett, Dillon Hudson, Kaden Matchett, Rees Muthee

Exemplars

For our project, our group was presented with the 89% project. The 89% project focuses on the 89% of people who want to make a change for our climate, but simply don't commit, essentially getting the route for climate change reduction nowhere.

We chose Behavioural Sciences as our theoretical lens. This means we would be putting time into researching exactly who our audience is, and what attitudes and reactions they hold in regards to climate change. We needed to figure out a way to inform the 89% of this issue, and convince them to join us in improving the way …

Sae What? Magazine - Issue 1 - 2026, Sae University College

SAE What? - Student Magazine

No abstract provided.

Rock On! Examining The Relationship Between Armed Conflict And Rock Protest Music, Dylan Conner Dunn

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between rock protest music and wars, armed conflicts, and other related events. The purpose of this research is to explore how such specific events, or war and conflict in general, influence rock songwriters. This paper examines a series of nine rock songs ranging across five decades, from the Vietnam War to the 2010s. A variety of artists wrote and recorded these songs, ranging from hard rock to classic rock, to folk rock and beyond. Some are more audially intense, lyrically visceral, and featuring explicit language, whereas others are much more stripped-back and “family-friendly.” Each of …

From Voice To Noise: Accented Speech, Constructed Languages, And Subtitling Practices As Markers Of Difference, Alice Alonso Limongi

Course Work

This monograph explores three main strategies of vocal exotification in Anglophone film: representations of accented speech, inclusion of constructed languages, and non-subtitling of snippets of other languages. Using Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding framework, I approach these practices as rhetorical devices that both construct and are constructed by the complexity of our social landscapes. Portrayals of accented speech, constructed languages, and subtitling practices form a gradient of abstraction, where the denotative meaning of words gradually loses importance to the sonic characteristics of the voice. Combining broader cultural scholarship from Edward Said, sound studies writings on power and language from Nina Sun Eidsheim …

Guitar Amplifier Directivity, Rachel C. Edelman, Brian E. Anderson, Samuel D. Bellows, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

No abstract provided.

Film For Jeanette, Brice Goldberg

Theses and Dissertations

Film for Jeanette is an experimental documentary concerning grief, memory, and what remains of those who have left this physical plane. The film paints the portrait of my late sister, Jeanette Lee Goldberg, who died in a car accident when she was 19. What begins as a memorial becomes a celebration of her life and an exploration into the complexities of her character that led to her death. Jeanette’s story is told through interviews with family members, while the visuals, created with various alternative 16mm film techniques, depict my own journey through the filmmaking process. I was only 3 when …

Seriosa And The Song Recital Tradition: Reframing The Antologi Musik Klasik Indonesia: Seri I—Vokal Dan Piano (Seriosa), Pharel Silaban

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This project traces the changing life of seriosa, later known as Indonesian art song, from its colonial emergence in the 1930s–1950s to its post-independence expansion and institutional contraction in the 1960s–1980s, and contemporary reframing since the early 2000s. It argues that the genre functioned as a vocal infrastructure that coordinated training, repertoire production, radio broadcast circulation, and public audibility. The study further shows that when the influence of Radio Republik Indonesia weakened, the fragility of this infrastructure became visible. Efforts to sustain the genre by figures such as Rose Pandanwangi, Pranawengrum Katamsi, Catharina Wiriadinata Leimena, and Aning Katamsi appeared …

The Transforming Image | Wintersession 2026 Syllabus, Hunter Whitaker-Morrow, Movement Lab

Course Materials

This studio course engages the contemporary digital moving (and sounding) image as a medium undergoing rapid development. Advancing the exploratory ethos of early video art, participants will probe new possibilities for experimentation against the contemporary backdrop of ubiquitous access to smartphones and production capabilities as well as the proliferation of tools for digital signal manipulation, media recycling, and image sequencing.

Coursework will center on a variety of hands-on creative exercises that challenge predominant conceptions of the moving image and engage with medium-specific approaches including video installation, desktop performance, generative cinematics, recycling media, realtime audio-visual performance, and notions of digital materiality. …

The Transforming Image | Class 1.1, Hunter Whitaker-Morrow, Movement Lab

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

The Transforming Image | Class 1.2, Hunter Whitaker-Morrow, Movement Lab

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

The Transforming Image | Class 1.3, Hunter Whitaker-Morrow, Movement Lab

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

The Transforming Image | Class 3.2, Hunter Whitaker-Morrow, Movement Lab

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

Do You See What I Hear?: The Effects Of Musical Harmony On Cultural Perception And Recognition, Marvin Martin Williams

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explores whether listeners can identify the differences in harmonic progressions in a musical composition, and, if so, whether those differences can elicit a cultural or social perception of the origins of the music. By investigating how audiences respond to variations in harmony, specifically traditional versus altered harmonic treatments, the research offers a framework for music producers, educators, healthcare providers, and other cultural gatekeepers to better understand and engage with audiences on an empathetic and meaningful level. The underlying hypothesis posits that harmony in music does more than evoke emotion but may inform a cultural interpretation, thus presenting an …

Participatory Presence In Aesthetic Experiences Of Performance, Sophie Morrissey, Shaun Gallagher

Duquesne Studies in Phenomenology

In the context of the performing arts, presence can generally be thought of as an experienced connection between performer and audience that heightens the affective impact of the performance. Explorations of how presence is experienced during live performance contribute to our understanding of the relation of presence to participants’ overall aesthetic experience and participation in the performance. However, they also reveal the complex phenomenology of presence and the challenge of offering a unified framework that can account for its various phenomenal manifestations. In this article, we conceive of presence as a recursive dynamical feedback loop that emerges through and modulates …

Introduction: Duquesne Studies In Phenomenology Volume 5, Jeffrey Mccurry

Duquesne Studies in Phenomenology

No abstract provided.

From Inside The Recording Studio, Mckayla J. Adkison

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This project documents the historical, technical, and creative significance of recording studios through both industry examples and the design and construction of a personal backyard studio. By examining iconic studios such as Abbey Road and Capitol Records, the paper highlights how technological innovation, acoustic engineering, and architectural design have shaped the evolution of recorded music. These concepts are then applied to the planning and construction of a custom-built recording studio, emphasizing room dimensions, sound isolation techniques, acoustic treatment, lighting, and sustainable design choices. In addition, the project addresses the importance of aesthetics and emotional comfort in creating a space that …

Csumb Music Club Handbook, Ryan N. Cobar

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In this handbook, Ryan Cobar will discuss the points of planning and execution of an event on CSUMB campus as well as how to run the CSUMB Music Club.

Democratizing Music Production Through Technology, Jacob W. Alfaro

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper explores the history of recording technology and the effects of innovations on recording contemporary music. It follows the changing roles and relationships between artist and producer, as well as a brief look into the recording of our album as a real-time example.

Growing A Church Worship Band, Charmaine Landrum

Masters Theses

Many churches either leave the music to the professionals, or let untrained musicians blunder their way through the service, distracting their congregations. Little research has been done pertaining to the development of average or inexperienced musicians for Sunday Services. Considering the shift in worship music and technology, there is a need to train the next generation of worship team members. There is a lack in research pertaining to the best methods for training untrained musicians who want to volunteer but may not be ready for the platform. One particular church, Revolution Church in Canton, Georgia, is solving their dilemma by …

Movement Lab Lunchtime Presentations: Hunter Whitaker-Morrow | Poster, Hunter Whitaker-Morrow, Movement Lab

Personal Work

No abstract provided.

The Resonance Of Desire: A Sonic Exploration And Guide To Recreating Disney’S Signature ‘I Want’ Songs, Aiyanna E. Riley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the sonic architecture of Disney’s Renaissance-era “I Want” songs and develops a framework for recreating their signature production style. This study analyzes how vocal timbre, microphone choices, layering, stereo placement, and mixing strategies contribute to the immersive qualities that define the Disney sound. Drawing from historical accounts, interviews with industry professionals, and technical literature, the thesis documents production practices unexamined in scholarly work. Inspired by David Gibson’s The Art of Mixing, my analyses prioritize spatial and textural qualities in Disney mixes, highlighting how sound design shapes narrative impact. The study culminates in two original compositions modeled …

Space For New History: Stony Island Arts Bank, Seb Taylor

Digital Laboratory: Publisher of Internet Journal

The Stony Island Arts Bank (SIAB) in Southside Chicago was designed and founded as a piece of art itself, with the organizational structure being a museum of Black cultural production. This article examines how the institution constructs an epistemology of Blackness through its archival practices, community programming, and spatial claims on the South Side. Founded by artist Theaster Gates through the Rebuild Foundation, the SIAB positions institutional design as an art medium, operating in productive tension with orthodox museum methods. The permanent collections—including the Johnson Publishing Company archives and Frankie Knuckles vinyl collection—function as epistemological records of Black self-documentation unmediated …

The Art Of Selection - Telling Stories Through Sound, Alexander Foley

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

The presentation set out to educate novice and intermediate DJs the importance of track selection in a DJ set.  This is a skill that elevates a good DJ to a great DJ. It addresses issues that some DJs have when trying to read a crowd or curate a pre planned set.  The presentation was given at SAE Dubai's annual DJ symposium to a live audience using slides and audio examples.  The presentation was well received and many of the audience had questions and seemed to take away a better understanding of an often underrated element of being a successful DJ. …

Vinyl Noise, James Kelly

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

In this talk, audio engineer, composer, and record collector Dr. Kelly will explore the fascinating intersection of sound, technology and perception through the lens of vinyl records and their inherent noisiness. Vinyl noise, or surface noise, refers to the sounds on vinyl records that aren’t part of the music itself. Drawing from both production and listening perspectives, Dr. Kelly will offer insights into how records are made, the noisiness inherent to the medium, and how listeners engage with these unwanted sounds - whether by ignoring, finding them distracting, or embracing them as part of the medium’s texture.

The Disappearance Of The Popular Song: Authenticity In The Age Of Ai Generated Music, Leah C. Kinzer

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

In the past several years, the prevalence of AI has become undeniable. From AI features on Google to ChatGPT, AI is providing us with instant knowledge and answers. But what happens when AI enters the creative sphere? Specifically, what happens when AI is used to create music mimicking the style and voice of artists who already exist? Is this stealing? Can this be described as true, authentic art? This paper discusses difference instances of AI generated music (AIGM) in pop culture as well as the philosophical and legal implications in an attempt to further the discussion about the role of …