Sound Design Portfolio

A solo guitar soundscape commissioned by Usher Gallery, Lincoln in response to Terry Frost’s Autumn Rings Andeuze for their upcoming exhibition (28th June 2025). The project was a collaboration between Pickle Illustration, who produced sets of illustrations inspired by the work; myself who then composed the soundtrack responding to their stills, the original painting and the above quote by Frost; and Rosa Kennedy, who animated the stills to the composition.

One of eight composers/multi-disciplinary artists worldwide commissioned by the art gallery Centrala to produce an audio-visual work exploring “the hope of post-lockdown life” for their ‘All Systems Go’ project. Performed by myself (guitar and electronics) and Christos Stylianides (trumpet and electronics), the film below premiered July 2021 at Centrala, alongside a work by multi-disciplinary artist Rie Nakajima and a live re-interpretation of TIMEBEING by myself and Aram Bahmaie (electric bass and electronics).

The work showcases a variety of textures including loops, ambient sections (see 15:30 - 19:30 especially), and more avant-garde material - feel free to scrub through!

Holmfirth is a multichannel composition inspired by countryside walks, in which the meditative act of solitary walking through nature causes a shift in the way environmental sounds are heard. Throughout the piece, footsteps interact with other sounds derived from nature, representing the auditory experience of walking with a clear mind. All sounds used to make the composition were recorded on various walks during a weekend break in a small cottage in Holmfirth, but have been affected in numerous ways. The piece is my first experimentation with acousmatic composition and takes some influence from ‘surrealism’, in which disparate sounds are purposely contrasted as ‘blocks’ of sound. 

The work was performed at CrossCurrents Festival 2024 through an IKO multichannel speaker at Lapworth Museum of Geology, Birmingham. Headphone listening encouraged.

This avant-garde solo guitar improvisation was recorded for my MA Portfolio as an exercise in 3D sound, and, alongside Holmfirth, showcases my ability to mix in ambisonics/surround sound. The improvisation was recorded in a dry room with a single microphone, then later mixed in a 360 degree surround sound field to augment the guitar improvisation through 3D spatialisation.

The piece was originally mixed for a 32-speaker system at University of Birmingham, and the recording is a 2-channel version of this. Headphone listening encouraged.