How much of what we hear is actually natural?
My lectures explore the cultural systems behind electronic music — from tuning and pitch perception to rhythm, technology and the ways we learn to hear. Drawing from music production, psychoacoustics, ethnomusicology and decolonial thought, I question the assumptions that shape what we consider musical, correct, universal or "in tune."
Tuning systems are often presented as technical necessities. But who decided what counts as correct pitch in the first place?
Pitch perception is not simply a biological given. Explore the relationship between auditory perception, musical enculturation and the systems we learn to hear through.
Electronic music is built on technologies, tuning systems and theoretical assumptions that are often treated as universal. What happens when we question those defaults?
Rhythm, repetition, collective movement and diasporic musical traditions become tools for exploring how knowledge can exist through the body.
A 4-week intensive for electronic musicians
Create your own sonic identity beyond inherited defaults. Through the Sonic Identity Method™ and the Decolonized Listening Framework, you'll explore tuning systems, challenge compositional habits, and develop a sound that feels unmistakably your own.
A critical and practical exploration of the colonial histories embedded in electronic music production, from tuning systems and musical technologies to ideas of rhythm, harmony and sonic legitimacy.
Why do we organize pitch into twelve tones? An introduction to alternative tuning systems, psychoacoustics, microtonality and the cultural construction of musical systems.
An experiential workshop exploring how musical environments train us to hear pitch, rhythm and harmony — and how producers can deliberately expand those listening frameworks.
How do histories of power shape what we hear as musical, modern, correct or desirable? A conversation on the politics embedded in perception, technology and cultural hierarchies.
Ideas developed through my artistic, academic and teaching practice.
What happens when we apply decolonial thinking to sound? This article moves from Tuck & Yang's critique of metaphorical decolonization to the 1932 Cairo Congress and questions of standardization, maqām and musical knowledge.
Read ArticlePitch perception, timbre and the cultural construction of musical systems. This article works between music technology, music theory, perception and cultural critique. Moving from 12-tone equal temperament into psychoacoustics, gamelan, maqām, raga and timbre.
Read ArticleIs octave equivalence learned or innate? This article moves into psychoacoustics and cross-cultural perception, questioning the assumption that octave equivalence is simply a universal biological fact.
Read ArticleInterview with DJ and music producer Seba Kayan. A conversation on electronic music production, decolonial practice, and the politics of listening.
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