Combine your interests of music and technology in this creative-focused major. The Electronic Music and Sound Design major explores artistic and technical aspects of the field toward creating professional, industry relevant electronic/digital music compositions. 

A combination of studio and lab-based units will allow you to think creatively, invent and innovate. Through our small and large-scale creative projects, you'll develop expertise in electronic/digital music composition, sound design and production—skills applicable to a range of creative and technical professions. 

The Electronic Music and Sound Design major culminates in a major project of your choosing, and accommodates a wide range of individual interest, such as an album of electronic works, a live performance/exhibition, film/animation scoring or music for video games.

From gigs in European pubs to cutting-edge research, James' career in music has gone on a diverse path. Now teaching Electronic Music and Sound Design (EMSD) at UWA, James helps students explore the connection between music and technology. 

What’s your background in music?
“When I started studying music, I thought I was going to become a classical guitarist or maybe a film composer. But my journey took a completely different path. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel through Europe playing noise gigs, present technical papers on machine learning in audio, run Max workshops, collaborate with artists, and build software at Ableton. The highlight for me is that a career in music can be so rich and varied.”
 
What did you study, and where has it taken you?
James completed a PhD in Music Technology in the United Kingdom, focusing on creative coding and the connection between programming and composition.
 
“In my undergraduate third year, I wanted to create a piece that involved depressing the sustain pedal of two pianos and resonating them with a speaker system. To make it work, I had to program some custom software to trigger sounds and capture the resonance. My tutor, Chris Tonkin, introduced me to Max, and I was hooked. That moment sparked my fascination with computer music, which led to honours, a master's degree, and eventually a PhD at the University of Huddersfield supervised by Dr. Alex Harker.”
 
After completing his doctorate, James worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in creative coding on the Fluid Corpus Manipulation project before spending several years in Berlin as a researcher and engineer at Ableton. Now back in Perth, he shares his experience with students at UWA.
 
What do you love most about your work?
“I like to have a few different strands or challenges on the go. What I love about my work is how it blends music-making and technology. The two are constantly feeding off each other: making music sparks ideas for new software, and building software opens up new creative possibilities.”
 
What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
“One of the best pieces of advice I got was to find someone doing what you want to do and look at how they got there. Sometimes that means cold-calling people and asking if you can pick their brain. It can feel intimidating, but in my experience, people are happy to help.”
 
In addition to teaching, James continues to work on creative coding and music technology projects.
 
“I used to work formally as a software engineer, and I still enjoy building tools for music and art. Recently, I’ve been collaborating with Mark Fell and Rian Treanor on multiplayer sequencers at intersymmetric.xyz.”