Research

My research explores the relation between sound, perception and technology. I am particularly interested in how digital technologies inform the way we make and perceive musical experience and what that means for how we teach and think about musical creativity. This work draws on philosophy of technology, audiovisual theory and recent empirical research in multisensory perception.

My doctoral work at Oxford University (2006) examined how digital technologies afford new ontologies of creative musical practice. These concerns inform my academic writing and teaching, reaching beyond academia to independent educational consultancy. This has led to the development of a bespoke suite of browser-based tools for sound education in professional contexts, founded on direct perceptual experience rather than technical instruction.

Keywords: Philosophy of Technology · Audiovisual Theory · Crossmodal Perception · Music for Screen · Digital Pedagogy · Sound Education

Selected Activity

Written Publications

Brown, Nicholas, 'The Composer's Domain', in Sound Work: Composition as Critical Technical Practice (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2021). DOI ↗
Brown, Nicholas, 'Game-show; or, the Playful Work of the Voice', in Experience :: Music :: Experiment (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2021). Publisher ↗
Brown, Nicholas, 'Being Among the Living'. Organised Sound, Vol. 16, No. 2 (August, 2011), pp. 176–183. DOI ↗
Brown, Nicholas, 'Electroacoustic Composition and Silent Film', in Music and Sound in Silent Film: From the Nickelodeon to the Artist (London: Routledge, 2018). Publisher ↗
Brown, Nicholas, 'The Flux Between Sounding and Sound'. Contemporary Music Review, Vol. 25, Nos. 1-2 (2006), pp. 36-45. DOI ↗

Conference Activity

'Pressing Ideas and How to Make them Clear'. Study Day — Touch and Vicarious Perception in Musical Performance, Orpheus Institute, Ghent, June 2024.
'The artefacts of “not here”'. NowNet Arts Conference, New York, November 4-7, 2021.
'What can network theory tell us about polyphony?'. Seminar: 'The Power of Networks', Orpheus Institute, Ghent, February 2018.
'Composition Pedagogy in an Age of Electronic Media'. Orpheus Institute, Ghent, November 21-23, 2016.

Invited Talks

'A Voice in the Action of a Key'. University of Surrey, England, March 2024.
Invited panellist, 'Instrumentality in Networked Performance'. Piteå Performing Arts Biennial, Sweden 2020 (online).
'The Impact of Digital Technology on the Standard Model of Musical Performance'. Research Exchange Session, Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, December 2016.
Chair, panel discussion 'Metaphors of Sound and Image'. National Film Theatre (BFI/SPNM), Southbank Center, London, 2008.