Dr James Mooney

Profile

I am a historian of music technology, which means I study how engineers and musicians in the past created new kinds of music technology and used them to produce new kinds of musical sounds. I also study the reception of new technologies and sounds – in other words, how these were appreciated (or not) by musicians, critics, audiences, and the public in years gone by. My expertise covers 1850 to the present day – from acoustic scientific instruments to digital technologies. I’m especially interested in the music technology of the 1950s and 60s – such as tape-based electronic music studios, modular synthesizers, and early computer music systems. I’m also interested in the history of sound recording and music production. My musical interests are broad, covering many popular genres as well as experimental and avant-garde music.

My research involves studying historic sound and music technologies, and as such I regularly work with museums. I currently hold the positions of Science Museum Group Research Associate at the National Science and Media Museum (Bradford), and Subject Matter Expert (SME) in electornic music at the Computer History Museum (Mountain View, California). I have worked with the Science Museum (London), and regularly consult with other museums and archives, such as Canada Science and Technology Museum (Ottawa) and the Musical Instruments Museum (Brussels).

My recent project, “Instrumentalising Electronic Sound 1945–75”, explored the invention of new electronic musical instruments in the post-World War II decades and was funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust – recent research outputs are linked below. Another recent project was my collaboration with Prof Trevor Pinch (Cornell University) entitled “Exploring Material Cultures of Electronic Music through the Methods of Science and Technology Studies”. Out of that project came our co-authored book chapter on “Sonic Imaginaries”, which extends theories of imaginaries and sociomateriality into the sonic and musical domain through case studies of Hugh Davies (experimental musical instrument maker and live electronic music pioneer) and David Van Koevering (former marketing director and vice-president of Moog Music), by showing how ways of imagining new musical futures were embedded in Davies’s and Van Koevering’s interactions with people, objects, and sounds in the mid-60s through early 70s. I recently supervised an AHRC-funded doctoral project entitled “Objects of Electronic Sound and Music in Museums”. I also was recently a partner in a White Rose College of Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH) project entitled “Electronic Soundscapes”, an interdisciplinary project run jointly across the Universities of Leeds, York, and Sheffield, that explored the history electronic sound from a range of disciplinary perspectives.

I have published several articles and book chapters on the English composer, musicologist, and experimental instrument-builder Hugh Davies (1943–2005). In 2015–16, during my AHRC Fellowship project, I worked with experimental musicians to stage concerts of Davies's music using period equipment and ran an instrument-builder residency and exhibition. In 2017, following an international conference that I convened at the Science Museum, I edited a special issue of the journal Organised Sound entitled 'Alternative Histories of Electroacoustic Music', which collected together 15 new essays/articles that look at electronic music history from different perspectives, exploring the early roots of electronic music, tracing unexpected paths from past to present, challenging historiographic, institutional and gender biases, and exploring electronic music's relationships with interdisciplinarity.

I sit on the committee of the UK Musical Instruments Resource Network (MIRN) as an expert in electronic musical instruments. I have previously held the positions of Edison Research Fellow at the British Library (2010–11), Research Associate at the Science Museum, London (2013–14 and 2015–16), AHRC Early Career Research Fellow (2015–16), and visiting researcher at the Department of Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University (2019).

I am also a member of the AHRC Peer Review College. 

Prior to coming to Leeds, I studied Music at Newcastle University before completing an MSc in Music Technology at University of York, where I wrote software and a dissertation on 3D audio (surround sound) using the Ambisonic system. I completed my PhD at University of Sheffield in 2005. My thesis, entitled 'Sound Diffusion Systems for the Live Performance of Electroacoustic Music', surveys multi-loudspeaker sound systems, explores the relationship between sound spatialisation technology and compositional philosophy in electronic art music (electroacoustic music), and presents a model for designing new systems. After my doctoral studies I took a position as Studio Manager at Culture Lab, Newcastle University (2006–09), where I continued my research while managing the studios, writing asset tracking software, and administrating web servers.

Responsibilities

• Programme Leader, MA Musicology
• Programme Leader, BSc Music, Multimedia and Electronics
• Research Cluster Lead: "Music as Culture"

Research interests

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD/doctoral researchers who are interested in developing projects that address any of my areas of research interest:

My areas of research interest include: History of music technology, history of electronic musical instruments, history of computer music technology, history of sound recording and music/record production; creation, use, and reception of music technology in popular music and art music; recorded music; science and technology studies (STS); archival research methods; artefact-based research methods (e.g. involving museum collections); popular music studies; sound studies; history of technology; history of avant-garde, experimental, or popular music as it intersects with any of the preceding topics.

• Hugh Davies: Electronic Music Innovator
• Instrumentalising Electronic Sound, 1945-75

Qualifications

• PhD (University of Sheffield)
• MSc Music Technology (University of York)
• BA (hons) Music (Newcastle University)

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Student education

I teach on the MA Musicology course and on undergraduate programmes/modules.

Specialist topics include:

• history of music technology 
• social construction of music technology (i.e. the social processes by which music technologies are developed and used by people)

Research groups and institutes

• Music, Science and Technology

Current postgraduate researchers

• Jamie Stephenson
• Edward Wilson-Stephens
• Lou Aimes-Hill