Music and Music Technology

Dr. Diego Garro is a senior lecturer at Keele University, where he contributes to the Music Technology and Music programmes. He was born and raised in northern Italy, not far from Venice, and obtained his BSc in Electronic Engineering from Universita' di Padova. As part of his undergraduate dissertation he collaborated with the prestigious Centro di Sonologia Computazionale, where he developed live-electronics effects on a prototype digital audio workstation. He moved to Britain to further his studies in Electronics and Music. He studied Electroacoustic Music with Mike Vaughan and Rajmil Fischman at Keele University, obtaining his PhD in 2002. He gained various Higher Education teaching qualifications, including an MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. He has been at the forefront in the applications of ICT in various aspects of University teaching and learning, developing a wealth of computer-based resources for Music and Music Technology students. Himself a fingerstyle acoustic guitar player, he is actively involved in the promotion of live acoustic music on campus, having been chairperson and committee member of the Keele Folk Club since 1997. His teaching at Keele University focusses on Electroacoustic Music, Music Technology and Computer Video Art. His research interests lie in creative electronic media and his output includes audio and audio-visual works which are regularly selected and performed in UK and abroad. His works have often received international recognition in various festivals, conferences and competitions, including prizes in two consecutive years at the Bourges International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sound Art in 2004 and 2005. He is actively involved in the planning, development and day-to-day running of the studio facilities at Keele – Music Technology in liaison with technical support manager Cliff Bradbury. In 2009, he ran the Sixth International Conference on Music since 1900 at Keele with his colleague Nick Reyland, presenting a series of concerts of international electronic music with KAVES (Keele Audio-Visual Exhibition System), a 24-loudspeaker rig for sound and video shows hosted in Keele Lindsay Studio Theatre.

Dr. Garro’s research interests lie in creative electronic media, especially on working practices and compositional languages that bridge the Electroacoustic idiom with other aspects of popular culture and experimental art (Electronica, glitch, video). His output includes audio and audio-visual works which are regularly selected and performed in UK and abroad. His works have often received international recognition in various festivals, conferences and competitions, including prizes in two consecutive years at the Bourges International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sound Art in 2004 and 2005. His experimental video Patah was screened during several events worldwide, including Cinesonika, First International Film and Video Festival of Sound Design at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (Canada). A sound design expert, Dr. Garro investigates ways in which new sonic materials can emerge from performative interactions with digital audio equipment. In his computer-aided compositions he is preoccupied with the organisation of audio (or audio + video) abstract materials into micro and macro-structures akin to those found in a variety of western music genres (classical, popular, ambient). His electronic music is available on CD from Taukay and IMEB experimental music labels.

Dr.Garro’s recent publications include the article ‘From Sonic Art to Visual Music: divergences, convergences, intersections’ published in Organised Sound: an international journal of music and technology, vol. 17(2), Summer 2012.

(An extended list of performances and publications is available in the ‘Publications’ tab)

Dr. Diego Garro contributes to the Music Technology and Music degree programmes at Keele University, delivering modules on Sound Recording, Record Production, Surround Sound, Sound Design, Computer Video and Audiovisual Composition. He provides project supervision to students involved in their final year creative portfolios and also contributes sessions to the Music MRes programme. Current and recent postgraduate supervisions include PhD projects on audiovisual imagery and electroacoustic-video composition, plus Masters projects on film sound design, electronic music and video art.

Dr.Garro’s teaching style is based on a blend of lecturing, class demonstrations on software tools and techniques, on-line learning resources and one-to-one project tutoring in the Music Technology studios. He utilises extensively the opportunities offered by the Keele Virtual Learning Environment with a variety of multi-media resources, activities and tasks made available worldwide to students as support for their study, revision and lab-based creative work.

Dr.Garro is available to discuss supervising any practice-led research relating, broadly or specifically, to his academic interests.