Amplification Project

Meet the Team

The Amplification Project Team consists of Prof. Steve Waksman, a Project Officer, six Research Fellows and twelve PhD Researchers.

Professor Steve Waksman

Leverhulme International Professor of Popular Music and Principal Investigator

Steve is researching histories of amplification dating back to the late 19th century, including the advent of the vacuum tube, loudspeaker, and public address system. He is also continuing his research on the electric guitar as a case study of the interrelationship between amplification technologies and musical instruments.

Research Fellows

Dr Gabi Kielich

Leverhulme Senior Research Fellow

Gabrielle’s research focuses on the role of amplification in the everyday practices and experiences of musicians and musical workers and explores the historical development of amplification technologies and their impact on music and culture.

Dr Rebekah E. Moore

Leverhulme Senior Research Fellow

Rebekah is an American ethnomusicologist with over twenty years of experience in ethnographic and mixed methods research in Indonesia and the United States.

Dr Owen Coggins

Leverhulme Research Fellow

Owen researches distortion cultures and ideologies of (un)amplification, often involving audience understandings of religion, in metal and other experimental musics.

Dr Lawrence Davies

Leverhulme Research Fellow

Lawrence researches the international circulation of jazz and blues, and the connections between music, sound, and environmental crisis.

Dr Frances Morgan

Leverhulme Research Fellow

Frances is a writer and auditory culture scholar with a focus on histories of sound, media and music technologies.

Dr Ivan Mouraviev

Leverhulme Research Fellow

Ivan is researching low-frequency sound amplification across spaces and cultures, analysing the technology’s historical development and how people engage with it at festivals & gigs in Yorkshire and beyond.

PhD Researchers

Şebnem Altunkaya

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Anatolian Rock: From Türkü to Psychedelic Movement

Joseph Armer

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Resonances of Resistance or Commodified Conviviality? Race, Class, and the Affective Politics of UK Sound System Culture

Paul Blakeman

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Wound Around Sound: The Amplified Memory of Reel-To-Reel Tape

Suzie Cross

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Sensational Listening: Eco-acoustic Art, Technological Mediation and the Ethics of Sonic Belonging

Jane Deasy

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: The body is an interface: sonic dramaturgy of amplification in Cyberfeminist Sound Art and Performance

Lisa Figueroa

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: I’m Coming Out!: Amplifying Queer Belonging in Manchester’s Underground Nightlife

Timothy Hacquoil

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Amplification Alchemy: Exploring Tone Shaping and the Impact of Amplification Types in Metal Guitar Composition

Nigel Humberstone

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Within an Amplified World: The Spatialised Environment of In-Ear Monitors and Their Effect on Creative Choices for Professional Musicians.

Rose Kindred-Boothby

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: A Bridge To Harmony: A Craft Approach To Making Amplification Components

Valerie Rosa Beltran

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Portable Music Speakers: Race, Reclamation of Space, and Resistance

Mikolaj Szatko

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Club Death: How is amplification technology changing participation in club culture?

Luke Worgan

Leverhulme PhD Researcher

Research Title: Analogue Intelligence: Reframing Effects Pedals and Amplification as Creative Agents in Music Production and Performance