Biography

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin working at the intersecrtion of Computer Science and the Sonic Arts. I lecture on the MPhil in Music and Media and hold a Ph.D. in Sonification, the use of sound to perceptualise data. My research is multidisciplinary and generally focuses on Sonification, Music Composition/Performance and Human-computer Interaction (HCI).

My current research is focused on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies in Sonification, Music Composition/Performance, and HCI contexts. My previous research project, based at the CONNECT Centre in TCD and funded by an IRC postdoctoral fellowship, explored the application of Embodied and Ecological Cognition principles to the design of Auditory Display solutions for Large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) networks. My work has been widely disseminated through peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, and conferences.

I have a vibrant and diverse creative arts practice spanning a variety of media and styles including music composition and performance, sound art installations, interactive art and music for dance and stage. This creative work explores similar themes to my research and has been described as dark, eclectic and experimental. My pieces are frequently performed and installed at home and abroad and I have collaborated with a wide range of fellow musicians, dancers, artists, and thinkers including Jean-Luc Nancy, Pier DePinto, AMAE, Niall Vallely, Cristina Goletti, Nick Bryson, Alan Dormer, and Sibéal Davitt.

Previous events have included the Helicotrema Recorded Audio Festival in Venice, the Contemporary Music Centre’s Salon Series at the National Concert Hall of Ireland, and Dublin Dance Festival's Embodied at the GPO, and the Sonorities Contemporary Music Festival.

Keywords: Sonification, Music Technology, Music Performance & Composition, Auditory Display, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), Creative Technologies, Internet of Things, Applied Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence, Embodied Cognition, Ecological Cognition.

 

Affiliations:

• Research and Teaching Fellow in the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin.
• Lecturer on the Music and Media Technologies course at Trinity College Dublin.
• Member of the IEEE Committee for Ethically Aligned Design in the Arts. 
• Member of the International Community for Auditory Display.
• Member of the International Computer Music Association. 

• Previous Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow at the Irish Research Council.
• Previous postdoctoral researcher at the CONNECT Centre, Trinity College Dublin. 
• Previous board member of the Irish Sound Science and Technology Association 2016-2019.  
• Previous board member for the Interference Journal 2016-2019.

Book Chapters:

• Roddy, S. & Bridges, B. (Forthcoming: 2021). Meaning-making and Embodied Cognition in Sound Design Research. In Filimowicz, M. editor Doing Research in Sound Design, Routledge. 
• Roddy S., Bridges B. (2018) Sound, Ecological Affordances and Embodied Mappings in Auditory Display. In: Filimowicz M., Tzankova V. (eds) New Directions in Third Wave Human-Computer Interaction: Volume 2 - Methodologies. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, Cham.
  

 

Journal Articles:

• Roddy, S. (2020) Using Conceptual Metaphors to Represent Temporal Context in Time-Series Data Sonification. Interacting with Computers. 
• Roddy S., & Bridges. B. (2019) Mapping for Meaning: the Embodied Sonification Listening Model and its Implications for the Mapping Problem in Sonic Information Design. J Multimodal User Interfaces.
• Roddy S., & Bridges B. (2018) Addressing the Mapping Problem in Sonic Information Design through Embodied Image Schemata, Conceptual Metaphors and Conceptual Blending. The Journal of Sonic Studies. 17.
• Roddy, S., & Furlong, D. (2014). Embodied Aesthetics in Auditory Display. Organised Sound, 19(01), 70-77. 

Peer Reviewed Conference Papers:

• Roddy S. (2021) The Body in the Machine: Indices Online. In Proceedings of xCoAx 2021, Online (+ Graz) 12th-16th July 2021.
  
• Roddy, S. & Bridges, B. (2021). The Design of a Smart City Sonification System using a Conceptual Blending and Musical Framework, Web Audio and Deep Learning Techniques. In the Proceedings of the International Conference on Auditory Display, ICAD 2021.
  
• Roddy, S. (2018) Ambient Data Monitoring w/Generative Music Systems using Evolutionary Computing & Machine Learning Techniques. CSMC 2018, Dublin, August 2018.
• Roddy, S. (2018) Signal to Noise Loops i++ Live. xCoAx 2018, 11-13 July, Madrid.
• Roddy, S. & Furlong, D. (2018) Vowel Formant Profiles and Image Schemata in Auditory Display. In Proceedings of HCI 2018 4-6 July 2018, Belfast.
• Roddy, S. (2017) Composing The Good Ship Hibernia and the Hole in the Bottom of the World. In Proceedings of Audio Mostly 2017 23-26 August 2017.
• Roddy, S. (2017) Absolute Nothingness: The Kyoto School and Soundart Practice. In Proceedings of Invisible Places 2017.
• Roddy, S., & Bridges, B. (2016) Sounding Human with Data: The Role of Embodied Conceptual Metaphors and Aesthetics in Representing and Exploring Data Sets. In Proceedings of the Music Technology Workshop 2016  June 10th, Michael Smurfit Business School, University College Dublin, Dublin,  (pp. 64-76).
• Roddy, S., & Furlong, D. (2015). Embodied Auditory Display Affordances. In Proceedings of the 12th Sound and Music Computing Conference: National University of Ireland Maynooth (pp. 477-484).
• Roddy, S., & Furlong, D. (2015). Sonification Listening: An Empirical Embodied Approach. In Proceedings of The 21st International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD 2015) July 8–10, 2015, Graz, Austria. (pp.181-187).
• Roddy, S., & Furlong, D. (2013). Embodied cognition in auditory display. In Proceedings Of the 19th International Conference on Auditory Display, July 6-10 Łódź, Poland ( pp. 127-134).
• Roddy, S., & Furlong, D. (2013). Rethinking the Transmission Medium in Live Computer Music Performance. Presented at the Irish Sound Science and Technology Convocation, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology.

Popular Science & Technology Writing:

• 'Technology Trends Transforming the World' for Impakter January 2019.

Music Compositions, Performances and Installations:

 Live Generative Music with Internet of Things Data:

• Signal to Noise Loops v4 @ Culture Night Dublin, September 2021.
  
• Signal to Noise Loops v4 @ Audio Mostly, Trento, Italy, September 2021.
  
• Signal to Noise Loops v4 @ The International Computer Music Conference, Santiago, Chile, July 2021.
• Signal to Noise Loops v4 @ The New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2021, New York, July 2021.
  
• Signal to Noise Loops 3++ @ ISSTA 2018, Derry, September 2018.
• Signal to Noise Loops i2+: Noise Water Dirt @ CSMC 2018, Dublin, August 2018.
• Signal to Noise Loops i++ Live @ xCoAx 2018, Madrid.
• Noise Loops for Laptop, Improvised Electric Guitar and Dublin City Noise Level Data @ Sonic Dreams 2017, Sonic Arts Waterford, September 30th 2017.
  

 

Sentiment Analysis Visualisation & Fixed-media Music for the Web:

• Roddy (Forthcoming: 2021). The Body in the Machine: Indices Online. In Proceedings of xCoAx 2021, Online (+ Graz) 12th-16th July 2021.
  
• Indices Online (UX & ML) @ NIME 2020, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 21-25 July 2020.
• 58 Indices On The Body: A Reflection on Translations through Language, Technology and Sounds - Selected Indices Soundworks and Musical Pieces w/Sentiment Analysis. @ ISSTA 2019, Cork School of Music October 2019. 
  

 

Immersive Art Installations with Smart Devices & Locative Technologies:

• Zones 1.5 w/Alan Dormer @ The International Digital Empathy Workshop @ Ulster University October 31st 2016.
• Zones 1 w/Alan Dormer @ Irish Sound Science and Technology Convocation @ Ulster University September 7th-9th 2016.
  

  Generative Music Systems for Live Dance Performance:

• Hear This Dance for @ Dance House for Dance Ireland Residency w/Niall Vallely and Sibeal Davitt, September 14th 2017.
• Fógraím/I Proclaim w/Sibéal Davitt & Tristan Rosenstock @ Embodied, The GPO Witness History Centre 20th -22nd of April 2016.
• Fógraím/ I Proclaim w/Sibéal Davitt & Tristan Rosenstock @ The Cube, NUIG, September 22nd, 2016.

  Data-driven Music & Sonification:

• Idle Hands- A 31-Part Exploration Of Irish Unemployment From 1983 - 2014 In G Major @ the premiere of TIDES: An ISSTA Anthology. 
  
• The Good Ship Hibernia @ Audio Mostly Queen Mary University London 23-26 August 2017.
  
• The Good Ship Hibernia @ The 2017 ICAD Concert, Playhouse Theatre, Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA 20-23 June 2017.
• Doom & Gloom @ Irish sound Science & Technology Convocation, UL & MIC, Limerick, Ireland August 12-13 2015.
• Doom & Gloom @ Sound and Music Computing Concert, NUI Maynooth, Ireland: July 30th -August 1st, 2015.
• Doom & Gloom @ International Community for Auditory Display Concert, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria: 8-10 July 2015.
• Extensive Structure no 1, The Human Cost, Doom & Gloom @ Contemporary Music Centre Spring Salon Series,  National Concert Hall, Kevin Barry Room March 24th 2015.
• Idle Hands- A 31-Part Exploration Of Irish Unemployment From 1983 - 2014 In G Major @ Irish Sound Signal and Technology Convocation @ NUI Maynooth, Ireland August 2014.

Fixed-Media Music Performances:

• Symmetric Relations and Hidden Rotations @ Irish Sound Science and Technology Convocation @ Ulster University September 7th-9th 2016.
• Symmetric Relations and Hidden Rotations @ Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music @ Belfast November 24-26 2016.
• Jean Luc Nancy Indices 21 7 and 3 w/AMAE/De Pinto and Jean Luc Nancy @ Helicotrema Recorded Audio Festival, Pinault Foundation, Punta Della Dogana/Palazzo Grassi, November 4th 2015.

Music for Stage & Dance:

• Eleven w/ Amy Prendergast @ The Irish World Academy Limerick, 2011.
• (You)th Share w/ Legitimate Bodies Dance Company w/Cristina Golletti & Nick Bryson @ Birr Theatre & Arts Centre 2010.
• Romeo & Juliet w/ Legitimate Bodies Dance Company w/Cristina Golletti & Nick Bryson @ Birr Theatre & Arts Centre 2010.
• Pinocchio - Dance of the Long Nose w/ Legitimate Bodies Dance Company w/Cristina Golletti & Nick Bryson @ Birr Theatre & Arts Centre 2009. 

Other/Earlier Projects:

• Public Demonstration of Gestural Control System for UAV (Drone) Flight Trinity College Dublin Open Day 2019.
• Deslitary The Ghost of Lochmarne w/Daniel O'Connor, Online Video/Music, 2013.
• Will & Implementation @ DAWN 2011, DMARC, University of Limerick, 2011. 
• Bike @ DMARC, University of Limerick, 2010.
  Shifting Sands @ DMARC, University of Limerick, 2010 .
• Fúsball @ DMARC, University of Limerick, 2009.

Discography:

 

Label Releases:

• 2021. Idle Hands [...] featured on Tides: An ISSTA Anthology. On the Stolen Mirror Label.

Independent Releases:  

• 30-Epoch Opus (2021) A short 4-track EP of AI-driven music. 
  
• Jupiter (2021) A Doom infused, Blackgaze love-letter to everybody’s favourite gas giant using traditional doom, post-metal and industrial metal instrumentation. 10-track album.
• Wave Grid (2019) A Synth-heavy tribute to the classic sci-fi and horror soundtracks of the 1980s.10-track album.
  The Journey: Home (2019) Consists of data-driven generative pieces (using IoT data) and  experimental guitar along with computer music and sonic works exploring changing music technologies. 5-track album.
• Le Son Du Corps Et Un Corps de Sons by Stephen Roddy feat. Jean-Luc Nancy, AMAE & DePinto) (2016) Sound works, experimental guitar and electroacoustic compositions based on 58(+1)/63 Indices on the Body. 16-track album.
• Stardust Sonata (2016) Experimental guitar instrumentals converge with computer music and electroacoustic techniques in a tribute to David Bowie. 6-track album.
  
• The Human Cost: A Sonification of Ireland's Economic Crash (2016) Includes sonifications and data-diven musical works exploring the socioeconomic data from Ireland’s 2008 financial crash. Includes works composed for my Ph.D. 6-track album.
• Purple Waves (2016) Experimental  guitar with computer music techniques composed in  tribute to Prince. 9-track album.
  
• Untitled #1. (2015) Contemporary music compositions with traditional instrumentation. 20-track album. 
• Natural Drift (2015) A collection of compositions and soundworks across a wide range of styles encompassing contemporary, experimental electronic and soundart. 10-track album.
  
• Terminus Abruptus (2014) Lively synth heavy electronic music concept album. 9-track album.
  
• Line-In: R (2014) Computer music, electroacoustic and minimalist compositions. 10-track album.
• Alethia (2013) Melodic guitar driven and electronic pieces. 11-track album.

 

Available on: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | Google Play | Amazon | Deezer | Tidal   

Funding and Awards:

• Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
• Trinity College Dublin Postgraduate Research Studentship 2012-2015. 
• Trinity College Dublin Travel Grant 2015
• Trinity College Dublin Postgraduate Travel Grant 2013.

Invited Talks & Panels:

• "Whose Music?": Panel Discussion on AI in Music Composition at Music Current 2019, CMC Dublin.
• IoT and AI-Driven Audio in the Smart City: A Rhythmanalysis inspired approach. ISSTA 2018, Derry.
• Data-driven Sound for Raising Awareness, Public Outreach and Insight Generation in Complex Data Sets @ I.NY Creative Education Symposium, Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, October 11th 2017.
• Embodied Sonification @ D.A.T.A: Dublin Arts and Technology Association, The Connect Centre, November 3rd 2016.
• Sounding Human with Data: The Role of Embodied Conceptual Metaphors and Aesthetics in Representing and Exploring Data Sets  @ The International Digital Empathy Workshop, Ulster University, October 31st 2016.
• Sound Place and Multi-place @ The Irish Sound Science and Technology Association Conference, Ulster University, September 7th 2016.
• Sonification @ The Connect Centre for Future Networks and Communications, Trinity College Dublin, August 2016.
• Sounding Human with Data: The Role of Embodied Conceptual Metaphors and Aesthetics in Representing and Exploring Data Sets @ Music Technology Workshop 2016, Michael Smurfit Business School, University College Dublin, June 10th 2016.
• Data Listening @ Discover Research Dublin 2015, Trinity College Dublin.
• Sonification and the Digital Divide @ Digital Material Conference, National University of Ireland Galway, May 21st 2015.
• Sonification, Soundart & IOT @ The Arts and Technology Research Lab, Trinity College Dublin, December 12th 2016.

 

  Lecturing :

• Programming Interactive Systems @ Music and Media Technologies, Trinity College Dublin.
• Introduction to Max @ Music and Media Technologies, Trinity College Dublin.  
• Engineering Design IV @ Trinity College Dublin.
  

 

Seminars:

• Usability Testing Methods, March 2018-2021 @ Music and Media Technologies, Trinity College Dublin.
• Embodied Cognition and Sonification Research Methods, 2016 @ Music and Media Technologies, Trinity College Dublin.
• Empirical Research Methods in Music and Media Technologies, 2015 @ Music and Media Technologies, Trinity College Dublin. 
• Csound & Synthesis, 2013 @Music and Media Technologies, Trinity College Dublin. 
  

 

Media Coverage:

 

Online

• The Journal of Music: TIDES: An ISSTA Anthology.
  
• Underground N' Proud: Jupiter Video.
• Roadie Metal: Jupiter Video.
  
• Indie Criollo: Jupiter Single.
• Last Day Deaf: Jupiter Single.
• Rock Era Magazine Jupiter Single.  
• Brutal Resonance: Jupiter Album.
• Son of Marketing: Jupiter Album.
• A Closer Listen: Jupiter Album. 
• Last Day Deaf: Ignite the Core. 
• Postcard Elba: Connemara Chaos.  
• Underground N' Proud: Ignite the Core.
• Synthpocalypse: Search Party Review.
• Sez Hoo (Aer Music): Search Party Review.
• Roadie Metal: SIGIL.
• METALPERVER: SIGIL.
  
• The Golden Plec: Search Party Recommendation.
• The Golden Plec: SIGIL.
• EBM Radio: Wave Grid.
  
• Synthpocalypse Wave Grid Review. 
  
• Brutal Resonance Wave Grid Announcement. 
  
• Nightride.fm Wave Grid Review.
• Pure Mzine: The Life andd Death of Terminus Abruptus.
  
• The Metaphorical Boat: Terminus Abruptus.
  

 

Radio

• Search Party - The Noisy Plug Episode 7 
• Sketch 2, Improvised Guitar Take 1 - Glór Mundo 17th October 2018 - Glór Mundo - 93.7fm.
• The Good Ship Hibernia and the Hole in the Bottom of the World - Glór Mundo St Patricks Day Session 2018 - Glór Mundo - 93.7fm.
• Symmetric Relations and Hidden Rotations - Nova Sunday 13 September 2015 - Nova RTÉ lyric fm.
• No Output: Cellular Storm Nova Sunday 11 October 2015 - Nova RTÉ lyric fm.
• Extensive Structure No 1 - Nova Sunday 8 November 2015 - Nova RTÉ lyric fm.
• Excerpts from Fógraim/I Proclaim - Arena Tuesday 5 April 2016 - Arena - RTÉ 1.
• Fógraim/I Proclaim - RTÉ 1.
• The Good Ship Hibernia and the Hole in the Bottom of the World - Glór Mundo 27th September 2017 - Glór Mundo - 93.7fm.
• Cellular Storm [Excerpt] & The Good Ship Hibernia and the Hole in the Bottom of the World - Glór Mundo 29th September 2017 - Glór Mundo - 93.7fm.
• Sketch 2, Improvised Guitar Take 1 - Glór Mundo 4th October 2017 - Glór Mundo - 93.7fm.

 

Newsprint

• Irish Independent - ‘It’s great to be out again’ – Culture Night brings joy back to young and old, plus relieved artists.
  
• Newspaper Article "Offaly man prepares for 'unique' musical performance in London". The Offaly Express, 17 August 2017.
• Irish Times (Collaborative project)   
• The Examiner (Collaborative project)   
• TN2 (Collaborative Project)