nathanwolek.com

Oct 2022 interview by Dr. Steven Shepard for The Natural Curiosity Project
July 2020 interview by Eve Payor for ACA Soundscape Field Station
Aug 2016 interview by Tim Place for Cycling’74 newsletter
Dec 2013 interview by Darwin Grosse for the Art + Music + Tech Podcast
The Potential of Any Sound at TEDxFulbright 2012 in Frankfurt, Germany

Nathan Wolek (b. 1977) is a sound artist and audio researcher whose work encompasses electronic music, audio field recording, multimedia performance, and sound design. He is currently the Lydia Pfund Endowed Professor of Digital Arts at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.

Wolek completed his Ph.D. in Music Technology at Northwestern University, with a thesis project that explored the perception of granular synthesis. It was during his graduate studies that Wolek began authoring and sharing software for creative sound design. Among many electronic musicians and sound artists, he continues to be best known for the Granular Toolkit and LowkeyNW package, both popular extensions to Cycling74’s Max environment.

His music and sound installations feature rapid edits, gradually changing textures, and environmental recordings of personal significance. Wolek has presented his creative work across the United States, in addition to engagements in Korea, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Canada and Brazil. His recent solo exhibition, Canaveral Soundscape, was the culmination of a 2020 residency at the ACA Soundscape Field Station at the Canaveral National Seashore.

Wolek’s research has been featured at the ICMC, SEAMUS, CMS, ATMI and CENSE conferences. His work has been recognized twice by the prestigious Fulbright Scholar exchange program. For his 2012 award to Norway, Wolek worked on the Jamoma software project in collaboration with members of the Bergen Center for Electronic Art. For his 2021 award to Scotland, he studied the local soundscape in public parks and nature preserves as the Fulbright-Scotland Visiting Professor at the University of Aberdeen.

Other career highlights include:

• In 2020, Wolek collaborated with Atlantic Center for the Arts on the launch of Young Sound Seekers. The program creates opportunities for blind and partially-sighted youth to learn about natural soundscapes and audio field recording at Canaveral National Seashore. Young Sound Seekers is supported by a five-year grant from the Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division of the National Park Service. Wolek continues to serve as co-director of the program with Eve Payor, ACA Director of Community Programs.
• From 2005 to 2013, Wolek was the music director for MPG: mobile performance group, a new media collective founded by artist Matt Roberts. The group was dedicated to the ideal of presenting audiovisual art outside of traditional venues. MPG engaged the public using laptops, video projection, camcorders, mp3 recorders, wireless routers, mobile phones and other technologies.
• In 2012, he was part of the executive committee that helped organize the first ever Symposium for Laptop Ensembles and Orchestras at Louisiana State University. As part of this international event, he delivered a presentation on media representations of the laptop as musical instrument.
• Wolek was also one of the developers behind Hipno, a collection of over 40 audio plugins that was released by Cycling74 in 2005. Keyboard magazine called Hipno “just the antidote to sonic boredom that you need”, and it received positive reviews from MusicRadar and Future Music.