• Sound Recording
• Music Technology
• Popular Music
• Science and Technology Studies
• Sound Studies
• Indigenous Ontologies of Sound

https://anu-au.academia.edu/SamanthaBennett

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2729-4734

Books

(2024) Eliot Bates and Samantha Bennett. Gear: Cultures of Audio and Music Technologies. Boston, MA: The MIT Press [In press]

(2018) Modern Records, Maverick Methods: Technology and Process in Popular Music Record Production 1978-2000. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN: 9781501344091

(2018) Peepshow (33 1/3 series edition on the album by Siouxsie and the Banshees) New York: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN: 9781501321863

(2018) Critical Approaches to the Production of Music and Sound. Eds. Bennett, S and Bates, E. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN: 9781501332050

(2018) Popular Music, Stars and Stardom. Eds. Loy, S., Rickwood, J. and Bennett, S. Canberra: ANU Press ISBN: 9781760462123

Edited Edition

(2016) Perspectives on Popular Music and Sound Recording. Eds. Klein, E. and Bennett, S. iaspm@journal. Vol.i 6, No. 2. ISSN: 2079-3871

Published Articles & Book Chapters

Eliot Bates and Samantha Bennett (2022) 'Look at all those big knobs! Online Audio Technology Discourse and Sexy Gear Fetishes'. In: Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. pp1-19

(2022) 'Can you Hear the Thunder? The Tech-processual Construction of Environmental and Emotional Situ in Ghost's "Cirice"' In: Eds. Moylan, W, Burns, L and Alleyne, M. Analyzing Recorded Music: Collected Perspectives on Popular Music Tracks. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN: 9780367546311

(2020) 'Sound Recordists, Workplaces, Technologies and the Aesthetics of Punk ' In: Eds. Arnold, G. and Mackay, G. The Oxford Handbook of Punk Rock. Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN: 9780190859565

(2020) 'Rock Music Engineering and Production.' In: Eds. Moore, A. F. and Carr, P. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Research. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

(2018) 'Popular Music, Stars and Stardom: Definitions, Discourses, Interpretations.' [Co-authored with Stephen Loy and Julie Rickwood] In: Popular Music, Stars and Stardom. Eds. Loy, S., Rickwood, J. and Bennett, S. Canberra: ANU Press ISBN: 9781760462123

(2017) 'Intermixtuality: Case Studies in Online Music [Re]Production.' In: Eds. Bennett, S. and Bates, E. Critical Approaches to the Production of Music and Sound. New York: Bloomsbury Academic ISBN: HB: 9781501332050

(2017) 'The Production of Music and Sound: A Multidisciplinary Critique.' [Co-authored with Eliot Bates] In: Eds. Bennett, S. and Bates, E. Critical Approaches to the Production of Music and Sound. New York: Bloomsbury Academic ISBN: HB: 9781501332050

(2017) Songs About Fucking: John Loder's Southern Studios and the Construction of a Subversive Sonic Signature. In: Journal of Popular Music Studies. Vol. 29, Iss. 2. Wiley Periodicals Inc. DOI: 10.1111/jpms.12209

(2016) Time-based Signal Processing and Shape in Alternative Rock Recordings. In: iaspm@journal [online] Vol. 6, Iss. 2 ISSN: 2079-3871

(2016) Behind the Magical Mystery Door: History, Mythology and the Aura of Abbey Road Studios. In: Popular Music. Vol. 35, Iss. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISSN: 0261-1430 

(2015) Never Mind the Bollocks... A Tech-Processual Analysis. In: Popular Music and Society - Special Edition on the Sex Pistols. Vol. 38, Iss. 5. London: Routledge/ Taylor & Francis. ISSN: 0300-7766

(2015) 'Gus Dudgeon's Super Sonic Signature' In: (2015) Eds. Johnson, H. and Chapman, I Global Glam and Popular Music: Style and Spectacle from the 1970s to the 2000s. London & New York: Routledge Studies in Popular Music. ISBN: 978-1-13-882176-7 

(2015) ‘The Listener as Remixer: Mix Stems in Online Fan Community and Competition Contexts.’ In: Eds. Rambarran, S. and Whiteley, S. (2015) The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0-19-932128-5 

(2015) 'Parallel, Series and Integrated: Models of Tertiary Popular Music Education.' Carfoot, C., Allen, C., Millard, B. and Bennett, S. In: Eds. Brennan, M., Kirkman, P., Moir, Z., Rambarran, S. and Smith, G. The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education. London: Routledge. ISBN: 978-1-4724-6498-9 

(2014) An Imaginary Subject? Designing Music and Digital Media for a Post Conservatorium BMus Programme. In: Proceedings of the SEMPRE MET 2014: Researching Music, Education, Technology: Critical Insights. Eds. Himonides, E. and King, A. London: Institute of Education, University of London. pp. 41-44. ISBN: 78-1905351299

(2012) ‘Revisiting the ‘Double Production’ Industry: Advertising, Consumption and ‘Technoporn’ surrounding the Music Technology Press.’ Ed. Kärjä, A. V. In: Music, Law and Business Anthology. Vol 5. International Institute for Popular Culture. ISSN: 1797-318X

(2012) Endless Analogue: Technological Precursors in Contemporary Recording Practice. In: Journal on the Art of Record Production. Issue #7. ISSN: 1754-9892.

(2009) Examining the Emergence and Subsequent Proliferation of Anti Production amongst the Popular Music Producing Elite: An Overview of Doctoral Study. In: Proceedings of the 2^nd International PhD Music Students Conference. pp. 165-172.

(2009) Revolution Sacrilege! Examining the Technological Divide amongst Record Producers in the 1980s. In: Journal on the Art of Record Production. Issue #3.  ISSN: 1754-9892.

Technical Papers

(2020) Filimowicz, M. Foundations in Sound Design for Linear Media. [Book Review] Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Vol. 68, No. 1/2 pp109-110.

(2019) The ANU School of Music Post-Production Suites: Design, Technology, Research and Pedagogy. 147th Convention of the Audio Engineering Society. E-Library E-Brief No. 540. Available at: http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=20563

(2018) Huber, D. M. Modern Recording Techniques. 9^th Ed. [Book Review] Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Vol. 66, No. 4 pp293-294.

(2017) Audio Archive Preservation Challenges and Pedagogical Opportunities: School of Music RePlayed. 143rd Convention of the Audio Engineering Society. E-Library Convention Paper No. 9815. Available at: http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=19212

(2017) The ANU School of Music Recording Studios: Design, Technology, Research and Pedagogy. 143rd Convention of the Audio Engineering Society. E-Library E-Brief No. 397. Available at: http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=19345

Keynotes

(2022) Class, Control, and Popular Music: Reflections on Music, Positionality, and Performativity in the Industry and in the Academy. At: 'Hybridity' - Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP Conference. University of Cambridge. September 20th 2022. 

(2021) Keynote Interview - Celeste Bell: Poly Styrene - I am a Cliche. At: DIY Cultures and Global Challenges: Keep it Simple, Make it Fast. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. July 7th 2021.

(2021) Shh! Examining Secrets and Revelatory Discourse in Music and Audio Technology Culture. At: Borderline Sonorities - International Conference on Sonorities Research at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. June 11th 2021.

(2020) The Large-Scale Studio in 21st Century Recording Practice and Pedagogy: The Case of the ANU School of Music Recording Studios. At: London Calling - IASPM UK/Eire Branch Conference. University of West London. July 21st 2020.

(2019) 'Looking for A Sound That's Gonna Drown Out the World': The Tech-Processual Construction of U2's Mofo. At: The U2 Conference. 301 Studios, Sydney. November 21st 2019.

(2018) Academia Rocks. At: ANU Student Research Conference. Australian National University. July 20th 2018.

(2017) Keynote Interview - Imogen Heap. At: InMusic 17, Innovation in Music Conference. University of Westminster. September 6th-8th 2017.

(2016) Southern Studios and the Construction of Punk's Subversive Sonic Signature. At: Keep it Simple, Make it Fast! DIY Cultures, Spaces, Places: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. July 18th 2016.

(2014) Rock, Recording and Rebellion: Technology and Process in 1990s Record Production. At: American Musicological Society/ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Lecture Series. At: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, Ohio. November 12th 2014.

(2014) Production Mayhem: Tech Processual Unorthodoxies in Popular Music Recording. At: Music, Mayhem and Change: Postgraduate Research Symposium. Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. 9th – 10th June 2014.

Conference Papers and Research Symposia

(2022) Bennett, Samantha and Bates, Eliot. Gassing for Gear: Acquisition, Fetishisation, and Technological Exhibitionism in Gear Cultures. At: 'Challenge and Change in Popular Music'
Biennial Conference of IASPM UK and Ireland Branch. University of Liverpool. September 2nd 2022.

(2022) Barker, Roy. and Bennett, Samantha. Pretty Little Lines: Muruwari Sound Recordist, Inventor and Pioneer Jimmie Barker. At: 152nd Convention of the Audio Engineering Society. The Hague, Netherlands. May 16th 2022.

(2021) Rethinking Punk Recording and Production: Elitism, Liveness and the DIY Myth. At: DIY Cultures and Global Challenges: Keep it Simple, Make it Fast. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. July 8th 2021.

(2020) Punk, Recording & Production Aesthetics and the DIY Myth. At: Punk Scholars Network Australia/Aotearoa Brach Conference. School of Music, Australian National University.

(2020) Bates, Eliot and Bennett, Samantha. From Audio Technologies to Gear Fetishes. At: Audio Engineering Society Convention - Virtual Vienna, Austria. June 2nd - 5th 2020.

(2020) Backwards and Forwards: Conflations of Disorient Historical, Filmic and Musical Temporalities in Siouxsie and the Banshees' 'Peek-A-Boo'. Music Studies Colloquium. University of California, Berkeley.

(2019) Designing the ANU School of Music Post-production Suites: Technology, Research, Pedagogy. At: Sounds and Silences. ASRA: Australiasian Sound Recordings Association Conference. School of music, Australian National University, Canberra.

(2018) Can You Hear the Thunder? The Tech-Processual Construction of Environmental and Emotional Situ in Ghost’s ‘Cirice’.  At: Playing Along: Music, Participation and Everyday Life. Annual Conference of IASPM Australia and New Zealand Branch, Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), Hamilton, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

(2018) On the Research and Pedagogical Benefits of Technological Precursors in the 21^st Century Recording Studio. At: Music, History and Technology. Annual Australiasian Sound Recordings Association Conference. 301 Studios, Sydney.

(2018) Intermixtuality: Case Studies in Online Music [Re]Production. At: Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice. Combined conference of IASPM UK/Ireland and Art of Record Production conference. September 3rd - 5th 2018, University of Huddersfield.

(2018) The Sonic Orchestration of a Cinema of Attractions: Siouxsie and the Banshees’ ‘Carousel’. At: Gender, Differences, Identities and DIY Cultures: KISMIF Conference, July 3rd - 7th, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.

(2017) Performing Cinema: Siouxsie and the Banshees' Peepshow. At: Performing History: Combined Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia and the New Zealand Musicological Society, December 8-10, Conference Centre, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, the University of Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

(2017) On the Tech-processual Aesthetics of Siouxsie and the Banshees' Peepshow. At: Mixing Pop and Politics: Subversion, Resistance and Reconciliation in Popular Music. IASPM-ANZ 2017 Conference. December 4-6, 2017, Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

(2017) Film and the Fairground in Siouxsie and the Banshees' 'Carousel'. At: 10^th Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 and Surrey Music Analysis Conference (ICMSN/SurreyMAC 2017) September 11-14 2017, University of Surrey, UK.

(2017) The Tech-Processual Construction of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Panoramic Peepshow. At: EuroMAC 9^th European Music Analysis Conference. University of Strasbourg, France.

(2017) Not Left to Our Own Devices: Analysing Music Together (With André Dohering and Ralf von Appen) At: Popular Music Studies Today - 19^th International Biennial Conference of IASPM. University of Kassel, Germany.

(2017) School of Music RePlayed: A Case Study in Audio Archiving Preservation and Pedagogy. At: International Association of Music Libraries and Archives and Documentation Centres IAML Congress, National Library, Riga, Latvia.

(2016) School of Music RePlayed: Audio Archive Preservation and Pedagogy. At: Getting it Done: Crunch Time for Audio Archives. ASRA: Australiasian Sound Recordings Association Conference. National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra.

(2016) The Tech-processual Staging of Siouxsie Sioux's Voice Inside the Panoramic Peepshow. At: From A Whisper To A Scream - The Voice in Popular Music. 2016 EMP Pop Conference. Seattle, Washington.

(2015) Gus Dudgeon’s tech-processual construction of space in Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ and David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ At: IASPM-ANZ 2015 Conference: Popular Music, Stars and Stardom. The Australian National University, Canberra.

(2015) Time-based Signal Processing and 'Shape' in Alternative Rock Recordings. At: 'Back to the Future: Popular Music and Time' 18^th Biennial IASPM Conference, 29^th June – 3^rd July. Universidade Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

(2014) Never Mind the Bollocks… Here’s the Classic Rock Mix. At: IASPM ANZ 2014 Conference: Into the Mix: People, Places, Processes. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand 5-7 December 2014

(2014) Recording the Musical Underworld: John Loder's Southern Sonic Style. At: Worlds of Popular Music. Biennial Conference of IASPM UK Ireland. University College Cork. 

(2014) An Imaginary Subject? Designing 'Music and Digital Media' for a Post-Conservatorium BMus Programme. At: Researching Music, Technology and Education: Critical Insights. Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research [SEMPRE] At: Institute of Education, University of London.

(2014) Virtual Remixing: Competition, Creative Commons and Copyright. At: Creativity, Circulation and Copyright: Sonic & Visual Media in the Digital Age. Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities [CRASSH] University of Cambridge.

(2013) Intermixtuality: Mix Stems, Fans and the Popular Music Intertext. At: Popular Music Communities, Places and Ecologies. IASPM ANZ 2013 Conference. Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.

(2013) The Virtual Remixer: Mix Stems and Online Communities. At: Music and Metamorphosis: Joint Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia & the New Zealand Musicological Society. Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.

(2013) Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three - 'Fan It'. At: Fieldwork Playlist Conference. Goldsmiths College, London. 

(2013) Behind the Magical Mystery Door: History, Mythology and the Challenge to Abbey Road Studios. At: ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’: 17th Biennial International IASPM Conference, Oviedo, Spain.

(2013) Modern Records, Maverick Methods: Technological, Processual and Analytical Considerations in Popular Music Record Production. [Invited] At: Popular Music Research Group. Goldsmiths College, London.

Bennett, S. and Moore, A. (2012) Tech Processual Shaping of Recorded Popular Song. At: Music and Shape Conference. AHRC Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice. King’s College, London.

(2012) Vintage Sound Recording Technology: Practicality, Source and Place. [Invited] At: Cambridge Branch of the Audio Engineering Society, Anglia Ruskin University.

(2011) Back to the Future? The Quest for Sonic Perfection in the Age of Digitalization. [Invited] At: Digital Pop and the Death of the Musical Artefact – Popular Music Symposium. Goldsmiths College, London.

(2011) Endless Analogue? Situating Vintage Technologies in the Contemporary Recording & Production Workplace. At: 7^th ARP, San Francisco State University, USA.

(2011) Industry Standard? Adopting Digital Technologies in the Early 1980s Recording & Production Workplace. At: Artistic Work and Creativity in the Digital Era. University of Avignon, France.

(2010) Production Anti Production At: 6^th ARP, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK.

(2010) Revisiting the ‘Double Production’ Industry: Equipment Manufacturing, Consumption and the Music Technology Press in the late 2000s. At: Music, Law & Business - Biennial Conference of IASPM Norden, Hanasaari Cultural Centre, Helsinki, Finland.

(2010) The Listener as Remixer. At: Experience, Engagement, Meaning - Biennial Conference of IASPM UK/ Ireland, Cardiff University, UK.

(2009) No Way Computer! Risk Aversion as an Influence on Equipment Choice among Popular Music Producers of the Late 1990s. At: 5^th ARP, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff, UK.

(2009) Examining the Emergence and Subsequent Proliferation of Anti Production amongst the Popular Music Producing Elite: An Overview of Doctoral Study. At: 2^nd International PhD Music Students Conference, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

(2008) Revolution Sacrilege! Examining the Technological Divide amongst Record Producers in the 1980s. At: 4^th ARP, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA.

Public Lectures

(2014) Pop Eats Itself: The Impact of the Sampler. Milestones in Music Lecture Series, School of Music, ANU.

(2013) Popular Music and Subculture. Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra ACT.

Awards and grants

• AHRC Doctoral Scholarship | University of Surrey | 2007
• Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning | AAUT | 2020
• Vice Chancellor's Award for Education Excellence | Australian National University | 2019
• Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence | Australian National University | 2019
• CASS Innovation in Teaching Award | Australian National University | 2018
• ANU Conference Host Grant | IASPM 2019 | Australian National University | 2018
• ANU Linkage Teaching & Learning Grant | Australian National University | 2018
• ANU Humanities Research Centre Fellowship | Australian National University | 2016
• ANU Major Equipment Grant | Australian National University | 2015
• ANU Linkage Teaching & Learning Grant | Australian National University | 2014
• ANU Conference Host Grant | IASPM ANZ 2015 | Australian National University | 2014
• RCUK GradSchool - Residential Research Programme | 2007
• Vice Chancellor's Teaching Fellowship Award | University of Westminster | 2012
• Outstanding Teacher | University of Westminster Students Union | 2012 [nominated]
• Innovation in Teaching | University of Westminster Students Union | 2012 [won]
• Sony Engineering Student of the Year | 2000

Professional Membership

• Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy [SFHEA]

• Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production [ASARP]
• International Association for the Study of Popular Music (UK / ANZ) [IASPM]
• Audio Engineering Society (UK) [AES]
• American Musicological Society (US) [AMS]
• Royal Musical Association (UK) [RMA]
• Institute of Musical Research (UK) [IMR]
• Musicians Union (UK) [MU]
• Performing Rights Society (UK) [PRS]
• The Joe Meek Society (UK)

Originally from London, UK, Samantha Bennett is Associate Dean Higher Degree Research and Professor of Music at the Australian National University, Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and Chair of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). She is currently working for Muruwari man Roy Barker Jr on his ILA-funded project 'Muruwari Ngulli Yaandibu' (Muruwari We Speak), specifically, on the sound recording and sound archiving aspects of the project. Her fifth book, co-authored with Associate Professor Eliot Bates (CUNY), Gear: Cultures of Audio and Music Technologies, is forthcoming from The MIT Press (2024, in press), and her sixth, a short-form monograph, Secrets and Revelation in Music and Audio Technology Cultures, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press (2024). She is the author of two further monographs, Modern Records, Maverick Methods and Peepshow, a 33 1/3 series edition on the album by Siouxsie and the Banshees (both Bloomsbury Academic). She is also a co-editor of Critical Approaches to the Production of Music and Sound (Bloomsbury Academic) and Popular Music, Stars and Stardom (ANU Press). Samantha’s journal articles are published in Popular Music, Popular Music and Society, The Journal of Popular Music Studies and IASPM@journal and her technical papers are published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. In 2014, Samantha gave the biannual American Musicological Society Lecture at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Library and Archives where she also held a research fellowship in 2015. She is on the editorial board of the Cambridge Elements in Popular Music (CUP) series, and an advisory board member/editor of Bloomsbury Academic’s 33 1/3 series. Prior to her work in academia, Samantha worked extensively as an audio engineer in multiple London recording studios and is a former Director of the UK's Music Producer's Guild.

As an educator, Samantha has twenty years curriculum design, authorship and quality management experience and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has held numerous external consultant and examiner positions at overseas Universities and is the recipient of multiple teaching awards, notably, an Australian Award for University Teaching (2020), the Vice Chancellor's Award for Education Excellence and a Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence at the Australian National University (2019) and a Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Fellowship at the University of Westminster (2012). Since arriving at the Australian National University in 2013, she has authored a broad music technology curriculum and, after securing a $250,000 major equipment grant, led the refurbishment of the School of Music's recording studio facilities to include the installation of a 48-channel Neve Genesys console and a blend of vintage and contemporary microphones and processors.

• Secondary Investigator and research assistant to Roy Barker Jr on his ILA-funded project 'Muruwari Ngulli Yaandibu' (Muruwari We Speak)

• Sole-authored short-form monograph, 'Secrets and Revelatory Discourse in Music and Audio Technology Culture' (Cambridge University Press, 2024)

Matthew Barnes - The Psychology of the Recording Studio [PhD by Practice]

Padma Newsome - Meanings on Music in Post-firestorm Mallacoota [PhD by Practice]

Naomi Dinnen - Locating the Hebrew Bible in the Music of U2 [PhD]

James Buchli - Virtuosity in Neoclassical Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Guitar [PhD by Practice]

Michael O'Neill - An Empirical Analysis of the Audio/Visual Relationship in Western Fantasy Role-Playing Games [PhD by Practice]

 

Qichen Yan - The Classically Influenced Guitar Playing in Heavy Metal: Pedagogy, Integrated Learning and Performance Development [PhD by Practice]

Stuart Gregg - Ludic Yugen: Aesthetic as Method in the Art of Recording [PhD by Practice]

Wendy Suiter - Fuzzy IDEAS: Using Fuzzy Logic to make sense of  Avant - garde music. [PhD] 

LeTuyen Nguyen - A New Voice: Vietnamese Guitar Music with Australian Influences [PhD by Practice]

Paul Richards - '500 Facebook Users and the Music they Consume' [University of Westminster]