My research and creative practice explore how sound and listening shape experiences of place, nature and wellbeing. I work on a wide range of projects – creating albums at sea, scoring, field recording, synthesis, game and film audio – and have been creating immersive audio experiences throughout my career.
Biography
Philip works with field recordings, electronica and sampling to create immersive audio experiences, often taking music production well beyond the studio. His projects include GPS soundscaping the St Ives oral history archives with art historian Jeanie Sinclair, music for Proto-type Theatre’s pioneering binaural production Whisper, and recording and production for Linder Sterling’s The Darktown Cakewalk: Celebrated from The House of FAME.
With singer Johny Lamb, he took recording out to sea on a fishing boat, creating the album Still Every Year They Went, named The Guardian’s Folk Album of the Month. Elsewhere, his compositions have travelled through festivals, galleries and multichannel loudspeaker systems, receiving recognition from Prix Ars Electronica, Bourges/IMEB and Computer Space.
Listening beyond the studio also runs through Greensounds, developed with Dr Alice Goodenough of the Countryside and Community Research Institute. Using microphones, headphones and immersive recordings, the project explores how listening connects people with natural environments. Its work has appeared at Hardwick Gallery and Bristol Festival of Nature, alongside an album of participant field recordings in Apple’s Spatial Audio.
Those listening walks also found their way into cinema. Philip co-produced A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds (2025) with director Liberty Smith and Alice Goodenough, undertaking sound recording and audio post-production. Set around men’s walk-and-talk groups in Port Talbot, the film explores sound, memory, mental health and a changing industrial landscape. Commissioned through the main prize of the 2024 Aesthetica and Audible Listening Pitch, it won the 2026 Glaister Award at Braziers International Film Festival and has received further international festival recognition.
Alongside his creative work, Philip was a named researcher on the AHRC-funded Online Orchestra project. In 2025, he co-edited the Everyday is Spatial issue of the International Journal of Creative Media Research with Matthew Lovett and Tim Land. His article with Danielle Meunier, Song and Soundscape – Immersion and Presence in Spatial Audio, explores how recording, production and spatial playback can draw listeners into an experience.
Philip runs the Masters in Sound and Music production, and supervises PhD candidates who are broadly interested in sound, composition, production, electronic music, field recording, or immersion. Email Philip at [email protected] for further information on the MSc or Phd study.
PhD Supervision
To successful completion:
Dr Matt Deegan — practice-based research into nonlinear composition through Unreal Engine, including interactive and adaptive electronic music.
Dr Robin Dymond — archival research into Michael Kamen’s compositional processes.
His continuing doctoral supervision includes research into:
Audio, immersion and audiences in gaming.
Immersive audio and creative expression.
Hauntology as a creative tool.
Qualifications
PhD Inter-Piece Sampling And Convolution, University of the Arts London, 2013.
MMus Computer Music, Lancaster University, 2008.
BA Music Technology, Lancaster University, 2007.
BA Economics and Politics, University of East Anglia, 2004.
Awards
2026 — A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds. Winner of the Glaister Award, Braziers International Film Festival. Film directed by Liberty Smith; co-produced by Philip Reeder, Liberty Smith and Alice Goodenough, with sound recording and audio post-production by Reeder.
2026 — A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds. Honorary Mention, Experimental Forum, USA.
2024 — Aesthetica and Audible Listening Pitch. Main-prize commission of £20,000 for the listening film concept Greensound, subsequently released as A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds.
2019 — Still Every Year They Went. Composition and production with Johny Lamb / Thirty Pounds of Bone. Named The Guardian’s Folk Album of the Month.
2018 — High Days and Holidays. Sound design for the National Trust project within the award-winning Every Encounter Counts programme.
2015 — Hayle Churks app. Recognised by the Collections Trust.
2011 — Hemispheric. Second Prize, Computer Space, Bulgaria.
2011 — Hemispheric. Honorary Mention, Prix Ars Electronica, Austria.
2009 — Lynchpin. Prix Résidence, Bourges / Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique, France.
2008 — Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Competition. Award for doctoral maintenance and fees.
Selected Projects
SAGE — Sound, Ageing and Environment (2023–2025). Co-Investigator on the £336,500 UKRI-funded project investigating relationships between sound, nature connection and wellbeing in care homes. The wider SAGE programme included the British Academy-funded conference Sound, Nature and Wellbeing in Ageing (2025), supported by a £24,000 award to the team.
Greensounds (2022 onwards). Research collaboration with Alice Goodenough investigating listening, natural environments and wellbeing through participant field recording, immersive audio and composition. Outputs include installations at Hardwick Gallery (2022) and the Bristol Festival of Nature (2023), the album of participant field recordings The Greensounds Project (2023), and the subsequent documentary collaboration A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds (2025).
A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds (2025). Co-producer, sound recording and audio post-production for Liberty Smith’s documentary, developed from Greensounds with Alice Goodenough. Commissioned by Aesthetica and Audible. In addition to the Glaister Award and Experimental Forum honorary mention, recognition includes the Visions du Réel industry catalogue and selections for Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, O-Fest, Science New Wave at Labocine Festival, and the Scottish Mental Health Film Festival.
Online Orchestra (2015) — Connecting Remote Rural Music Communities. Named Researcher on the AHRC-funded project (£217,245). Led the Mullion node for the inaugural online performance in 2015, contributing technical configuration and support for the performer and audience experience. The research informed a co-authored article published in 2017.
Hayle Churks app (2015). Commissioned music and sound design, supported through the Heritage Lottery Fund All Our Stories programme.
Nida Art Colony soundwalk (2012). Audio and music for a GPS-aware soundwalk with Jeanie Sinclair, supported by Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania.
Big Ears (2011). Participant in AHRC-supported public engagement project, including a public performance and collaborative composition with children in Belfast.
Linder Sterling (2010) — The Darktown Cakewalk: Celebrated from The House of FAME. Commissioned recording, audio production and composition with Antti Saario. Various works associated with Channel 4, Frieze Art Fair and BBC Radio 4.
The Mask Project (2009). Commissioned fixed media soundtrack, sound design and live electronic performance with Antti Saario for Olivia Moore at Manchester Jazz Festival. Arts Council England-supported project.
Proto-type Theatre — Whisper (2007–2008). Commissioned sound design and music for pioneering immersive binaural headphone theatre work, supported by Arts Council England and toured in the UK and internationally.
Selected Texts and Presentations
Published Work
Reeder, P. and Meunier, D. (2025). Song and Soundscape – Immersion and Presence in Spatial Audio. International Journal of Creative Media Research, 11, 23–36. https://doi.org/10.24135/ijcmr.v11i1.138
Lovett, M., Land, T. and Reeder, P. (2025). Editorial Introduction: The Everyday is Every Day. International Journal of Creative Media Research, 11, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.24135/ijcmr.v11i1.148
Prior, D., Reeder, P., Rofe, M., Biscoe, I. and Murray, S. (2017). Designing a system for Online Orchestra: Peripheral equipment. Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 10, 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte.10.2-3.197_1
Sinclair, J. and Reeder, P. (2012). The Intangible Archive. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts, EVA London 2012, 74–77. BCS Learning and Development.
Sinclair, J. and Reeder, P. (2012). Sounds of the Sea: Making a Mixed Reality Oral History Application for the St Ives Archive. Museums and the Web 2012, San Diego. Archives and Museum Informatics.
Research papers, talks and workshops
2026 — SAGE research presentation, 23rd IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2025 —Sound, Nature and Wellbeing in Ageing, British Academy-funded conference, University of Gloucestershire.
2024 — Sound, Environment, and Ageing: Sound Interventions in Care Homes. Intermediality in Communication, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania.
2024 — Immersive Audio for Changemaking. Erasmus+ HACK-IT multiplier event.
2015 — Still Every Year They Went: Iterative Processes, with Johny Lamb. Innovation in Music, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
2012 — Sound/Walking: Performing the Oral History Archive in St Ives, with Jeanie Sinclair. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts, London, UK.
2012 — The Disembodied Voice as Embodied Experience of Place: Soundwalking as a Research Method in Rethinking the Art Colony in St Ives, with Jeanie Sinclair. Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
2012 — Sounds of the Sea: Making a Mixed Reality Oral History Application for the St Ives Archive, with Jeanie Sinclair. Museums and the Web, San Diego, USA.
2011 — The Acousmatic Album. Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, New York, USA.
2008 — By Response. Workshop and performance lecture for Max/MSP/Jitter and upright piano, Roehampton University, UK.
Selected releases and published creative work
2025 — A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds. Co-producer with Liberty Smith and Alice Goodenough; sound recording and audio post-production for Smith’s documentary. Commissioned by Aesthetica and Audible following the main prize of the 2024 Listening Pitch.
2025 — Folding Rock: Greensound. Three bespoke soundscapes recorded and produced to accompany Liberty Smith’s Folding Rock magazine text and film stills: Castel Nos, Kenfig Nature Reserve and Brombil Reservoir.
2025 — Thinking in Circles. Original music for Liberty Smith’s short documentary for Od Arts Festival and OSR Projects.
2023 — Still and Still Moving. Original music for Liberty Smith’s short documentary for Od Arts Festival and OSR Projects.
2023 — The Greensounds Project. Streaming album of field recordings made by participants in the Greensounds research project.
2019 — Still Every Year They Went. Album of maritime folk songs and electronica with Johny Lamb / Thirty Pounds of Bone, released on Armellodie. Recording, composition, production, mixing and mastering.
2016 — Cage Street Memorial. Recording, mixing and production for Carleen Anderson’s album on Freestyle Records.
2016 — Poetry/Video/Music. Music for Stefano Amorese’s multilingual artwork in 23 EU languages. Aracne Editrice, Italy.
2014 — Hayle Churks Soundscape. Recording, composition, mixing and mastering.
2011 — St Ives Soundwalk. Created with Jeanie Sinclair and released for iOS and Android.
2011 — CyberArts 2011.Hemispheric included in the Hatje Cantz catalogue and DVD. ISBN 978-3-7757-3181-2.
2011 — Chopped and Stretched.Upside Outward included on the Drift Station Gallery compilation, Nebraska, USA.
2010 — Whisper. Proto-type Theatre DVD release incorporating sound design and music.
Selected performances, screenings, exhibitions and broadcasts
2026 — A Spider’s Lunch & Other Sounds. Documentary directed by Liberty Smith; co-producer, sound recording and audio post-production. Winner of the Glaister Award at Braziers International Film Festival; Honorary Mention at Experimental Forum. Festival selections include Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, O-Fest, Science New Wave at Labocine Festival, and the Scottish Mental Health Film Festival.
2023 — Greensounds. Exhibition and installation at the Bristol Festival of Nature, UK.
2022 — Greensounds. Installation with Alice Goodenough at Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham, UK.
2022 — A Stór Mo Chroí, with Danielle Meunier. Presentation of creative work at the Everyday is Spatial conference, University of Gloucestershire.
2020 — Returns, with Danielle Meunier. Broadcast on Resonance FM, London, UK.
2020 — Shoals of Herring, with Johny Lamb. Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction, UK.
2016 — Farewell to Grog, with Johny Lamb. Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction, UK.
2012 — Upside Outward, 5.1. Concert presentation at the International Festival for Innovations in Music Production and Composition, Leeds, UK.
2012 — Nida Art Colony soundwalk, with Jeanie Sinclair. Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania.
2012 — St Ives Soundwalk. Presentation at Digital Futures, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
2011 — Upside Outward and Hemispheric, 5.1. Concert presentation at the Interrogations into Music Experimentation symposium, Coventry University, UK.
2011 — Upside Outward. Concert presentation at the Seventh Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900, Lancaster University, UK.
2011 — Upside Outward, 24.4 channels. Concert presentation at the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, New York, USA.
2011 — Upside Outward. Hear This Space, St David’s Church, Leicester, UK.
2011 — Iron Gorge. Audiograft Jukebox, Oxford Festival of Sound Art and Contemporary Music, UK.
2011 — Hemispheric. Electronic Spaces, Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance, USA.
2011 — Hemispheric. Ai-Maako International Festival of Electroacoustic Music, Chile.
2011 — Sailsong. Sound Art Gallery, online exhibition curated by Margaret Noble.
2011 — Hemispheric. Byte Gallery International Exhibition, Mitchell Fine Arts Centre, Kentucky, USA.
2011 — Hemispheric. Cyberarts Exhibition, Ars Electronica Origin, Linz, Austria.
2011 — GPS-aware soundwalk, with Jeanie Sinclair. St Ives Festival, UK.
2011 — Upside Outward in Chopped and Stretched. Presentation at Drift Station Gallery, Nebraska, USA.
2010 — The Darktown Cakewalk: Celebrated from The House of FAME. Commission for Linder Sterling with Antti Saario; recording, audio production and composition. Glasgow and London, UK.
2009 — The Mask Project. Fixed media soundtrack, sound design and live electronic performance with Antti Saario. Manchester Jazz Festival, UK.
2008 — By Response. Concert presentation for Max/MSP/Jitter and upright piano at the International Computer Music Festival finale concert, Belfast, UK.
2008 — By Response. Mantis Festival, Manchester, UK.
2008 — Whisper. Sound design and music for Proto-type Theatre’s pioneering immersive headphone production, toured across the UK and presented in New York City, USA.
2006 — Surveillance, with Sarah Cleaver. Liverpool Biennial Art Festival, UK.
Teaching
Popular Music, Creative Music Technology, Sound and Music Production.
