Will Moylan

Professor, Coordinator

William Moylan is Professor of Sound Recording Technology and Music at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He served as the Coordinator of the Sound Recording Technology program since arriving in 1983 and as the Chairperson of the Department of Music from 1998 to 2006. He has been active in Music and Recording Technology communities for over 40 years, with extensive experience and credits as a record producer, recording engineer, composer, author and educator.

Dr. Moylan has been teaching audio recording since 1979. Under his guidance, the recording program at UML has become recognized as one of the strongest in the nation and has gained a significant international presence and reputation.

As a producer and engineer, Dr. Moylan has recorded many leading artists and ensembles in a broad cross-section of music genres—from classical and jazz to pop and folk. His recordings have been released by major and independent record labels and have resulted in wide recognition, including several Grammy Award nominations.

His new book Recording Analysis: How the Record Shapes the Song is on schedule to be released in mid-2019 by Focal Press/Routledge. It closely examines the impact of the sounds of the recording (especially timbral and spatial properties) on the creative voice of recorded song, and provides approaches for assessing those impacts.

William Moylan’s book Understanding and Crafting the Mix: the Art of Recording, (now in its third edition, 2015) has been adopted by many recording programs world-wide. The book is unique in its focus on the artistic and creative aspects of the recording process, its study of how the unique aspects of sound controlled by the recording process can shape music, and the development of critical listening skills for audio production and evaluation.

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