Michael is a life musician and acoustical technologist. He has worked with sound, technology, and acoustics, designing large mobile sound systems, recording studios, museums, and other public exhibition spaces. Clients include Blue Oyster Cult, Electric Light Orchestra, Cherokee, Enterprise, Hollywood Sound Factory, and Skywalker Ranch recording and production facilities, US National Holocaust Museum, Mexico City’s Museo Papalote del Niño, and Monterey Bay Aquarium among others. His approach to acoustical design hinges on the understanding that sound perception is how we gauge our participation in our surroundings.
Michael is the founding director of Ocean Conservation Research, a scientific research and policy development organization focused on understanding the impacts of, and finding technical and policy solutions to the growing problem of human-generated ocean noise pollution. He was the “Musical and Electronics Engineer” on the ground-breaking movie “Koyaaniqatsi,” for which he composed music concret segues and the credit roll. His book titled “Hear Where We Are: Sound, Ecology, and Sense of Place” (Springer 2013) reveals how humans and other animals use sound and sound perception to establish their placement in their environment, and communicate that placement with others.