Dr Iain Findlay-Walsh
- Lecturer (Music)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154Biography
Iain Findlay-Walsh (he/him) is a sound artist, musician, music producer, researcher and Lecturer in Music (Assistant Professor) at the University of Glasgow. His research employs sound-based and autoethnographic methods for the study of musical experience, exploring relations between modes of making and encountering music, and issues of perception, technological mediation, agency and selfhood.
He releases sound art and soundscape composition under the name 'Klaysstarr Nets' (Entr'acte, Pan y Rosas). His work has been presented at international festivals including BBC Tectonics, Rewire, Counterflows and Instal, and he contributes bass guitar, sound design and creative audio production as a member of the acclaimed 'doomgaze' band, Cwfen.
Related writing on sound art and music practice, audio technology, and sonic experience appears in international peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes including Organised Sound, Journal of Sonic Studies, SoundEffects, International Journal of Creative Media Research, Intellect Handbook of Popular Music Methodologies, Routledge Companion for Reflexivity and Autoethnography in Music Studies, and Routledge International Handbook of Practice-based Research. He is a co-director of the Immersive Experiences ArtsLab research network on digital and immersive media and embodiment, and an editor of the experimental music and arts journal, openwork.
Research interests
Research interests:
Autoethnography, practice research, sound art, soundscape composition, field recording, record production, electronic music production, sound design, experimental music, sound studies, digital media studies, affective writing, politics of listening, music reception and fandom.
Publications
2025
Findlay-Walsh, Iain 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154 and Partridge, Tristan
(2025)
Vectors of novelty: co-composing selves in the terminal present.
openwork, 2(1),
(doi: 10.52214/ow.v2i1.12702)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2025)
A Transmutation Music.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2025)
Internet pop reception as sonic autoethnography: circulating music, story and self online.
In:
The Intellect Handbook of Popular Music Methodologies.
Intellect.
ISBN 9781835951033
(In Press)
2024
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2024)
Ketamine Tempo: Aesthetics of Stasis in the Production of Low's 'Double Negative'.
Society for Music Production Research - Conference 2025, Leeds Beckett University, 12-14 September 2024.
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2024)
Thumbprints on the paintwork: on autoethnography and fandom in the music of Mark E. Smith and The Fall.
In: Gouzouasis, Peter and Wiley, Christopher (eds.)
The Routledge Companion to Music, Autoethnography, and Reflexivity.
Routledge: London, pp. 305-323.
ISBN 9780429330049
(doi: 10.4324/9780429330049-23)
2023
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2023)
Fifty-one aural selfies // real time.
[Compositions]
2022
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
Re-actioning: reading and writing sonic fictions on the internet.
Riffs, 6(1),
pp. 17-26.
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
Hearing the Space of Personal Listening: Five Aural Selfies (binaural).
[Audio]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
On Aural Selfies.
Everyday is Spatial: Immersive Audio Conference, Gloucester, UK, 16-17 June 2022.
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
The sound of my hands typing: autoethnography as reflexive methodology in arts-based research.
In: Vear, Craig, Candy, Linda and Edmonds, Ernest (eds.)
The Routledge International Handbook of Practice-Based Research.
Series: Routledge international handbooks.
Routledge: London, pp. 491-511.
ISBN 9780429324154
(doi: 10.4324/9780429324154-36)
2021
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2021) Composing the Field of Dwelling: An Autoethnography on Listening in the Home. Journal of Sonic Studies(22),
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2021) Listener Musics (spatial audio composition, text score for electronics and small ensemble). [Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2021) Virtual auditory reality: inhabiting digital pop music as simulated space. SoundEffects, 10(1), pp. 71-90. (doi: 10.7146/se.v10i1.124199)
2020
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2020)
More No Place.
[Compositions]
2019
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2019)
Hearing how it feels to listen: perception, embodiment and first-person field recording.
Organised Sound, 24(1),
pp. 30-40.
(doi: 10.1017/S1355771819000049)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2019)
w/hair ph<> n mus|x.
[Compositions]
2018
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2018) Auto travelin AV. [Performance]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2018)
Sonic autoethnographies: personal listening as compositional context.
Organised Sound, 23(1),
pp. 121-130.
(doi: 10.1017/S1355771817000371)
2017
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2017)
Tracing the liminal: autoethnographic strategies in soundscape art.
eSharp, 2017,
pp. 7-17.
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2017)
Faux départ 5.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2017) Auto travelin thru flux flay fusion land. [Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2017) prox|m|ty |s dream|ng. [Performance]
2016
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2016)
The Closing Ceremony parts 1 & 2.
[Compositions]
2015
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2015) The Closing Ceremony 9.1. [Performance]
2013
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2013) A No Place. [Compositions]
2012
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2012) Horroh. [Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain and Monfrooe, Amanda (2012) Only Ur Pre Formance Is Cult. [Performance]
2011
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2011) Postface. [Compositions]
Articles
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154 and Partridge, Tristan
(2025)
Vectors of novelty: co-composing selves in the terminal present.
openwork, 2(1),
(doi: 10.52214/ow.v2i1.12702)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
Re-actioning: reading and writing sonic fictions on the internet.
Riffs, 6(1),
pp. 17-26.
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2021) Composing the Field of Dwelling: An Autoethnography on Listening in the Home. Journal of Sonic Studies(22),
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2021) Virtual auditory reality: inhabiting digital pop music as simulated space. SoundEffects, 10(1), pp. 71-90. (doi: 10.7146/se.v10i1.124199)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2019)
Hearing how it feels to listen: perception, embodiment and first-person field recording.
Organised Sound, 24(1),
pp. 30-40.
(doi: 10.1017/S1355771819000049)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2018)
Sonic autoethnographies: personal listening as compositional context.
Organised Sound, 23(1),
pp. 121-130.
(doi: 10.1017/S1355771817000371)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2017)
Tracing the liminal: autoethnographic strategies in soundscape art.
eSharp, 2017,
pp. 7-17.
Book Sections
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2025)
Internet pop reception as sonic autoethnography: circulating music, story and self online.
In:
The Intellect Handbook of Popular Music Methodologies.
Intellect.
ISBN 9781835951033
(In Press)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2024)
Thumbprints on the paintwork: on autoethnography and fandom in the music of Mark E. Smith and The Fall.
In: Gouzouasis, Peter and Wiley, Christopher (eds.)
The Routledge Companion to Music, Autoethnography, and Reflexivity.
Routledge: London, pp. 305-323.
ISBN 9780429330049
(doi: 10.4324/9780429330049-23)
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
The sound of my hands typing: autoethnography as reflexive methodology in arts-based research.
In: Vear, Craig, Candy, Linda and Edmonds, Ernest (eds.)
The Routledge International Handbook of Practice-Based Research.
Series: Routledge international handbooks.
Routledge: London, pp. 491-511.
ISBN 9780429324154
(doi: 10.4324/9780429324154-36)
Conference or Workshop Item
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2024)
Ketamine Tempo: Aesthetics of Stasis in the Production of Low's 'Double Negative'.
Society for Music Production Research - Conference 2025, Leeds Beckett University, 12-14 September 2024.
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
On Aural Selfies.
Everyday is Spatial: Immersive Audio Conference, Gloucester, UK, 16-17 June 2022.
Compositions
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2025)
A Transmutation Music.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2023)
Fifty-one aural selfies // real time.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2021) Listener Musics (spatial audio composition, text score for electronics and small ensemble). [Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2020)
More No Place.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2019)
w/hair ph<> n mus|x.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2017)
Faux départ 5.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2017) Auto travelin thru flux flay fusion land. [Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2016)
The Closing Ceremony parts 1 & 2.
[Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2013) A No Place. [Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2012) Horroh. [Compositions]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2011) Postface. [Compositions]
Performance
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2018) Auto travelin AV. [Performance]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2017) prox|m|ty |s dream|ng. [Performance]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain (2015) The Closing Ceremony 9.1. [Performance]
Findlay-Walsh, Iain and Monfrooe, Amanda (2012) Only Ur Pre Formance Is Cult. [Performance]
Audio
Findlay-Walsh, Iain ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-6154
(2022)
Hearing the Space of Personal Listening: Five Aural Selfies (binaural).
[Audio]
Grants
- 2024 Principle Investigator, ‘Listening to the Digital City: Reappraising ambience in urban planning’, University of Glasgow, Glasgow Crucible research fund (£7,274)
- 2024 Co-Investigator, ‘DeepSea Nexus: Connecting with your oceans through Extended Reality’, University of Glasgow, Glasgow Crucible research fund (£7,398)
Supervision
I would be happy to supervise research students working on topics related to my research:
- Sound, music and autoethnography
- Sound art and soundscape composition (theory and practice), particularly in relation to field recording, studio production, spatiality, perception, and/or sonic experience
- Sound studies, particularly in relation to issues of embodiment, political agency, and/or digital media and technologies
- Experimental Music - theory and practice
- Record production - theory and practice
- Affective writing on sound and music
- Music reception and fandom in relation to recorded music and/or the internet
I am currently supervising or cosupervising students at Glasgow working on a range of topics including improvisation and liminality, electroacoustic composition, and electronic music production. Please get in touch to discuss possible topics.
- Blackburn, Rhobet
How can the concept of oscillation inform practical and theoretical explorations of posthuman philosophy after Adorno and Horkheimer? - Matthews, Donna
Improvisation as a Liminal Experience - Wang, Yiwen
Innovation and Recreation of the Concept of Traditional Chinese Aesthetics in Contemporary Compositional Practice
Past supervised projects:
Samantha Lou Talbot (PhD, University of Glasgow, 2025)
Teaching
I contribute to the following courses in Music -
Undergraduate:
- Experimental Music Practice
- Sonic Arts: Interacting with Sound
- Composition
- Dissertation
- Listening in Culture
Postgraduate:
- Sound Shaping and Design
- Creative Sound Recording
- Thinking Through Sound and Media
- Creative Sound Design: Portfolio
