Dr Fiona Keenan
Lecturer in Sound Production

Profile

Biography

I am a Lecturer in Sound Production and teach sound design, Foley practice and sound production/postproduction on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Film and Television Production. I am interested in the historical origins and contexts of the creative technologies we use, how we use and learn to use them, and the kinds of practice and thinking they require of us. My teaching is never far from these critical considerations, even when unpacking the specifics of workflows.

My PhD thesis, completed in 2019, focuses on historical methods of sound effects design and performance in late nineteenth and early twentieth century theatres, framing these as a sonic interaction design practice that could inform the design of new present-day encounters with digital sound. I joined the School of ACT as a Lecturer in 2019.

I have an ongoing creative practice in sound and music focused on systems for live performance, and I love exploring ways to bring very different sound sources together (sound props with software, for example). I am autistic, and in the process of exploring how I can bring my critical consideration of technology together with my explorations of autistic experience more explicitly in my work. I am also investigating how the potential of new generative AI methods fits with our established workflows for practices like Foley and sound design, and bringing some early experiments into my teaching.

Research

Overview

My research has so far explored the experience of performative soundmaking with objects and materials, whether acoustic or digital, and also how sonic experience has been captured visually or textually. I am interested in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to knowledge creation. My PhD research methodology combined historical research, practical design work, autoethnography and perceptual evaluation. Since my PhD, I have also explored practice-based research as a way to generate knowledge. I maintain a research blog and writing project on GitHub (https://fionakeenan.com), and am currently unpicking the systems I have developed for managing my varied interests and my tendency to wander between them in an attempt to reveal hidden structures and areas of enquiry.

I am interested in supervising Masters or PhD research in these areas:

• Sonic experience and ethnographic methods
• Autism or neurodivergence and sensory aspects of creative technologies
• Sound design, sound performance or sonic interaction
• History and philosophy of technology, including creative use of generative AI or LLMs

Publications

Selected publications

Keenan, F., 2024. Navigating ‘feel’: When hands touch sound effects. The Soundtrack, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 61-76.

Keenan, F., 2024. Knowing sonic impressionism: the design of theatre sound effects. Sound Studies, 10(2), pp.273-292.

Keenan, F., 2023. The drum and silk: The experience of imitating wind as sound. Venti Journal, 2(3), p.3.

Keenan, F. & Pauletto, S., 2022, Evaluating a Sonic Interaction Design Based on a Historic Theatre Sound Effect. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol. 164, 102836.

Keenan, F., 2019. Enactive Sound Machines: Theatrical Strategies for Sonic Interaction Design. PhD thesis, University of York.