Empirical Ear is the website and audio blog of Michael Hammond. It is intended to provide a glimpse into the day-to-day creative process of an active composer and sound designer. The goal is twofold: to foster a diligent and methodical work ethic in the author and to entertain you, the reader. Here you will find sound snippets, song fragments, lyrical scraps, and various other sonic and mental machinations, which may or may not be devoured by the jaws of time.

Michael’s music has been performed by the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, electronic duo Matmos, and NY-based ensemble So Percussion. While attending Princeton University, Michael studied composition and computer music with Dan Trueman, Perry Cook, Paul Lansky, Steve Mackey, and Annie Gosfield. He has performed in Carnegie Hall, The Kitchen, and Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium. Michael is currently collaborating with composer Sarah Kirkland Snider to contribute sound design and programming to her debut album, Penelope, an epic song cycle performed by chamber ensemble Signal and vocalist Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond.

Occasionally, Michael releases open-source software for performing musicians. You can read more about these little widgets by clicking on the software links to your right.

Contact (remove spaces) — m w h a m m o n d (preposition) g m a i l (punctuation) c o m

For more information about this site and why it is organized the way it is, see my first post here.