My Days
I work for DTS, creating audio post-processing technology for PC laptops — making those tiny speakers sound better than they really have any right to sound.
My background is in audio software engineering, having worked across areas including DSP, games audio and mobile applications. In recent years I’ve moved into engineering leadership, where I currently lead two development teams. Learning how to help other people succeed has been a rewarding challenge and has given me an entirely new perspective on the industry.
A more complete list of my experience can be found elsewhere on the site.
My Evenings
Most of the topics covered on the site can be traced back to a single source: music.
To cut a long story short:
Music led to synthesisers. Synthesisers led to electronics. Electronics led to software. Software led to a career in audio technology. Along the way I picked up some other interests in hi-fi and repair.
All of this has resulted in a variety of projects centred around understanding how things work, building things, fixing things and occasionally not fixing things.
I value craftsmanship, enjoy understanding how things work and love the process of working something out for myself.
My Weekends
Beyond the scope of the site, I have a few other projects and interests going on.
Home Remodel
The largest project I’ve undertaken in recent years wasn’t related to audio technology at all.
In 2020, my wife and I began a major renovation of our bungalow. The project involved removing the roof, demolishing a significant portion of the existing building and constructing a modernist home around what remained.
While specialist contractors handled the major structural work, all of the project management, planning, decision-making and finishing work fell to us. Having tackled smaller building projects previously, we knew what we were in for, but the scale of this one really pushed us. It wasn’t so much the energy required as having to sustain that for the multiple years that the project has taken.
As I write this, we’re approaching the finish line. It’s been challenging, occasionally exhausting and hugely rewarding. More than anything, it’s taught me that large projects are usually completed in exactly the same way as small ones: by keeping going, one problem at a time.
Fromeward Bound
Another significant project from recent years involved driving my 1989 Toyota Land Cruiser from Japan to the United Kingdom after spending five years living in Japan.
The journey took my wife and me across deserts, mountains, border crossings and mechanical uncertainties, and remains one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
One of my favourite videos we made on the trip - shot in Kyrgystan.
The full story is documented over on our blog.
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is something of an outlier amongst my interests, but it’s influenced how I view the world more than almost anything else.
Although I rarely skate these days, I continue to follow it closely and dust off the board once in a while.
The central lesson skateboarding taught me is the importance of perspective. Concrete steps, curbs, banks and ledges look different when viewed through the eyes of a skateboarder.
I’ve found this lesson applies to pretty much everything: engineering, electronics, repair and life in general.