leith00000@gmail.com
Education
2017 — Master of Arts in Media Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2012 — Bachelor of Music in Music Technology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI (Magna Cum Laude)
2004 — Graduate Steamfitter, United Association 636 Apprenticeship Training Program, Sterling Heights, MI
1993 — Jazz Studies Major, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
Professional Experience
2019–Present — Metal Shop and Foundry Technician, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
2018–Present — Faculty, Dept. of Music Technology, School of Music, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2010–Present — Co-creator, Apetechnology Electro-Mechanical Art Collective, Detroit, MI
2018–2023 — Part-Time Electrician, Good Guy Electric, Detroit, MI
2018–2019 — Faculty, Foundations Dept., College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
2016–2017 — Graduate Student Instructor, Performing Arts Technology, University of Michigan School of Music, Ann Arbor, MI
2016 — Instructor, Living Arts H.S. Summer Camp, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2011–2012 — Student Teaching Assistant, School of Music, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
1998–2015 — Journeyman Steamfitter, Welder, and Foreman, Pipefitters Local 636, Detroit, MI
Recent Projects
Crickets on Semantra (2026)
Electromechanical sound art installation presented at the 3.1.3. Spatial Audio Festival.
Foreign Tongues (2026)
With Display Group, Detroit. Interactive installation for the Rolling Stones / NASCAR collaboration. Lead engineer: designed and built the control hardware, firmware, and software integration.
Streetscape (2025)
With Display Group, for Bedrock, Detroit. Interactive audio for a public sculpture. Designed the sensor and audio network and composed the audio.
A Canticle for Turing (2024)
Solo robotic music installation, Detroit, MI.
Honors
2024 — Artist, Michigan Central Station Arts and Technology Residency
2022 — Fellow, Kresge Foundation’s Kresge Arts in Detroit
2020 — Panelist, Kresge Foundation’s Kresge Arts in Detroit
2020 — Creators of Culture Grant, Culture Source Organization, Detroit
2015 — Funded Graduate Instructor, University of Michigan Masters Program
2014 — Knight Arts Challenge Grant Detroit recipient
2012 — Elected Member, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society
2012 — Magna Cum Laude, Wayne State University
2011 — Music Technology Student of the Year, Wayne State University
Selected Exhibitions and Performances
2026 — Solo: Crickets on Semantra, electromechanical sound art installation, 3.1.3. Spatial Audio Festival
2026 — Foreign Tongues, Rolling Stones / NASCAR collaboration, with Display Group, Detroit, MI
2025 — Streetscape, interactive audio for public sculpture, for Bedrock, with Display Group, Detroit, MI
2024 — Solo Installation: A Canticle for Turing, robotic music installation, Detroit, MI
2023 — Solo: Featured Performer, Other Tones Concert Series, Detroit, MI
2023 — Solo: Featured Performer, Strange Beautiful Music Festival, Detroit, MI
2023 — Solo: Featured Performer, Third Place Music Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
2021 — Creator and Organizer, Fanfare and Procession (A Fluxus Happening), Wayne State, Detroit, MI
2021 — Collaboration with Wolf Eyes: Discord live-stream improvisatory radio and video experiment for Montreal’s Suoni per il Popolo festival (Covid edition) and CKUT radio; Pontiac, MI and Montreal, QC
2012–17 — Collaboration with Apetechnology: Dlectricity Festivals, Detroit, MI
2017 — Collaboration with Apetechnology: Shadows of Slendrotron: The Monkey God’s Great Leap, Electricity festival, Detroit Institute of Arts
2017 — Collaboration with Apetechnology: Slendrotron; Public Pool Gallery Featured Exhibit, Hamtramck, MI
2017 — Solo: Humidity, multi-channel spatial audio lobby installation for the University Musical Society; Power Center, Ann Arbor, MI
2016 — Solo: Transparency/Opacity, School of Music, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2012 — Collaboration with Apetechnology, Ogun Collective, Destroy All Monsters: Vision in a Cornfield; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI
Selected Works in Collaboration with Apetechnology
Shadows of Slendrotron: The Monkey God’s Great Leap (2017)
Robotic shadow puppet play for Electricity 2017, located at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Adapted the libretto, composed the soundtrack, built and programmed animatronics, control system integration, fabricated fixtures, Technical Director, grant management, liaison, put out fire after fire after fire.
Old Man Winter (2015)
College for Creative Studies Circle Drive, Noel Night, Detroit. A forty-foot-tall robot with programmable movement, light displays and sound. Programmed the motor controls and lights using Arduino IDE.
Slendrotron (2015)
Strange Beautiful Music Festival, Orchestra Hall, Detroit. A Javanese gamelan-inspired robotic percussion orchestra executing a generative algorithmic composition in Pure Data. Fabricated the instruments, including a tuned metallophone from first principles, and designed the algorithm.
MechanoShards (2014)
Dlectricity Festival, Detroit. A large installation piece, computer controlled with sound, mechanical movement and LED pixel lighting. Primary responsibility was Python/Arduino/Teensy programming of the installation and design of the control system.
InflatoAngels (2014)
Pyrotopia, Pittsburgh, PA, and various locations, Detroit, MI. A traveling show of twenty-foot-tall inflated, LED-lit teleoperated robots.
Triptych (2013)
Electric Eclectics Festival, Meaford, Ontario. A musical and video composition including audio samples, mechanically actuated strikers on industrial barrels and a deconstructed piano. Responsible for composition and for integration of music, mechanics and video using Ableton Live and Modul8.
Vision in a Cornfield (2012)
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Large-scale installation in collaboration with art collective Ogun and Carey Loren of Destroy All Monsters. Responsible for the mechanical animation of four salvaged automobiles and design of the control software, including two hours of randomized sound samples and audience triggering via optical sensors (MaxMSP/Maxuino/Arduino).
I See You (2012)
Dlectricity Festival, Detroit. Large-scale mobile robots with cylindrical rear-projection screens. Metal fabrication of the robots and frames, and constant performance during the two-day festival.
Selected Solo Works
Fanfare and Procession
Participatory Fluxus-style aleatoric composition using bespoke tone generators.
Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas
My arrangement of the Alvin Lucier piece that explores space, sound and perception.
Humidity
Multi-channel spatial audio lobby installation at the Power Center, Ann Arbor, for the University Musical Society.
Transparency/Opacity
Multi-modal sound and projection work involving a water-based interface.
Towards Catharsis
A musical and video work using motion tracking to affect the algorithmic composition.
Cocktail Party
An augmented audio reality using the inertial tracking unit of an iPhone.
Lacuna (2013)
Self-released collection of electronic and electroacoustic compositions.
Prelude to a Collision
An electroacoustic composition for saxophone, digital effects and prerecorded accompaniment. Debut at Wayne State University, Schaver Recital Hall.
Experience Areas
Fabrication: wood and metal sculpture; furniture design and build; electromechanical and kinetic arts; electronics design; microcontroller programming (Arduino, Raspberry Pi); CNC manufacturing and rapid prototyping.
Programming environments: MaxMSP, Maxuino, RNBO, Jitter and Vizzie; Processing; Arduino IDE; Python; JavaScript.
Software: Fusion, Illustrator, SketchUp, MyPlasm CNC, 3D-print slicers (most recently Prusa), various music and performance software.
Sound art: audio hardware; musical robotics; sound installations; audio/sculpture/video integration; bespoke instrument and interface design.
Video and light art: projection mapping; visual effects authoring; video/MIDI integration; programmable LED pixel implementation; DMX authoring and implementation.
Audio Engineering and Live Sound
Digital mixing consoles (Behringer X32, Roland M5000, Avid C24); Audinate Dante audio networking (Level 1 Certified; Dante Controller and Dante Virtual Soundcard); Reaper, Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton; sound design; live and studio recording.
Carr Center Detroit, Summer 2016 — Technical Director and Live Sound Engineer for the ‘Summer in the Park’ series.
New Music Detroit, 2013–present — Support roles for live performances of a new music chamber ensemble: stage management, technical stage management, sound reinforcement, live audio and video recording, performance software design, and liaison to venue owners and unions.
Wolf Eyes: I Am A Problem / Mind In Pieces (2015) — Engineer for the final mixdown; released on Third Man Records.
Teaching
Faculty, Music Technology Dept., Wayne State University School of Music (2018–present). Introduction to Music Technology; Electronic Music Ensemble; Theories of Electronic Music; Sound Design; Electroacoustic Music.
Metal Shop and Foundry Technician, College for Creative Studies (2019–present). Maintain all tools and machinery for a working metal shop; train faculty in specific processes in preparation for coursework; aid students working outside of class in project ideation and process design.
Graduate Student Instructor, Collaborations in Performance and Technology, University of Michigan (2016–2017). Led discussion and critique for an interdisciplinary collaboration class; devised and documented a training system for a 16-speaker spatialized audio environment.
Graduate Student Research Assistant, Performing Arts Technology, University of Michigan (2015–2016). Weekly lab sessions on microcontroller programming, tangible interface design, electronics and MaxMSP; lectures on state machine design and build studio practice; organized the 2016 Performing Arts Technology Showcase.
Other Music
Saxophone studies with Dr. Jeffery Heisler, Wayne State University, 2010–2012 (Senior Performance Recital, 2012), and Trent Kynaston, Western Michigan University, 1993–1995. Dry Bones, working popular music and jazz group, 2003–2006. Student Volunteer, New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference, 2012, University of Michigan.
