Alan Williams is the Chair of the Music Department at UMass Lowell.

Alan Williams, Ph.D.

Professor; Coordinator of Music Business, Musicianship

College
College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
Music Department
Phone
978-934-3868
Office
Durgin Hall - 108

Expertise

Music Business

Research Interests

Recording studio practice, music and technology, applied ethnomusicology, music industries.

Social hierarchies in recording studio practice, the role of technology in forming musical identity, economic factors that shape creative practice, and music and community.

Education

  • Ph D: Ethnomusicology, (2006), Brown University
    Dissertation/Thesis Title: Phantom Power: Recording Studio History, Practice and Mythology
  • MA: Ethnomusicology, (2001), Brown University
  • Other: Third Stream Studies, (1986), New England Conservatory of Music

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Dean's Merit Award (2013) - UMass Lowell
  • Dean's Merit Award (2012) - UMass Lowell
  • Dean's Merit Award (2011) - UMass Lowell
  • Excellence in Teaching Award (2011)
  • Advisor of the Year (2005)
  • Exceeding Expectations Award (2004)

Selected Presentations

  • (Re)Imagining Core Music Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century Musician - College Music Society Annual Conference, November 2013 - Cambridge, MA
  • Thoughts on Collective Ethnographic Fieldwork: Performance in the Studio Research Project - 8th International Art of Record Production, July 2013 - Quebec City
  • Recording Intermedia - 8th International Art of Record Production Conference, July 2013 - Quebec City, Canada
  • The Art of Record Production: An Introductory Reader for a New Academic Field - 8th International Art of Record Production Conference, July 2013 - Quebec City, Canada
  • Performance in the Studio, April 2013
  • Phases and Stages: Liminality in the Recording Studio - Performance in the Studio, April 2013 - Online
  • Absorb and Diffuse: The Liminality of Recording Studio Practice - International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), March 2013 - Austin, TX
  • Slave to the Rhythm: Click Tracks and Drum Machines in Recording Studio Practice - 57th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, November 2012 - New Orleans, LA
  • Putting It On Display: The Impact of Visual Information on Interpersonal Control Room Dynamics - 7th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, December 2011 - San Francisco, CA
  • Teaching Production session 2 - 7th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, December 2011 - San Francisco, CA
  • All Hands On Deck: Choreographed Intimacy in the Analog Mixing Process - 56th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, November 2011 - Philadelphia, PA
  • Recording Histories - 2011 International Association for the Study of Popular Music, US Branch Conference, March 2011 - Cincinnati, OH
  • Alternative Realities: (re)presenting sound, session 1 - 6th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, December 2010 - Leeds, England
  • Cello Times 3: a Practicum on Multitrack Recording - 6th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, December 2010 - Leeds, England
  • Celluloid Heroes: Fictional Truths of Recording Studio Practice on Film - 6th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, December 2010 - Leeds, England
  • Same As It Never Was: Re-mix, Re-master, Re-member - International Association for the Study of Popular Music _ US Branch 2010 Conference, April 2010 - New Orleans, LA
  • Charged Encounters: The Mercurial Nature of Role Formation in the Recording Studio - 5th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, November 2009 - Cardiff, Wales
  • Pay Some Attention to the Man Behind the CurtainĂª: Unsung Heroes and the Canonization of Process in the Classic Albums Documentary Series - International Association for the Study of Popular Music _ US Branch 2009 Conference, May 2009 - San Diego, CA
  • I'm Not Hearing What You're Hearing: The Conflict and Connection of Headphone Mixes and Multiple Audioscapes - 4th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, November 2008 - Lowell, MA
  • The Recording Studio as Musical Instrument - 4th Annual International Art of Record Production Conference, November 2008 - Lowell, MA
  • A Case Study in Ethnographic Method: Participant-Observation in the Recording Studio - Qualitative Research Network, November 2007 - UMass Lowell
  • Working in the Red Light Zone: Hollywood Depictions of Recording Studio Practice and Mythology - 52nd Annual Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, October 2007 - Columbus, OH
  • Tear Down The Wall: The Dissolution of the Recording Studio Control Room Divide - 50th Annual Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, November 2005 - Atlanta
  • Science Fiction Double Feature: The Impact of the Computer Monitor on the Recording Process in the Age of the Digital Audio Workstation - International Association for the Study of Popular Music Canadian Chapter Conference, May 2004 - Ottawa
  • That's My Life Up There: Identity, Genre, and The Real in a Cambodian-American Hip Hop Group - 48th Annual Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, November 2003 - Miami
  • Standing in the Shadows of Love: The Creative Identity of the Hired Musician - Experience Music Project Pop Music Studies Conference, April 2002 - Seattle
  • Standing in the Shadows of Love: The Creative Identity of the Hired Musician - New England Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, March 2001 - Northampton, MA

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

  • Open Text Materials Mini-Grant (), Grant - University of Massachusetts Lowell
    Michaelsen, G., Williams, A., Castillo, R.P.