Workshop: Inclusive Design within Audio Products

Jay is a mixing and mastering engineer, producer, and guitarist. He is also partially sighted, making him a prime contact for matters relating to music and visual accessibility.

He is Music Support Officer at RNIB - the Royal National Institute of Blind People - where he is tasked with improving access to music-making for blind and partially sighted people, including advocating for improved accessibility within music and audio hardware and software.

Jay is the also the founder and Project Manager of Sound Without Sight, a community-driven online hub that connects blind and partially sighted musicians to each other, and to resources, opportunities, and support.

Jay is a graduate of the Music and Sound Recording (Tonmeister) course at the University of Surrey and is credited on several top-10 releases including a UK Number 1 album. He has a proven track record of working with emerging independent artists to help them obtain their first radio plays.

Tim is Research and Innovation Executive at Drake Music, responsible for accessible music technology and instrument development. He is committed to breaking down the barriers to music making faced by Disabled musicians by ensuring that everyone has access to the instruments and technology they need. He is also undertaking a PhD in immersive, interactive sound art-installations using spatial audio at the University of Greenwich. He is a musician, sound-artist, and technologist, and co-founder and co-organiser of Hackoustic.

Elizabeth J. Birch is an undefined glitch, known for blurring the boundaries and striving for innovative ways to envision and make music. An award-winning musician, she combines synthesisers, haunting vocals, and ordinary everyday objects to challenge what music is, how it’s made and who musicians are.

Elizabeth was featured as one of the Mastercard Music Trailblazers ahead of the 2024 BRIT awards, recognised as an artist driving positive change in the music industry across technology, diversity & inclusion, helping make music more inclusive for all.

A producer, composer, vocalist, and tech-enthusiast, her second EP ‘Kenopsia’ released in 2023 explored challenging subjects such as loss and grief, and received radio support from BBC Introducing, Unmade Radio and Black Country Radio. She won the ‘Inspirational Music Leader’ award from Youth Music in 2023 for her inclusive community music and facilitation workshops, focused around songwriting, technology and youth voice.

Dr Adi Dickens is responsible for all things accessibility at Ableton. Joining Ableton shortly after finishing their PhD in Accessible Digital Musical Instruments; Adi has led the process of improving accessibility in Live 12, Ableton Note, and the recently released Ableton Move.

Adi lives and works in Berlin. Is a single parent to two children, who also act as first line accessibility testers for any new music hardware purchases. They like to tinker with music production and will dance to anything that has a beat.

I am an engineer, software developer, maker, entrepreneur, and musician, co-founder and CEO of Arcana Instruments. Throughout my professional career in technology startups and tech-consulting for banks, energy companies, insurance companies, I never found a true sense of purpose. Music has always been central to my life, playing, recording, producing, and performing. Without it, I would surely be lost.

Three albums (of many) that were life-changing for me: The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Mr. Bung le, produced by John Zorn.

Eight years ago, everything changed when my friend Boaz, a music-school teacher, showed me a video of Gil, a 12-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, trying to play the guitar. Unfamiliar with CP, I was moved by her passion and frustration as she struggled to control her hands and fingers. Realizing that no suitable instrument existed for her, we were heartbroken. However, seeing Gil controlling her motorized wheelchair with a joystick inspired us to create an accessible musical instrument she could play.

What began as a hackathon project for one girl evolved into a year of research, working with individuals aged 5 to 95 to develop the Arcana Strum, an inclusive, adaptable musical instrument. We raised capital from angel investors and government grants, left our day jobs, and fully committed to this mission.

Meeting hundreds of people with disabilities and making music accessible to them has made a huge impact on me. I’ve come to understand that a significant portion of the population is systemically excluded from learning and playing music, a body-brain-developing, spirit-lifting activity I once took for granted.

Arcana gains invaluable insights working with musicians and professionals with music accessibility needs. We aim to contribute our resources, knowledge, and experience to create an inclusive and accessible music landscape for everyone.

Tim played in a number of local bands in the 1980s and also did a little session work as a keyboard
player. He lost his sight in his early 20s so sold his gear thinking that his days as a musician were over.
After attending a rehabilitation course that taught him white-cane mobility, Braille and touch-typing,
he worked for Coventry Council’s Social Services department for a couple of years before studying
computer science at BTEC then degree level. After graduation he worked as a product trainer and
script developer for an IBM Special Needs Services agency, supporting IBM’s DOS and OS/2’s Screen
Reader products. He moved to Microsoft in 1995 as a support technician, followed by a role in another
accessibility consultancy where he developed and trained on workplace solutions for visually-impaired
people. A chance encounter with Jackie Clifton from the Royal College of Music led to him forming
his own company, Raised Bar, in 2006 with the aim of providing advice, consultancy, and
development services based around accessibility in general, but with a strong emphasis on music-
related accessibility issues.