Lecturer in Music Production
BMus, BA(Hons), MA, DMA, (Otago)
Tel +64 3 479 5969
Email michael.holland@otago.ac.nz
Mike's research and teaching draw upon his considerable experience as a practitioner. Over the past decade, he has worked on records for NZ and international recording companies in a variety of roles, and as an audio engineer for multiple concert tours across NZ, Australia, the UK, Europe and the USA.
His current research explores the relationship between built environments and creative practices, with a particular focus on resources for popular music production and performance. He has previously published on indie music production practices, music scenes and their historicization, and music production techniques.
Mike convenes the Music Production and Post-Graduate research programmes in the School of Performing Arts, while teaching into a range of related courses, and supervising Masters and Doctoral students undertaking research in Music Production and Popular Music studies.
Teaching
- MUSI 103 Popular Music
- MUSI 132 Music Production 1 (Paper Co-ordinator)
- MUSI 232 Music Production 2 (Paper Co-ordinator)
- MUSI 269 Popular Music 2
- MUSI 369 Popular Music 3
- MUSI 332 Music Production 3 (Paper Co-ordinator)
- MUSI 334 Music Production Projects (Paper Co-ordinator)
- HUMS 301 Internship Practicum (supervision of student internships)
- HUMS 401 Internship Practicum (supervision of student internships)
- MUSI 432 Studio Production (Paper Co-ordinator)
- MUSI 407 Radical Works
- PERF 205 The Creative Industries
- PERF 305 The Creative Industries
- ENGL 219 Poetry and Music
Research Expertise
- Music production and non-studio spaces
- Indie rock production practices
- Music production and local music scenes
Supervision
Current Post Graduate Supervisions:
- Claire Benedict (DMA): Sectional surrealism: A practice-based investigation into choir recording techniques for the independent film composer
- Dave Johnston (DMA): Varied contexts of the contemporary producer-composer
- Petone White (DMA): Approaches to vocal performance, live and in studio
- Alan Gray (Mmus): Studio production techniques for displaced performers
- Mat Hoyes (Mmus): Technologically mediated collaboration: roles, processes and musical outcomes
Background and Research Interests
Mike's research is often practice-based, and is largely concerned with analysing and contextualising music production and sound engineering practices within theoretical discourses including sociology, science and technology studies, and cultural theory. Much of his research focuses on musical practices associated with indie rock scenes in New Zealand, and he frequently collaborates with other researchers, musicians, and producers.
As a practitioner, Mike has worked as a live sound engineer on projects and tours all over the world. His long-running work as live sound engineer for seminal New Zealand indie band the Chills has taken him across the UK, Europe, The USA and Aotearoa. Mike also continues to record, mix and produce recordings for national artists, and frequently collaborates with colleagues and current and ex-students on projects in a variety of roles.
A few recent projects:
- The Chills. “I'll Stick by You” performed and recorded at Larnach's Castle, Dunedin [recording and mixing, later released as a single through Fire Records [UK]
- The Chills. “Destiny” as part of Worlds Within Worlds: The Chills Live from New Zealand. [recording and mixing, live concert video released through Fire Records [UK] and Noon Chorus, 2021]
- Adelaide Cara. “Paranoia” from How Does This Sound. [performer and mix engineer for album by recent ex-student]
- The Chills. “Rocket Science/Lost in Space” [engineer, studio single and B-side released through Fire Records [UK]
- Left or Right. “Trippy” 2015 [producer: studio album]
Publications
Holland, M. (2024, November). It's not real: Hearing, listening, performing and recording practices. Verbal presentation at the University of Otago School of Performing Arts Research Symposium (SPARS2), Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Gilmour, F., Holland, M., & Harlow, H. (2023). #planfornoise. Proceedings of the Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (SAANZ) Conference: Global Challenges, Local Responses. Retrieved from https://www.saanz.net/saanz2023 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
du Plessis, H. (cello), Roberts, M. (lighting designer), Holland, M. (sound engineer), Petersen, T. (violin), & Kalogeropoulou, S. (choreographer) (2023, 18-19 March). TwentyNineteen, at the Dunedin Fringe Festival, and composed by Maddy Parkins-Craig, Te Korokoro o Te Tūī, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Performance]. Performance
Holland, M. (2023). Too many speakers: Sound design and object-based mixing in live classical performance. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the New Zealand Musicological Society (NZMS): Music and Liveness. Retrieved from https://www.nzmusicology.org/otago-2023.html Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Holland, M. (2020). Left or right and independent musical practice in the "Deep South": Succeeding on the margins? In S. Bodkin-Allen (Ed.), Making music at the bottom of the world in Southland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. (pp. 103-120). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars. Chapter in Book - Research