Education

Ph.D. in Sound Recording                                                                                                                        09/2016 – 05/2023

McGill University, Montréal, QC

M.Mus. in Sound Recording                                                                                                                       09/2013 – 05/2016

McGill University, Montréal, QC

BFA in Electroacoustic Studies                                                                                                                09/2008 – 05/2012

Concordia University, Montréal, QC

Employment History

Assistant Professor (Professional)                                                                                                              08/2023 –Present

McGill University, Montréal, QC.

Part time faculty member at the Music Research departments of the Schulich School of Music at McGill Univerity. Teaching graduate-level courses including advanced technical ear training, digital studio technologies, electroacoustic measurement, spatial audio post production techniques, and audio research methods for Ph.D students.

Ambisonic IR Measurement Consulting                                                                                                      11/2022 – Present

Eidos, Montréal, QC.

Consulting for the gaming industry on the development of acoustic measurement and impulse response convolution strategies using ambisonics. The work involves measurement in the field (both outdoor and indoor settings), as well as post-processing and implementation in the game engine.

Research & Development                                                                                                                           08/2022 – Present

MNTRA Instruments, Montréal, QC.

Digital signal processing development. Designer for ambisonic convolution reverberation application, as well as various stereo effects. Projects include spatial impulse response measurement, plugin design strategy, software prototyping in Max/MSP.

Immersive Sound Engineer                                                                                                                         08/2021 –12/2022

Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music and Media Technology (CIRMMT)

Sound engineering for immersive music productions. Spatialization of live electronics to 32 loudspeaker array, ambisonic capture / decoding, binaural rendering, networked audio via AVB, and operating virtual acoustics (Meyer Constellation system).   

Course Lecturer / Instructor                                                                                                                      09/2016 – 04/2022

McGill University, Montréal, QC.

Graduate

Immersive Audio Seminar. Semester-long course for master’s students focused on practical use immersive audio technologies. TA responsible for workshops on the use of ambisonic technology for music recording, multichannel recording using spaced microphone arrays, one-on-one immersive mix critiques and tutoring.

Digital Studio Technologies. Semester-long course for master’s students focused on in-depth understanding of digital audio technologies. Topics included digital basics, sampling theory, A/D conversion, dither, convolution, audio over IP, and perceptual coding.

Undergraduate

Intro to Electroacoustics. Semester-long course focused on transducer designs, impedance, room acoustics (small and performance), impulse response measurement, convolution techniques, and introduces basic research methods for audio science.

Video and Media Production. Semester-long course covering the basics of video production, in real-time and controlled studio environments. I produced and directed 3 live webcasts per term (opera companies, symphony orchestras, big band jazz ensembles, and contemporary music ensembles).

Freelance Recording/Mix Engineer                                                                                                             09/2012 - Present

See ‘Recordings’ page for a selection of recent projects

Publications

J. Kelly, “Subjective Evaluations of Spatial Room Impulse Response Convolution Techniques in Channel- and Scene-based Paradigms”, Ph.D. Thesis, McGill University, 2023.

J. Kelly, R. King, and W. Woszczyk, ‘A Perceptual Evaluation of Spatial Room Impulse Responses Captured Using Spaced Higher-Order Ambisonic Microphone Arrays’ 153rd AES Convention, New York, Oct, 2022.

J. Kelly, R. King, and W. Woszczyk, ‘A Perceptual Evaluation of Spatial Room Impulse Responses Convolved with Multichannel Direct Sound’ 153rd AES Convention, New York, Oct, 2022.

J. Kelly and W. Woszczyk, ‘Channel-based versus ambisonics techniques for capture and auralization of room impulse responses’, International Congress on Acoustics, Oct 24, 2022.

R. King, W. Woszczyk, J. Kelly, R. Bridgett, B. D’Olivera, and R. Rubilar, ‘Implementation of multiple synchronous immersive music recordings into a video game engine’, International Congress on Acoustics, Oct 24, 2022.

F. Grond, J. Kelly, and W. Woszczyk, ‘Spaced A-B Placements of Higher-Order Ambisonics Microphone Arrays: Techniques for Recording and Balancing Direct and Ambient Sound’ Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan (special issue on high-reality audio), March 1st, 2022.

J. Kelly, R. King, and W. Woszczyk, ‘3D Impulse Response Convolution with Multichannel Direct Sound: Assessing Perceptual Equivalency between Source- and Room- Impression for Music Production’ 150th AES Convention, Las Vegas, Oct 20th, 2021.

J. Kelly, R. King, and W. Woszczyk, ‘Are You There?: A Literature Review of Presence for Immersive Music Reproduction’ 149th AES Convention, New York, Oct 20th, 2020

J. Kelly, R. King, and W. Woszczyk, ‘A Novel Spatial Impulse Response Capture Technique for Realistic Artificial Reverberation in the 22.2 Multichannel Audio Format’ 147th AES Convention, New York, Oct 8th, 2019

M. Boerum, J. Kelly, D. Quiroz, and P. Cheiban ‘The Effect of Virtual Environments on Localization during a 3D Audio Production Task’ 2018 AES International Conference on Spatial Reproduction - Aesthetics and Science (July 2018)

J. Kelly and D. Quiroz ‘The Mixing Glove and Leap Motion Controller: Exploratory Research and Development of Gesture Controllers for Audio Mixing’. 142nd AES Convention Proceedings, May 11th, 2017

R. King, B. Leonard, W. Howie, and J. Kelly, ‘Real or Illusion? A Comparative Study of Captured Ambiance vs. Artificial Reverberation in Immersive Audio Applications’. 142nd AES Convention Proceedings, May 11th, 2017

R. King, W. Howie, and J. Kelly ‘A Survey of Suggested Techniques for Height Channel Capture in Multichannel Recording’. 140th AES Convention Proceedings, May 26th, 2016

Conference Presentations

·       International Congress on Acoustics, Gyeongju, Korea, Oct 24, 2022.

·       153rd AES Convention, New York, Oct, 2022.

·       Sound, Space, and the Aesthetics of the Sublime. CCRMA conference, Stanford, California. May 21-22, 2022.

·       Ircam Forum @ Montreal, Canada, February 11-12, 2021.

·       150th AES Convention, Las Vegas, USA, Oct 20th, 2021.

·       149th AES Convention, New York, USA, Oct 20th, 2020.

·       147th AES Convention, New York, USA, Oct 8th, 2019.

·       AES International Conference on Spatial Reproduction - Aesthetics and Science, Tokyo, Japan, August 7-9, 2018.

·       Timbre 2018: Timbre is a Many-Splendored Thing, International conference, McGill University. July 4-8, 2018.

·       142nd AES Convention, Berlin, Germany, May 11th, 2017.

Scholarships

SSHRC Joseph Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship                                                                 3-year term, 2017 - 2020

Schulich Graduate Scholarship, McGill University                                                                                     Awarded in 2016

AES Educational Foundation’s Harman Scholar                                                            Awarded in 2015, renewed in 2016

John Bradley Award for Excellence in Sound Recording.                                                              Awarded in 2015 & 2016

Relevant Skills

Languages:

·       Bilingual English and French

 Practical Expertise:

·       Expert knowledge of Avid’s Protools and Merging Technology’s Pyramix including Digital Audio Workstation software and their related hardware/IP ecosystems. Expert knowledge of Cockos Reaper, Izotope plugin suite, and other industry-standard plugins.

·       Expert knowledge of spatial audio tools including IEM plugin Suite, Aalto’s SPARTA and COMPASS, BlueRipple Sound’s O3A, ambiX, Zylia plugin suite, mhAcoustics Eigenmike plugin suite, DearReality, SpatRevolution, IRCAM and FLUX tools, HARPEX, Dolby Atmos Production Suite, Auro 3D, Sony360 RA, Klang, and BACCH dsp.

·       Considerable experience mounting and calibrating multichannel loudspeaker playback systems in studio control rooms and live applications, including orthogonal arrays for ambisonics.

·       Experience using Audiokinetic’s Wwise for game audio integration and authoring.

Research Skills :

·       Statistical analysis using R, Excel, and Matlab

·       Fluent in preparing manuscripts using either Microsoft Word or LaTex

·       Advanced knowledge of visual programming language Max/MSP

· Working knowledge of MATLAB for electroacoustic measurement and audio DSP