MAYA WAGNER
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MAYA WAGNER
Music Techologist
Music Technologist is truly the only title capable of encompassing Maya Wagner's vast career experiences and aspirations. The musically, technically, and creatively inclined young woman has managed to gain exposure to just about every realm where music and technology intersect.
At thirteen, Maya discovered her passion for music production after learning about "bedroom studios" on YouTube. Realizing she could create "real" music without financial or elitist barriers, she knew right then that she would pursue a career in music technology. Maya quickly became a DAW connoisseur, and earned a spot in Berklee College of Music's competitive Electronic Production and Design program.
While studying at Berklee, Maya discovered that song production was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to fusing music and technology. She quickly found passion in sound synthesis, creative coding, and sound for visual media.
But for Maya, mastering and teaching existing music technology was only the beginning. After completing an internship with the electronic instrument company, Maya joined Artiphon’s team as their first full-time Sound Designer. About one year into Maya’s time working on cutting-edge, hyper-interactive instruments, Artiphon’s Minibeats branch was formed in partnership with Snapchat, and Maya also took on the role of designing musical augmented reality experiences with a small subset of her Artiphon colleagues.
Through it all, Maya has continued producing songs for herself and other artists, and has amassed 50,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram as a result of her short-form music production and lyrical analysis content, collaborating with industry leading players such as Splice, Slate Digital, and Mastering The Mix.
Sharing her knowledge has remained a vital aspect of Maya’s journey as a Music Technologist. From working as a Music Technology Tutor during her time at Berklee, to creating consistent educational social media content, to sitting on Mondo NYC Music Tech Conference’s October 2023 Developments in Consumer Audio Technology Panel, Maya has always found places to educate, as she finds teaching the most effective aid in her own learning journey.
Skills and Specialties
Sound Synthesis
Audio Editing
Sound Design for Picture
Multisampling
Music Production
MIDI Spec Application
Interaction Design
Product Management
Product Marketing
Customer Experience
Content Direction
Video Direction
Video Editing
Motion Graphics
Music Composition
Lyric Writing
Music Theory
Music Notation
Computer Programming
Live Coding
Software Expertise
Ableton Live
Avid Pro Tools
Logic Pro X
Celemony Melodyne
iZotope RX
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects
Final Cut Pro X
Snap AR Lens Studio
TikTok Effect House
Programming
Max MSP
Python
Javascript
Git
Scripting
Supercollider
MiniTidal
Hydra
Sound Design at Artiphon
Orba, Orba 2, Chorda
After connecting with Artiphon via social media sponsorship, Maya became inspired by the company’s unparalleled principal of expression in the electronic instrument space. Inspired by the Orba they sent her, Maya asked Artiphon if they could use an intern.
Maya joined as an intern amidst the launch of Orba 2, and proved the ideal team-member to design the instrument’s onboard sounds ahead of its release. When her internship came to a close, Maya joined the team as Artiphon’s first full-time in-house Sound Designer.
Orba 2 introduced multisampling capabilities to Artiphon’s audio engine. Racing towards the instrument’s release, Maya designed a total of 125 sounds over the span of two months, allowing users to choose from a wide span of genres and sampled instruments. This was a massive attainment for Artiphon, as compared to the mere 50 sounds available to date for Orba 1.
With gesture-controlled sound being Orba 2’s foundation, Maya had an added layer of sound conception, mapping the MIDI CCs sent by Orba’s nine playing gestures to modulate audio engine parameters. Thus, beyond simply creating synth presets, Maya’s role involved thinking about how a basic multi-sampled piano could be transformed into something much more expressive by moving the instrument in space.
Beyond a deep understanding of Synthesis and Interaction Design, creating sounds for Orba 2 required Maya to edit and format XML files readable by the instrument’s firmware, along with applying her knowledge of Git.
Maya continued as Sound Designer through Artiphon’s launch of Chorda, and became heavily involved in Product Marketing as well.
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Sound on!!
Minibeats
Musical Augmented
Reality Interaction Design
Maya led the Interaction Design and technical execution of an AR lens featuring San Holo’s hit song “All The Highs.” The lens lets Snapchat users craft their own version of the song by looking in different directions. The lens has amassed over 8 million plays to date.
Maya played a huge role in the ideation and execution of Minibeats, an extension project developed by a subset of Artiphon employees in collaboration with Snapchat and Warner Music. The Minibeats team focused on creating Augmented Reality experiences that could turn the human body and its environment into a musical instrument.
Through her involvement with the project, Maya discovered her distinctive passion and skill when it came to the intersection of Musical Expression and Interaction Design. She quickly went from knowing nothing about Augmented Reality to designing and scripting fully functional AR experiences using Snap’s Lens Studio.
Educating
Short-Form Tutorial Content
Collaborations Include:
Maya consistently posts short-form music production and songwriting based tutorial content on social media. She has amassed over 50,000 followers across the Instagram and TikTok, and has collaborated on content with industry leading players such as Splice and Slate Digital.
Berklee Creative Technology Center
Maya began as a Lab Monitor at Berklee's Creative Technology Center during her first semester. Recognizing her aptitude, her supervisor quickly promoted her to Peer Tutor. Her tutoring sessions were popular, with students keen to delve into music technology under her guidance.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Maya led the creation of a knowledge base on the Berklee Library website to help bridge the gap left by remote learning. Where her fellow Peer Tutors contributed articles here and there, Maya wrote 50 articles over the course of the pandemic, many reaching upwards of 10,000 visits from Berklee students and alumni.
Academic Conferences and Panels
Can You Hear Me Now? Developments in Consumer Audio Technology Panelist, October 2023
Video Production
Introducing Chorda
creative direction, score, audio post-production
Landslide - Aiida
production, editing
You Know I'm Not Stupid (Official Music Video)
screen writer, director, editor
Sound For Picture
Sound Replacement Demos
