Douglas Quin is a sound designer, naturalist, public radio commentator, educator and music composer. For the past 30 years Quin has traveled widely documenting the natural soundscape—from Antarctic ice to Arctic tundra and from African savannah to Amazon rainforest. His recordings of endangered and disappearing habitats represent one of the most unique and extensive collections anywhere. Among other projects, Quin created the sound design for and mixed Werner Herzog's Academy Award® nominated film, "Encounters at the End of the World" and worked variously on "Jurassic Park III," "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" as well as documentaries for television and radio. He contributed to the sound design for "Spore," a game from Maxis/Electronic Arts and has also worked on exhibits for the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, American Museum of Natural History and the Polish Academy of Sciences, among others.
He is currently developing "Paradise," an interactive soundscape installation in collaboration with Lorne Covington. The project, commissioned by the Society for New Music, was featured at the Venice International Performance Art Week in Italy in December, 2016. Other recent work includes a fellowship at the National Film and Sound Archive Australia and Liquid Architecture Sound Art Festival and Tour in Australia where he presented a series of multi-channel soundscapes. In 2012 he was commissioned by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology to create a multichannel sound art installation focused on the soundscapes of the island of Madeira. He continues his involvement as a bioacoustics researcher with the Kagu Recovery Plan, World Wildlife Fund and Conservation Research New Caledonia in conservation efforts to protect the critically endangered kagu bird. Quin’s extensive polar work includes a commission from West German Radio in Cologne for a live satellite sound art project from Antarctica and "Polar Suite," for the award-winning Kronos Quartet featuring soundscapes and interactive electronics using the K-Bow—an innovative bow controller by instrument builder, Keith McMillen.
Quin received his BA in Art from Oberlin College, where he studied electronic music with Dary John Mizelle. He earned an MFA in Sculpture and Media Arts from the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University, where he studied music composition with T. J. Anderson and sound art with Richard Lerman. He received his PhD in Acoustic Ecology from the Union Institute. His work has been performed at numerous festivals and venues including Merkin Hall, The Kitchen, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Spoleto Festival USA. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Ars Acustica International prize, Meet the Composer, multiple fellowships in music composition from the National Endowment for the Arts and support from the National Science Foundation.
Quin is an Associate Professor in the Television, Radio and Film Department at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.