Darling Named Assistant Chair of Electronic Production and Design

Michele Darling will join the Electronic Production and Design Department at Berklee College of Music as assistant chair on August 1. She will be the first assistant chair in the history of the department. Darling brings a unique combination of professional experience, including administrative experience in music technology education and a passion for electronic music and sound design.

Darling is an accomplished sound designer, composer, recording engineer, and educator who fell in love with electronic music and sound creation at an early age. She worked for many years as part of an Emmy Award-winning production team at Sesame Workshop, where she composed music, worked on sound design, and recorded voice work for Muppets characters.

Her career highlights include sound work for several animated television shows, such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, online media, games, and applications for clients such as 4Kids Entertainment, HBO Family, the Learning Channel, Moshi Monsters, Toca Boca, Hasbro, Disney Interactive, Morton Subotnick, and the Criterion Collection.

She joined the faculty at Long Island University as an area head and associate professor of audio before moving into the director of education role at the pioneering electronic music school Dubspot. While there, she helped advance innovative approaches to music tech education, managing music production and DJ teachers. Currently, she is a member of the Ableton sound design team, making Ableton Live sound presets for multigenre music producers worldwide.

“Michele has the unique combination of experience as an artist, professional, teacher, and administrator along with a deep understanding of electronic music and culture. We look forward to the perspective she will bring to her work here as a colleague and as a mentor for our students,” said Michael Bierylo, chair of Electronic Production and Design.

Darling holds a Bachelor of Science in music from Indiana University School of Music and a Master of Music in music technology from New York University. She is a founding member of Aerostatic, where she, along with Terry Golob, composes and designs audio environments for films, installations, and music performances featured in galleries and festivals around the world. She is also the founder of the New York-based performance collective Girls Like Bass, a house- and funk-influenced band that collaborates with musicians, dancers, and visual artists.