Leonard Menon is currently a grad student enrolled in McGill's Masters of Sound Recording program. A second generation Canadian, Menon began his musical journey as a guitar player and performer based in Edmonton, Alberta. He had a fascination with all things music-related and guided by his love for the art, he decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in Digital Audio Arts at the University of Lethbridge in 2017. His first publication came during the third year of his bachelor's degree and was based on designing and testing Active Binaural Headphones which used binaural processing hardware. Titled "Click-to-Music Ratio: Using Active Headphones to Increase the Gap," it was presented at the AES Convention in 2020. Continuing his pursuit of education and research, he worked closely with Dr. Amandine Pras as a research assistant, tasked with analyzing and indexing West African music producers' DAW production techniques. During the summer of 2020, he was awarded with the Chinook Summer Research Award, and was able to continue his research under the supervision of Pras. Menon later received the Joyce and Ron Sakamoto Prize for Research and Development in Digital Audio Arts and used it to run a music production and fundamental music harmony workshop for South Sudanese immigrants and refugees in Calgary, Alberta with fellow alumni Toby Bol.
After beginning the first year of his master's at McGill in 2021, Menon was invited to test the Active Binaural Headphones at University of Victoria's AUDIO+ Workshop. His second publication came in June of 2022 when an open-access book chapter he wrote with Valentin Bauer, Dimitri Soudoplatoff, and Pras was published. Edited by Brian Katz, the chapter explored the authors' research in Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality binaural technologies on performance. With a deep interest in binaural audio, he applied to intern at KLANG:technologies in Germany during the summer of 2022, helping him learn the fundamental software dimension of digital audio. During this internship, Menon was invited by Pras to present a keynote detailing his binaural research at University York's Music Masters Symposium.
Department of Music Award of Distinction, University of Lethbridge (2021)
Nominated for the Gold Medal Award, University of Lethbridge (2021)
Dean's Honour List, University of Lethbridge (2017 — 2021)
Agnes Turcotte Memorial Scholarship, University of Lethbridge (2020)
The Joyce and Ron Sakamoto Prize for Research in Digital Audio Arts (2020)
Travel and Conference Grant, University of Lethbridge (2020)
Digital Audio Arts Undergraduate Award, University of Lethbridge (2019, 2020)
The Chinook Summer Research Award, University of Lethbridge (2020)
Jason Lang Scholarship, University of Lethbridge (2018, 2019)
Sakamoto Digital Audio Arts Award, University of Lethbridge (2019)
Currently enrolled in M.Mus in Sound Recording, 2021-2023 (McGill University)
B.Mus in Digital Audio Arts, 2017-2021 (University of Lethbridge, with Great Distinction)
Sound Recording Technician, McGill University (2021-now)
Research Assistant, SSHRC (2020-2022)
Music Instructor, Lethbridge Music Academy (2019-2021)
Sound Engineer and Stage Manager, University of Lethbridge (2019-2021)
Interned, KLANG:technologies (May 2022-Aug 2022)
The resources for research that is available from the countless presentations, e-papers, and the journal are invaluable contributors to my understanding and continued pursuit of becoming a professional in the audio industry.
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