Philip Strong

Philip Strong

Philip Strong is an award winning Canadian composer, sound designer and engineer. He's created numerous soundtracks for film and for dance productions, and worked with recording artists such as Mary Jane Lamond, Laurel MacDonald and John Oswald, to name a few. He's been the principal sound composer for Christopher House and Toronto Dance Theatre, since 1999, and teaches Film Sound and Music at the Audio Recording Academy, in Toronto, as well.

I originally found his work on the Musicworks 60 compilation, which was put out in 1994, and was intrigued to subsequently discover his role in the creation of John Oswald's CD, Plexure (1993). He acted as "electroquote engineer," sorting through the hundreds of examples of pop music which eventually came together to form Oswald's pop music retrospective, sampling nothing but pop songs released on Compact Disc (1982-1992). Strong is also responsible for the image map in Grayfolded's liner notes, detailing the location of each of the countless Grateful Dead samples within that Plunderphonic composition.

Check out his website for more information, including the low down on his installation "A Time To Hear For Here," (also with John Oswald, at the Royal Ontario Museum). Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Philip Strong...


*Name: Philip Strong

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: Somnambulab, Plunderphonics

*Do you use a pseudonym? No

*Members: Phil Strong, Laurel MacDonald (Somnambulab)

*Founding Members: Phil Strong, Laurel MacDonald

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: DIGITAL [de]CONSTRUCTIONS

*Another genre descriptor: Temporal Resynthesis

*Why you use this descriptor: Music is time-based and time-stamped (as it were). Manipulating recorded music is messing with temporal and emotional references.

*Location: Toronto, Canada

*What is your creative/artistic background: Mentor: John Oswald - Also involved with sound for picture and installation, live performance.

*History: 15 years

*Born: Toronto, Canada

*Motivations: I suck at everything else.

*Philosophy: Just investigating the universe.

*How would you like to be remembered: I would like to be remembered as someone who helped create pinnacle experiences for others.

*Web address: Phil-Strong.com


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