Biography
Daniel ("Dr. Dan") Dehaan is a composer, sound designer, performer, and educator based in Chicago who has been creating music and sounds for interactive installations, video games, films, concerts, and virtual/augmented/interactive experiences for more than two decades.
Remaining engaged with Chicago's music communities for more than a decade has afforded Dr. Dehaan numerous opportunities to work with some truly inspiring people and organizations from around the world on a range of projects. Some of his more recent collaborations have included working with Waveplant Studio to create all the sounds and music for T-Mobile 5G&Me Experience Center, the sounds for the VR game, "The Last Clockwinder", and an interactive installation that turned the heartbeat of strangers into a musical experience in realtime. Outside of his work with Waveplant Studio, Dr. Dehaan's recent creative work has included composing the original score for a short film "Blight", performing an hour-long electronic improvisation to the sights and sounds of 30 cellos being submerged in a swimming pool, collaborating with astrophysicists to bring sound to the formation of distant galaxies, programming custom electronics for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusicNow series, live streaming an audio/visual performance from Chicago to the Audio Art Festival in Kraków, Poland, and developing original musical works for virtual realities.
From the KROME Gallery in Berlin, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to the Centro Cultural de España in Costa Rica, Dr. Dehaan's music has been performed at a variety of venues all over of the world. He has had the privilege of collaborating with many talented musicians, ensembles, and artists such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Dal Niente, GPS-Trans, Fonema Consort, and The Industry of the Ordinary. His work has been discussed in many publications including TIME Magazine, New Music Box, the Chicago Reader, BuzzFeed, and Business Insider.
Dehaan holds a doctorate in Music Composition and Technology from Northwestern University and is the Assitant Professor of Music Technology at Columbia College Chicago where he teaches classes and private lessons graduate and undergraduate students in digital music composition, production, and performance.
Instructional Areas
Music Technology, Music Composition, Sound Design, Electronic Music Composition & Performance, Music and Sound Designed for Augmented and Virtual Realities, Musical Programming
Creative Practice and Research Interests
Eurorack Synthesizer Systems for Musical Composition and Performance, Audio Art and Installations, Custom Controller and Interaction Design for Musical Performance, Sound Design and Environmental Modeling for Mixed Realities
Degrees
B.M., Music Columbia College Chicago 2011
D.M.A., Composition Major Northwestern University 2019