Sound Recording Staff

Francis Rumsey, BMus(Tonmeister), PhD(Sur.), FAES

Until July 2009 Dr Francis Rumsey was Professor of Sound Recording in the Institute of Sound Recording at the University of Surrey. He had been Guest Professor at the School of Music in Piteå, Sweden from 1998-2004. He specialised in spatial audio and psychoacoustics. Prior to his appointment in January 1986 he worked as a Lecturer and then Product Management Engineer for Sony Broadcast, specialising in audio recording and synchronisation products; and for the audio consultancy, Angus McKenzie Laboratories, specialising in computer-based testing for hi-fi equipment.

From 1997-2000 Dr Rumsey was involved in a European research collaboration in the field of multichannel sound: the MEDUSA project (Eureka 1653). He has secured funding worth over £700,000 for research in sound recording including support from EPSRC and Sony and is has recently completed a project on surround sound quality evaluation in collaboration with the BBC Research Department and Bang & Olufsen.

Dr Rumsey has published a total of eight books on audio and music technology for Focal Press, including Spatial Audio, The Digital Interface Handbook (with John Watkinson), MIDI Systems and Control, and Desktop Audio Technology, and has contributed articles to all the major professional audio and broadcast journals. He has held posts as Technical Editor of Sound Engineer and Producer and EQ magazines, and was a Technical Consultant to Studio Sound. He has held both the Royal Television Society Lecture Award and the BKSTS Dennis Wratten Journal Award, and was shortlisted for the Kraszna-Krauz Book Awards in 1994. He won the University of Surrey Teaching and Learning Prize in 1992. Dr Rumsey has presented papers at numerous conferences and conventions of the Audio Engineering Society, the Institute of Acoustics, and the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

During the late 1980s and early 90s, Francis Rumsey was instrumental in setting up training courses in stereo sound for the Independent Television Association, and taught over 200 sound engineers in the ITV network during that period. The ITV stereo training courses won a National Training Award in 1990. In 1992 Francis Rumsey was made Chairman of the British Section of the Audio Engineering Society, and has acted as a Director of AES Ltd. In 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the AES and served as Vice President, Northern Europe Region from October 1995 to 1997. He is chairman of the AES Membership Committee and Technical Committee for Multichannel and Binaural Technology.

In his spare time, Francis Rumsey is an active musician. He has deputised as an organist at Guildford Cathedral, sings in the Guildford Chamber Choir, accompanies singers and plays the organ at local churches.

Publications List