Michail Exarchos (a.k.a. Stereo Mike) is a hip hop musicologist and award-winning rap artist (MTV Best Greek Act), with nominations for multiple VMAs and an MTV Europe Music Award. He is the creative director of music innovation company RT Sixty Ltd, and his publications include articles for Popular Music journal, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Routledge, Bloomsbury Academic, and the Journal of Popular Music Education. His self- produced/engineered album Xli3h has been critically acclaimed as one the 30 Best Greek Hip Hop albums of all time. Mike’s latest book Reimagining Sample-based Hip Hop is now available from Routledge alongside accompanying album KATALH3H (Beats Deluxe).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
01/2022 – PRESENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR | RT Sixty Limited

• Co-director of music innovation company RT60 Ltd, developing mobile applications for the music and audio-visual industries
• Leading UX design, audio production and musicological research for application development
•  Contributor to IP development and patent creation

09/2018 – 01/2022
COURSE LEADER | London College of Music (University of West London)

• Course leader for BA (Hons) Recording, Mixing and Production, and BA (Hons) Music Mixing and Mastering
•  Management, administrative and supervision support for both programmes
• Lead curriculum designer for BA (Hons) Recording, Mixing and Production
•  Associate chair for the Innovation in Music 2019 conference
•  Organising committee member for the IASPM UK & Ireland 2020 conference

11/2017 – 01/2022
SENIOR LECTURER IN MUSIC TECHNOLOGY | London College of Music (UWL)

•  Module leader for Advanced Hybrid Production, Advanced Mixing Techniques, Mix Analysis, Advanced Audio Processing Techniques, Creative Collaboration Project and Creative Music Technology, across a range of UG and PG programmes
• Major Project supervisor on MA Advanced Music Technology, and across UG provision
• Advance UWL (HEA) assessor, and member of the Lead Personal Tutor network and External Examining Degree Standards project (for Advance HE and Office for Students)

2016 – 2021
SIGNED ARTIST / PRODUCER & DIGITAL MEDIA CREATOR | Digital Minds

•  Writing, engineering and producing original music content examining the relationship of contemporary hip hop production to vintage engineering techniques
•  Creating educational content documenting the research in collaboration with Google- certified YouTube-partner Digital Minds (vlog entitled: #HipHopTimeMachine)

01/2020 – 06/2021
EXTERNAL EXAMINER | Ravensbourne University

•  Responsible for monitoring Quality Assurance and Enhancement for the BA (Hons) Music and Sound Design programme

09/2017 – 06/2021
EXTERNAL EXAMINER | University of South Wales

• Responsible for monitoring Quality Assurance and Enhancement for the Faculty of Creative Industries (Music) and the BSc Sound Engineering, and MSc Music Engineering and Production programmes

09/2014 – 09/2018
EXTERNAL EXAMINER | University of East London

• Responsible for monitoring Quality Assurance and Enhancement in Performing Arts and the BSc Music Technology programme

09/2014 – 11/2017
DEPUTY PROGRAMME DIRECTOR | University of Westminster

• Deputy programme director for MA Audio Production and BA (Hons) Commercial Music
•  Contributor to the re-design and successful validation of both programmes
•  Management, administrative and supervision support for both programmes

09/2007 – 11/2017
SENIOR LECTURER IN AUDIO PRODUCTION | University of Westminster

•  Modules led and taught have included: (PG) Music Production and Musicology, Sonic Composition for Interactive Media, Major Project, Audio-visual Production and Cultural Theory, and Programming and Sound Design for Animation; (UG) Technologies for Music Performance, Individual and Group Performance, The Club Show, Music Technology Specialisation, The Released Recording, and Final Project.
• Contributor to the development and successful validation of the MA Applied Sound for Interactive Media and BMus Commercial Music Performance programmes2007 – 2015
  SIGNED ARTIST / PRODUCER | EMI / Universal Music
•  Produced, engineered and performed two critically acclaimed solo albums and multiple collaborations, resulting in one European MTV nomination and five Greek VMA nominations
• Winner of the first MTV Best Greek Act award (2008)
• XLI3H album included in the 30 Best Greek Hip Hop albums of all time (Sonik magazine, 2011)
•  Represented Greece at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest (7th position)
• First Greek artist to perform at SXSW Festival (2013)

09/2013 – 09/2014
VALIDATION EXPERT | University of East London

• External Panel member appointed by the Academic Board Quality and Standards Committee, reviewing the validation of the PGCert Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and BSc (Hons) Music Technology programmes

09/2010 – 09/2013
EXTERNAL EXAMINER | University of Wales

• Responsible for monitoring Quality Assurance and Enhancement on the BA (Hons) Music Production and Engineering programme

09/2008 – 09/2010
VISITING LECTURER | American Intercontinental University

• Delivery of Music Production masterclasses, workshops and seminars
• Instructed students on specialised mixing, programming and production techniques

2004 – 2009
CONTRIBUTOR | Sound On Sound

•  Researched key aspects of interface re-design and expanded functionality for specialised DAWs
• Published a series of specialised articles discussing major software developments and enhancements
• Critically evaluated professional sample library products

2007 – 2008
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSIONAL | Apple

• Selected as a member of a distinguished team of UK professionals specialising in music production and education utilising Apple audio software
• Responsible for demonstrating major software developments to UK resellers, academic audiences and consumers
• Negotiated University of Westminster’s successful accreditation as an Apple Authorised

Centre for Audio

09/2001 – 09/2007
VISITING LECTURER | University of Westminster

• Responsible for module delivery and supervision across the MA Audio Production, BA Commercial Music, BMus Commercial Music Performance and BSc Music Informatics programmes
• Module leader for Recording and Production Process, Digital Music Technology and Audio Synthesis

2004 – 2006
SIGNED ARTIST / PRODUCER | AMG Records / Universal Music

• Produced, engineered and performed a critically acclaimed solo debut album, resulting in a national VMA nomination for Best Hip Hop video and releasing the first DualDisc single in the Greek market
• Supported De La Soul and Busta Rhymes in live concerts/festivals

1999 – 2002
FREELANCE SOUND ENGINEER | Studio / F.O.H.

• Chief in-house engineer for Vault Recording Studios, specialising in hip hop mixing, programming and remix work
• Front-of-house engineer for numerous venues and clients, including: Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Essential Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, BBC3, Groningen Festival, Purple In The Park, Sophie Ellis-Bextor UK tour

EDUCATION
09/2015 – 12/2021
PHD IN MUSIC PRODUCTION | London College of Music (University of West London)

Research entitled: “Reimagining the ‘Phonographic’ in Sample-based Hip Hop: Making Records within Records”

09/2014 – 06/2015
PGCERT IN HIGHER EDUCATION | Westminster Business School (University of Westminster)

Awarded with Distinction; HEA Fellowship accreditation

09/1999 – 09/2000
MA IN AUDIO PRODUCTION | University of Westminster

Awarded with Distinction

09/1996 – 06/1999
BSC (HONS) IN MUSIC TECHNOLOGY | Leeds College of Music / Leeds Metropolitan University

Awarded with First Class Honours and winner of Best Student Prize

PUBLICATIONS

• Exarchos, M. (2024) Reimagining Sample-based Hip Hop: Making Records within Records. New York, Routledge.
• Lord, J. and Exarchos, M. (2024) Dynamic Meta-Spatialization: Narrative and Recontextualization Implications of Spatial Stage Stacking. In: Innovation in Music: Cultures and Contexts. Oxon, Routledge: 90-103.
• Exarchos, M. (2022) Sonic Materiality and Boom-Bap Embodiment in Conway’s “Biscotti Biscuit”: An Autoethnography of Recording Analysis. In: Analyzing Recorded Music. New York, Focal Press: 231-247.
• Exarchos, M. (2021) Making Records within Records: Manufacturing Phonographic “Otherness” in Sample-based Hip Hop Production. In: Innovation in Music: Future Opportunities. Oxon, Focal Press: 37-55.
• Exarchos, M. (2021) “Past” Masters, Present Beats: Exponential Sound Staging as Sample-based (Re)Mastering in Contemporary Hip Hop Practice. In: Perspectives on Music Production: Mastering in Music. Oxon, Focal Press: 136-154.
• Exarchos, M. (2020) Sonic Necessity and Compositional Invention in #BluesHop: Composing the Blues for Sample-based Hip Hop. Journal of Popular Music Studies.
•  Exarchos, M. and Zagorski-Thomas, S. (2020) Audio Processing. In: The Bloomsbury Handbook of Music Production. USA, Bloomsbury.
• Exarchos, M. (2020) Synth Sonics as Stylistic Signifiers in Sample-based Hip-hop: Synthetic Aesthetics from ‘Old-school’ to Trap. In: Synthesisers: Meaning though Sonics. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Exarchos, M. (2019) (Re)engineering the Cultural Object: Sonic Pasts in Hip-hop’s Future.
• In: Innovation in Music: Performance, Production, Technology, and Business. New York, Routledge: 437-454.
• Exarchos, M. (2019) Sample Magic: (Conjuring) Phonographic Ghosts and Meta-illusions in Contemporary Hip-hop Production. Popular Music, 38 (1): 33-53.
• Exarchos, M. (2019) Boom Bap ex Machina: Hip-hop Aesthetics and the Akai MPC. In: Producing Music: Perspectives on Music Production. New York, Routledge.
• Exarchos, M. (2019) Hip-hop Time Machine – Re-imagining the ‘Phonographic’ in Sample-based Hip-hop Record Production: Research Design for Contemporary Forms of Creative Audio Practice. New Vistas, 4 (2): 22-27.
• Exarchos, M. (2018) Hip-Hop Pedagogy as Production Practice: Reverse-engineering the Sample- based Aesthetic. Journal of Popular Music Education, 2 (1-2): 45-64.
• Exarchos, M. and Skinner, G. (2018) Bass – the Wider Frontier: Low-end Stereo Placement for Headphone Listening. Journal on the Art of Record Production, 12.
  
  CONFERENCES
  
• June 2022 – Innovation in Music Conference. ‘Dynamic Meta-spatialization: Narrative and Recontextualization Implications of Spatial Stage Stacking’, Stockholm, Sweden.
• July 2020 – London Calling: 15th IASPM UK & Ireland Conference. ‘Sample-based Hip Hop as Metamodern Phonographic Practice: An Autoethnography of Oscillating Between – and Beyond – Analogue Nostalgia and Digital Futurism’, London, UK.
•  June 2020 – The Autoethnography of Composition and the Composition of Autoethnography. ‘Sonic Autoethnography as Reflexive Meta-Frame for Arts-based Research: Reimagining the ‘Phonographic’ in Sample-based Hip Hop’, Surrey, UK.
• December 2019 – Innovation in Music Conference. ‘Making Records within Records: Manufacturing Phonographic ‘Otherness’ in Sample-based Hip Hop Production’, London, UK.
• July 2019 – Diva: Hip-Hop, Feminism, Fierceness Conference. ‘Power, Identity, Reflexivity and Independence in Noname’s Room 25: Slams, Raps and Lyrical Sonification’, Wolverhampton, UK.
•  June 2019 – Elements Bristol: 2nd meeting of the European Hiphop Studies Network. ‘BoomBap as Element: Reimagining the Phonographic in Sample-based HipHop from the Lens of a European Beat- maker’, Bristol, UK.
• May 2019 – Art of Record Production Conference. ‘Feedin’ my Controller: Re-imagining the
• ‘Phonographic’ in Boom-bap Rap’, Berklee, MA, USA.
• September 2018 – Audio Engineering Society (AES) Mastering Conference. ‘‘Past’ Masters | Present
• Beats: Exponential Spatial Merging as Sample-based (Re)Mastering in Contemporary Hip-Hop Practice’, London, UK.
•  September 2018 – Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice – the Joint Conference of
• IASPM UK&I, ASARP, Dancecult and ISMMS. ‘Soul Survivor: The Contemporary Inter-Stylistic Success of the Fender Precision Electric Bass’, and ‘Let me ‘Flip’ your Stage: Exponential Spatial Merging in Sample-based Hip-Hop Practice’, Huddersfield, UK.
• December 2017 – Combined Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia and the New Zealand Musicological Society. ‘From Clash to Future: Glitch-Hop and the Heartbeats of Papatūānuku)’, and ‘Hip-Hop ‘Chopping’ as Live Editing of the Phonographic Past: An Interactive Manipulation of Historically- Informed and Reverse-Engineered Musical Ephemera’, Auckland, New Zealand.
• December 2017 – Art of Record Production Conference. ‘From Southern (T)Rap to Club Atmos: A Live Performance of Samples, Beats and Modular Synthesis Exploring the Inter-stylistic Evolution of ‘Synth-Hop’ in Surround’, and ‘Mono Samples | Stereo 'Joints': Exposing Hip-Hop's M.O. in Surround’, Stockholm, Sweden.
• June 2017 – Music Production Education Conference. ‘Hybrid Hip-Hop Production as Pedagogical Paradigm’, York, UK.
• December 2016 – Art of Record Production Conference. ‘Borrowed Space and (Re)Construction in #Blues-Hop: Capturing the Blues in Pursuit of Vintage Spatial Signatures in Sample-based Hip-Hop’, Aalborg, Denmark.
• November 2016 – New Zealand Musicological Society Annual Conference. ‘Sonic Necessity and Compositional Invention in #Blues-Hop: Composing the Blues for Sample-Based Hip-Hop’, Wellington, New Zealand.
•  November 2016 – 2nd Annual Synthposium. ‘Synth Sonics as Stylistic Signifiers in Sample-Based Hip-
• Hop: Synthetics Aesthetics from ‘Old School’ to Trap’’, Melbourne, Australia.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
KATALH3H (Beats Deluxe) (album) | Red Planet Records, 2023

Bomoko (Grupo Lokito) (album: recording, mixing, production) | Malekon Records, 2022 Ammochostos (remix, production) | Independent, 2018

Minthis advertisement (sound engineering) | Minthis, 2017 Xaos (Remix) | IRL, 2016

To Oneiro | Imiz Biz Entertainment, 2015

2013 Open Air Cinemas In Athens (film soundtrack) | RGB Studios & Stagetrick Entertainments, 2014 Bentley advertisement (sound engineering/design) | Bentley Motors Limited, 2013

Puma Oil advertisement (sound engineering)| Puma Oil, 2013 Tonight and Forever | Feelgood Records, 2013

De S’ Afino Ap’ Ta Matia Mou | Universal, 2012 Akoma | SchiZm / EMI, 2011

ANELI3H (album) | EMI, 2011

To Sklavaki Tis Agapis | Sony, 2011 Now I Know | EMI, 2010

O Paradisos Ine Makria | Lyra, 2009

Ti Na Mas Kani I Nichta | Sony, 2009 Piase Me | Sony, 2008

S’ Opion Aresi | EMI, 2008 XLI3H (album) | EMI, 2008

O Mikros Rokas | To Pio Oreo Tipota | Ola Alazoun | EMI, 2007 O,ti Ke Na Pis | EMI, 2007

Rap Tou Tipota | EMI, 2006

Robot Poetry | The Sound Of Everything, 2006 O Alos Babis / I Polis (DualDisc)| Universal, 2005

Satiri Nomades (album) | Mo’ Money Recording$ / AMG Records, 2004

AWARDS WON
Creative Catalyst (RT60 Ltd) | UK Research and Innovation (£50,000), 2023 Arts Council (Bomoko, Grupo Lokito, album) | Arts Council England, 2022

Excellent Support of Students | University of Westminster (Students’ Union), 2017 Best Conference Paper | New Zealand Musicological Society, 2016

Excellence in Student Support | University of Westminster (Students’ Union), 2016 Academic Support | University of Westminster (Students’ Union), 2015

Non-Academic Support | University of Westminster (Student’s Union), 2015 Academic Support | University of Westminster (Student’s Union), 2014 Outstanding Teacher | University of Westminster (Student’s Union), 2012 Innovation in Teaching | University of Westminster (Student’s Union), 2012 Gold Disc | IFPI (Greek Music Industry), Sony Music, 2009

Best Greek Act | MTV Europe Music Awards, 2008

Best Student Prize (BSc Music Technology) | Computer Enhancement Limited, 1999

NOMINATIONS
Best Duet | Greek VMAs | MAD TV, 2010

Best Male Artist | Greek VMAs | MAD TV, 2009 Best Hip-Hop Video | Greek VMAs | MAD TV, 2009 Best Hip-Hop Video | Greek VMAs | MAD TV, 2008 Europe’s Favourite Act | MTV Europe, 2008

Best Greek Act | MTV Europe, 2008

Best Video | Greek VMAs | MAD TV, 2008

Best Hip-Hop Video | Greek VMAs | MAD TV, 2006

FURTHER INFORMATION
Musical Instruments
·         Piano/keyboards, sampling, drum-machines, electric bass, guitar, vocals/rap

Languages
·         English, Greek, Croatian