Kirk Pearson
I am a nonbinary creative director, composer, and educator with a career focused on building sustainable infrastructure for the arts and sciences. My specialty is taking "outside-the-box" ideas and turning them into scalable, community-focused organizations.
My work as a composer and sound designer has been featured at Sundance, SXSW, and Cannes, appearing in projects for Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, Adult Swim, and Julie Andrews, as well as global campaigns for Google, Nike, and Meta.
I am the founder of Dogbotic, a creative audio studio where I’ve taught thousands of students from fifty countries how to build synthesizers from scratch—a subject I literally wrote the book on (Electronic Music From Scratch, Make: Publications).
If you’re the kind of person that cares about academic credentials, hold a Bachelor of Music in composition and a Bachelor of Arts in geology and film from Oberlin College and Conservatory—a multidisciplinary foundation that led me to spend a year as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow researching experimental musical instruments in over 20 countries. I am a published paleontologist with the American Museum of Natural History, where I researched trilobites.
Currently, I live in Berkeley and much of my efforts are focused on the Bay Area’s DIY music and arts community. I am a proud co-founder of The Planetarium, a new all-ages performance space in Richmond, CA. Through 2025, I served as the Head of Sound at the legendary 924 Gilman Street.
I cut my sandwiches diagonally.
kirkpear at gmail dot com
Clients & Collaborators
Google • Hulu • Meta • Amazon/Audible • Rihanna (Savage X Fenty) • Adult Swim • Adobe • Toyota • Sundance Film Festival • SXSW • History Channel • Julie Andrews • The United Nations (UNHCR) • REI • Blue Apron • NFL • WFMU • KALX • American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
Press
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[KQED] Inside the Planetarium, Richmond’s New All-Ages DIY Venue Where Anything Goes (Jan 2026)
A feature on the mission of our Richmond arts hub The Planetarium, highlighting the "Cosmik Debris" series which pairs high-energy bands with unconventional performance art acts.
[Richmond Standard] All-ages ‘The Planetarium’ brings music and more to Richmond (Jan 2026)
An article on The Planetarium and its role as a safe, substance-free community space.
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[Richmondside] All-ages music venue The Planetarium opens Jan. 2 in Richmond (Dec 2025)
A feature on the mission of The Planetarium and the importance of DIY venues in the East Bay
[WFMU Techtonic] Unveiling our new theme song by Kirk Pearson (June 2025)
Host Mark Hurst debuts the program’s new theme and a discussion of the custom-built instruments used
[Make:cast] Making Electronic Music with Kirk Pearson (April 2025)
An interview with Dale Dougherty about Electronic Music From Scratch and the founding of Dogbotic Labs
[WFMU Techtonic] Kirk Pearson, author, "Electronic Music From Scratch" (Jan 2025)
A surprisingly technical (but fun!) interview about the DIY synth movement and the release of my book via Make: Community
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[Embedded.fm] Episode 491: Oscillators Oscillating Other Oscillators (Dec 2024)
[Maker Faire Bay Area] Keynote: Sound Foraging with Dogbotic (Sept 2024)
A live (aaa!) presentation at Maker Faire ‘24 about the principles of sound design
[The BOM: Engineering a Path Forward] How A Music Collective Is Reimagining Sound Engineering (March 2024)
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[Cybernetic Forests] Sound in the Shape of Electricity (April 2023)
A long-form interview Eryk Salvaggio (a former workshop participant of mine!) regarding the "creative misuse" of technology and the philosophical origins of Dogbotic as an audio laboratory
[Radio Survivor] Podcast #309: Ear Retraining with Dogbotic (July 2021)
An interview discussing the pedagogical goals of the "Ear Re-Training" workshop and the future of independent community media
[Cosmic Tape Music Club] Episode 5: Kirk of Dogbotic Interview (June 2021)
A conversation with the experimental pop duo The Galaxy Electric about the practice of “cassette hacking.”
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[Music Manumit Podcast] Kirk Pearson: Independent Media and Creative Commons (Nov 2017)
[Oberlin College News] Memory_Archive Explores Digital Identity (April 2017)
A feature on my senior project, a four-story installation that utilized custom data-scraping software to make a point about social media surveillance (back when that was still an interesting statement)
[Oberlin Review] Around the World with a Watson Fellowship (May 2017)
Say Hello
What I’m Up To
A cassette I produced for the syndicated radio program Techtonic with Mark Hurst is being offered as one of this year’s WFMU Marathon Premiums. It features all the tracks I wrote for the show, created on synthesizers I built myself. If you pledge a not-lot of money, you can get the cassette and help the coolest radio station on earth survive another year of federal cuts.
On top of regular showrunning duties at at The Planetarium in Richmond, I book and host “COSMIK DEBRIS,” a variety performance night. Our next show is on April 24th at 7 PM, and will feature magician Michael Nuygen, puppet act Sockadelic, and the bands UFO BABY, Lost Puppy Forever, and The Globs.
Also, every month at The Little Hill Lounge this year I’ll be performing a sideshow/magic act as Professor Vex, if that’s your kind of thing.