Morrell RnD

Founder & Audio Software Developer - Morrell R&D

Self Employed • Self-employed

Nov 2017 - Present • 8 yrs 9 mos

Self-employed audio software developer operating under Morrell R&D, specialising in real-time DSP and audio plugin/application development in C++ and JUCE. Contract work has included development for a major DJ hardware and software manufacturer, building functionality in Qt and C++ for importing and converting music library databases from other DJ software brands, as well as integration with streaming services — enabling users to bring existing libraries and playlists across into the platform without manual re-tagging or rebuilding. Independent projects include Kiln, a multiband linear-phase compressor and saturation plugin built to commercial release standard, and Ghost Field Spatialiser, a standalone spatial audio application performing real-time source separation, Higher Order Ambisonics spatialisation, and binaural rendering. This work is underpinned by a PhD in spatial audio, degrees in music technology and composition, and prior industry experience including a spatial audio R&D role at Qualcomm and an internship at BBC R&D.

Senior Engineer

Qualcomm • Full-time

Sep 2013 - Jun 2017 • 3 yrs 9 mos

Developed real-time audio signal chain processing tools for MPEG-H immersive audio as part of a spatial audio R&D team, covering the full pipeline from DSP algorithm design through to production-ready tooling used internally and by partners. Conducted research into Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA), with a particular focus on rendering — translating HOA soundfield representations into practical playback formats across different speaker layouts and headphone-based binaural rendering. This research fed directly into the real-time processing tools being built, bridging theoretical spatial audio work with practical, deployable signal chains. Represented the team's technology at industry events such as NAB, delivering live technical demonstrations of MPEG-H and spatial audio capabilities to broadcast and media professionals, and communicating complex DSP and immersive audio concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences. This role combined hands-on real-time audio engineering with applied research, working at the intersection of academic-level spatial audio theory (Higher Order Ambisonics, immersive rendering) and shipping, production-grade tooling.

Audio Research Intern

BBC One • Freelance

Sep 2012 - Dec 2012 • 3 mos

Research placement at BBC R&D during my PhD, contributing to Vambu Sound, a spatial audio production system combining multichannel loudspeaker reproduction with a dedicated haptic feedback channel — a "4-D" audio format designed to heighten frontal sound localisation around a central screen while diffusing ambient sound around the listener. Work included building a spatializer application in Max/MSP, integrating spatial audio control into the Nuendo DAW via an inter-application MIDI protocol, and contributing to the loudspeaker array design using vector base amplitude panning combined with first-order Ambisonics. This research was later published at an AES (Audio Engineering Society) conference, with user evaluation showing strong immersion results, particularly from the haptic feedback component. This work directly informs my later spatial audio development, including familiarity with BBC R&D's BRIR datasets used in independent projects such as Ghost Field Spatialiser.