About

SHORT BIO (100 Words)

Dr Raymond Sookram is an audiovisual scholar, lecturer, recording artist, composer, pianist, drummer and Founding Editor and Associate Editor at Sonic Scope Journal. His research delves into numerous areas concerning interactive sound and cultures, including video game music, hyperreality, glitch and adult player guilt. Raymond’s recent doctoral research explores imaginary play, virtual worlds and video game sound, resulting in a player-centric approach to audiovisual analysis called “Paracosmic Multimedia.” Alongside his research, Raymond is a Music Lecturer for Samford University’s Study Abroad programme, recently taught at King’s College London on video game music, and released albums encompassing ambient soundscapes and improvisation.

LONG BIO (300 Words)

Dr Raymond Sookram is an audiovisual scholar, lecturer, recording artist, composer, pianist, drummer and a Founding Editor and Associate Editor at Sonic Scope Journal.

An experienced lecturer and public speaker, Raymond teaches music theory, audiovisual media and British culture as Lecturer in Music at Samford University’s London Study Abroad Program. He has recently taught as module convenor and lecturer at King’s College London on video game music and sound, and film and video game music as Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Additionally, he has chaired several sessions at conferences by the European Ludomusicology Group for Video Game Music Research.

As an audiovisual scholar, Raymond’s recent doctoral research explores imaginary play, virtual worlds and video game sound, resulting in a player-centric approach to audiovisual analysis called “Paracosmic Multimedia.” He has presented and applied his Paracosmic Multimedia framework to transmedial sound and The Simpsons Game (2007) at the European Ludomusicology Group’s Ludo2019 conference, hyperreal game sound as a published video essay and audiovisual glitch at Music and Moving Image 2025, Sound on Screen IV and Ludo2025.

In addition to his doctoral research, Raymond’s academic focus has broadened within and beyond video game music to encompass mental health, major popular musical works and political expression in music. His research includes an autoethnographic video montage panel paper at Sound on Screen IV on first-time gameplay, trauma and stream of consciousness diary writing on Burning Daylight Team’s Burning Daylight, examinations on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and Bernard Herrmann’s film score to Psycho, transmedial sound and parody of the Batman franchise within Level 2 of The Simpsons Game, and the argument for politicised speech as a form of popular music (e.g., protest chanting and mashup videos of politicians’ speeches).

Alongside his research, Raymond has released albums which focus on ambient soundscapes and improvisation.

  • Audiovisual media theory and practice (film, TV, video games, advertisements, social media, news broadcasts, documentaries); ludomusicology (sound, music, play, games); imaginary play and media (paracosms, worldplay); fandom studies; glitch aesthetics, British identity and media; parody and satire; media and hyperreality, misinformation and post-truth; conspiracy theories and game sound; audiovisual composition and improvisation; pop musicology; new musicology; cultural theory; literary analysis; media and politics.

  • Conspiracy Theory and Audiovisual Media (Routledge, forthcoming 2027)

    “(Mis)Believing Worlds: Sonic Misinformation and Hyperreal Video Gameplay.”

     

    Sound on Screen: Music and Sound in Transmedia Franchises (forthcoming 2027)

    “Beyond the Transmedial Swirl: Paracosmic Multimedia, Audiovisual Parody and The Simpsons Games’s Third Level.”

     

    Sonic Scope (2021)

    “Playing in the Paracosm: Imagination, Hyperreality and the Video Game Experience (Video Essay),” https://www.sonicscope.org/pub/kg5tcorx/release/3.

  • PhD in Music, Goldsmiths, University of London (2018 – 2026).

    “Paracosmic Multimedia: Video Game Sound, Virtual Worlds, and Imaginary Play.” Supervisors: Professor Holly Rogers and Dr Lauren Redhead.

    MA in Music (Popular Music Research), Distinction, Goldsmiths, University of London (2016 – 2018).

    “‘Batman, I mean Bartman’: Parody and Transmedial Sound in The Simpsons Game.’ Supervisor: Professor Holly Rogers.

    BA in Music, 1st Class Honours, Brunel University London (2013 – 2016)

    “On the Origins of New Music,” delivered as an hour-long presentation. Supervisors: Peter Wiegold and Professor Christopher Fox.

  • UCU (University and College Union)

    RMA (Royal Musical Association)

    SSSMG (Society for the Study of Sound and Music in Games)

    ISM (Independent Society of Musicians)

  • Module Convenor and Lecturer, Department of Music, King’s College London (2026)

    Module: Topics in Popular Music: Ludomusicology (Level 6)

    Designed and deliver lectures covering challenges of analyzing video game sound, gender, queer and racial representations in gaming, ethics and morality, hyperreality and audiovisual glitch.

     

    Music Lecturer, Samford Study Abroad (London Campus), Samford University (2022 - present)

    (January 2022 to PRESENT)

    Created and teach lectures covering elements of music, film music terminology, popular music, critical analysis of British musical identity and important UK locations. Lead student trips to music concerts, Handel-Hendrix House, and tours of Royal Albert Hall.

    Associate Lecturer in Music, Goldsmiths, University of London (2019 - 2026)

    Modules:

    • Music and the Moving Image (Year 2, 2025-26, marking for written and video essays).

    • Music in Film (Year 2, 2019-25, lectures, seminars, tutorials and marking).

    • Audiovisual Composition (MA, 2020-21, marking)

    • Introduction to Audiovisual Composition (Year 2, 2020-21, marking)

    • Advanced Topics in Music and Screen Media (Year 2, 2019-20, pre-recorded video game music lecture during COVID pandemic).

    External Marker, The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (2019 - 2021)

    Modules: Writing About Music; Popular Music Debates.

  • Ludo2026: The Fifteenth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, Edge Hill University (6th August 2026)

    “Playing with Guilt: Sound, Scholarship and the Importance of Video Gameplay”

    https://www.ludomusicology.org/ludo-2026-programme-and-schedule/

    Ludo2025: The Fourteenth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, University Square Stratford Campus, University of East London (12th July 2025)

    “Play in Fragmented Worlds: The Paracosmic Multimedia of Glitch Game Sound” https://www.ludomusicology.org/ludo2025/ludo-2025-programme-and-schedule/

    Sound on Screen IV, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom (panel presentation)
    (26th June 2025)

    “Broken Glitches and Broken Minds: Towards a Personal Approach to First-Time Gameplay, Ludomusicology and Burning Daylight.” Presented as part of panel with Liane Gualdim Silva and James Redelinghuys: “Playing for the First Time: Ludomusicological Journaling as a Grounded Play-Thought Practice” https://docs.google.com/document/d/18H8Va4dDM7wolqYfPfHRmiGLIjebFu_G/edit?tab=t.0.

    Sound on Screen IV, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom (online presentation)

     (25th June 2025)

    “Play in Fragmented Worlds: The Paracosmic Multimedia of Glitch Game Sound”
    (video essay presented online) https://docs.google.com/document/d/18H8Va4dDM7wolqYfPfHRmiGLIjebFu_G/edit?tab=t.0.

    Music and Moving Image XXI, NYU Steinhardt, New York, USA (30th May 2025)

    “Play in Fragmented Worlds: The Paracosmic Multimedia of Glitch Game Sound”  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SJNUY9xyNG7vJ8B72wzf8Cz26oLxhXoO7XzNauycHcA/edit?tab=t.0.

    BFE-RMA Research Students’ Conference 2021, University of Cambridge, UK
    (24th January 2021)

    “Playing in the Paracosm: Imagination, Hyperreality and the Video Game Experience”
    (video essay presented online) https://www.rma.ac.uk/rmawp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/RSC-2021-Conference-Handbook.pdf.

    Ludo2019: The Eighth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, Leeds, UK

    (28th April 2019)

    “Paracosmic Multimedia: Transmedial Characters and Video Game Music” https://www.ludomusicology.org/ludo2025/ludo-2025-programme-and-schedule/.

    Fourth Westminster-Goldsmiths Symposium for Student Research, UK (26th May 2017)

    “Exploring Bart Simpsons’ Musical Representation in The Simpsons and The Simpsons Hit & Run.”

  • Ludo2025: The Fourteenth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, University Square Stratford Campus, University of East London (11th July 2025)

    Session 5, “Listening Between Realities and Fictions” https://www.ludomusicology.org/ludo2025/ludo-2025-programme-and-schedule/.

     

    Ludo2024: The Thirteenth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, TecnoCampus – UPF, Mataró, Spain (11th July 2024)

    Session 3, “Performing Traditions” https://www.ludomusicology.org/ludo-2024-programme-and-schedule/.

     

    Ludo2023: The Twelfth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, University of Edinburgh (23rd March 2023)

    Session 2, “Non-Human Encounters” https://www.ludomusicology.org/ludo2023-programme-and-schedule/.

     

    Ludo2022: The Eleventh European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound, Royal Holloway, University of London (21st April 2022)

    Session 2, “Technologies of Potential” https://www.ludomusicology.org/ludo2022/ludo22-programme-and-schedule/.

     

    Ludo 2021: The Tenth European Conference on Video Game Music and Sound (Virtual Zoom Conference) (24th April 2021)

    Session 4, “Starts, Stops and the In-Between” https://www.ludomusicology.org/calendar/ludo2021-programme/.

  • Goldsmiths, University of London (2nd February 2026)

    “Paracosmic Multimedia: Video Game Sound, Virtual Worlds & Imaginary Play” (School of Music, English & Theatre PGR series) https://www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id=15806.

    Goldsmiths, University of London (20th February 2024)

    “Exploring Paracosmic Multimedia and The Simpsons Game” (Music Research Series) https://www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id=14908.

    Goldsmiths, University of London (10th September 2021)

    Material Benefits of the Immaterial: Academic Publishing in the Digisphere (CHASE event).

    Participated in roundtable music panel with Dr Berta Joncus.

    Goldsmiths, University of London (2nd May 2017)

    “From Parody to Brexit to President Trump: (Re)Examining Politicised Speech as Popular Music” (Music Research Series) https://www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id=10730

  • Sonic Scope (2019 – Present)

    • Founding and Associate Editor (Issues 1 and 2).

    • Editorial Board Member (audiovisual media and cultures, including video games, fandom and politics).

    Editorial Assistant for Professor Holly Rogers (2019 – Present)

  • Sonic Scope (18th July 2022)

    “Ethereal Play” (Issue 4, response to Lauren Cramer), addresses audience receptions to audiovisual boot sequence of Sony’s PlayStation 5 console; discussion on personal versus objective academic writing https://www.sonicscope.org/pub/cxgf9hda/release/4.

     

    Sonic Scope (29th October 2021)

    “Windows into the Past: (Issue 3, response to Jennifer Walshe), address nostalgia for Brian Eno’s Windows 95 boot sequence composition and links to online cultural and political movements (e.g., Microsoft’s Windows 11 vaporwave promotional video and “lo fi boriswave”)

    https://www.sonicscope.org/pub/ohhv4wqx/release/2.

     

    Sonic Scope (6th October 2020)

    “Nostalgia for Audiovisual Objects” (Issue 1, response to Henry Jenkins), address nostalgia for sound effects connected with technology (e.g., the rewind sound of a VHS tape machine and iPhone sonic cues) https://www.sonicscope.org/pub/s27c55zp/release/4.

  • Visual Art - Sonic Scope (15th February 2021)

    “A Horse With No Name” – In Three Memories” (Issue 2, response to Julian Henriques), selection of three images depicting horses and audiovisual connections to America’s “A Horse with No Name” (1971) with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) and “The Old Sugarman Place”, from Bojack Horseman (series 4, episode 2) https://www.sonicscope.org/pub/i7t0ync7/release/3.


    Albums

    Live Performance

    • Drummer, keyboardist and co-songwriter for “The Initiative” with Matthew Hom and Anton Michael (2014-2016).

    • Pianist for Brunel Jazzbridge ensemble (2013-2015)

  • Ludomusicology Research Group, Bursary for Ludo2025 Conference (2025).

    Department of Music, Goldsmiths, University of London (2019 – 2024)

    • Ludo2024

    • Ludo2023

    • Ludo2019

    Griffin Prize for Music (2016, Brunel University London)