Description:

Professor of cognitive neuroscience and former record producer (Prince, David Byrne, Barenaked Ladies) Susan Rogers describes the listener profile—a set of mental “sweet spots” where music’s features lead to the individual’s strongest response. How music preferences form and how they differ will be discussed from the music lover and music maker’s perspective.

Susan Rogers holds a doctoral degree in experimental psychology from McGill University (2010). Prior to her science career, Susan was a multiplatinum-earning record producer, engineer, mixer and audio technician. She is best known for her work with Prince (1983-1987) but production/engineering credits also include David Byrne, Barenaked Ladies, Geggy Tah, Nil Lara, Robben Ford, Tricky, Michael Penn, and Jeff Black. In 2021 she became the first female recipient of the Music Producer’s Guild Award for Outstanding Contributions to U.K. Music. She recently (semi)-retired from Berklee College of Music, Boston, and currently teaches psychoacoustics and music cognition for Berklee Online. Her book on music listening for W. W. Norton is titled This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You.