Dr Mark A. Bassett is a highly skilled and accomplished director, educator, mastering engineer, and acoustician with over 17 years’ international higher education leadership experience spanning strategy, risk management, compliance, quality assurance, curriculum design, and lecturing at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Australian, US, UK, and UAE Higher Education systems. He is Director, Academic Quality and Standards at Charles Sturt University, where he leads the Office of Academic Quality and Standards.
His Higher Education leadership roles include Academic Director of Education Partnerships and Director of Academic Quality Assurance for SAE Global, Project Manager of Curriculum Development for the SAE Institute in the USA, Academic Coordinator and Senior Lecturer at the SAE Institutes in Sydney, Dubai, and Byron Bay, and Head of Audio Engineering for the two largest creative media institutes in Australia.
He holds a PhD in psychoacoustics and a Master's Degree in Design Science (Audio & Acoustics)(Honours) from the University of Sydney's Spatial Audio and Acoustics Lab, and a Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching (Curtin). His research in technical ear training, critical listening, and audio engineering education technologies has been published and presented internationally.
Mark contributed a chapter to Audio Education: Theory, Culture, and Practice (2021) - "a groundbreaking volume of 16 chapters exploring the historical perspectives, methodologies, and theoretical underpinnings that shape audio in educational settings" and the first-ever dedicated text on audio engineering education.
In October 2020, he launched the SAE Audient ASP4816 Simulator, developed as part of SAE's Virtual Tools project, which he spearheads. The simulator provides students with remote access to a fully functional photorealistic simulation of the Audient ASP4816 analogue console. This was followed in February 2021 by the release of the SAE Mackie 1604VLZ4 simulator.
In 2021 Mark received the inaugural Navitas Inspire Intrapreneur Award for developing the SAE Audient ASP4816 Simulator and in 2023, the virtual audio console simulators he developed were selected as a finalist in the prestigious EdTech Digest 2023 EdTech Awards.
In 2022, he launched FREQUIA - a technical ear training software that is the culmination of over a decade of research into critical listening.
Mark is a full member of the Audio Engineering Society, where he previously served on the Education Committee, and the Founder at Zipper Noise - a company specialising in developing audio engineering education technology.
Mark was an integral part of the Turtlerock Mastering team for over twelve years, initially working as a second engineer alongside some of Australia's most respected engineers and producers, he was invited by Rick O'Neil to join Turtlerock in 2004 whilst still studying audio engineering. At Turtlerock, he worked on many of Australia's highest-selling albums including John Butler Trio's - Grand National [vinyl] (Triple Platinum, 2 x ARIA awards), and The Whitlams' - Little Cloud (Gold, ARIA nominated). He has mastered tracks for You Am I, Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age) - Death Acoustic, Josh Pyke, Children Collide and Youth Group. Mark also worked with Rick O'Neil on the restoration and re-release of The Sunnyboys substantial back-catalogue. He served as the moderator of the Turtlerock Forum from 2004-2016.
FREQUIA™ is the culmination of over a decade of research into critical listening and technical ear training. The result is an expert technical ear training application that was painstakingly designed to be both advanced and simple to use; everything you need and nothing you don’t.
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Supports Mac-OS systems running both Intel and Apple silicon processors.
The Mackie 1604VLZ4 Simulator is the second digital console simulator developed by Dr Mark A. Bassett as part of SAE’s groundbreaking Virtual Tools Project.
Download | Video Overview
Supports Mac-OS systems running both Intel and Apple silicon processors.
Ensuring students have access to specialist facilities is a significant challenge faced by many education providers, as COVID-related restrictions limit and in many cases prevent students from accessing campus-based facilities such as audio consoles. To help address this challenge, SAE has launched the SAE Audient ASP4816 Simulator, which provides SAE students with remote access to a fully-functional photorealistic simulation of the Audient ASP4816 console (of which SAE has 30+ deployed globally).
The MacOS-based software was designed and developed by Dr Mark A. Bassett principally as a learning / teaching tool to allow students to learn the signal flow of the ASP4816 and practice using the console while off-campus. The photorealistic simulation features identical controls, routing, and (non-modelled) audio signal processing to the physical console, in addition to interactive tutorials and custom console scenarios.
Download | Video Overview | Navitas L&T Article | Audient Press Release
Supports Mac-OS systems running both Intel and Apple silicon processors.
"Imagine knowing your way around the class console before you've even started your music technology course. Being able to learn the basics of signal flow from a downloaded console simulator which looks and behaves just like a real one (as far as possible) - all from the comfort of home! Amazingly this is now possible for students learning their craft on ASP4816, thanks to SAE Creative Media Institute's Dr Mark A. Bassett - he's revolutionised the educational experience for music tech students in Covid times - and beyond."
- Audient
SAE Parametric Equaliser Training is an OSX-based technical ear training application designed to teach users to identify the centre frequency of a parametric equaliser applied to any imported audio files.
Download | Video Overview
Supports Mac-OS systems running both Intel and Apple silicon processors.
Bassett, M. (2021). Creating Authentic Learning Experiences using Max. In Walzer, D. & Lopez, M. (Eds.), Audio Education: Theory, Culture, and Practice. Routledge.
Garland, K., Ronan, M. and Bassett, M. (2024). 'A Multitrack Technical Ear Trainer', Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 27(11), pp. 825-834
Garland, K., Ronan, M. and Bassett, M. (2023). 'Embedding Observation in Audio Education Software: A Preliminary Perspective,', presented at the Audio Engineering Society’s International Conference on Audio Education, Hasselt, Belgium.
Bassett, M. (2021). 'Development of a digital photo-realistic console simulation as a learning/teaching tool', presented at the 2021 AES Education Convention, July 22-24, Online.
Bassett, M. (2021). 'Precursor criteria for assessing the effectiveness of technical ear training programs', presented at the 2021 AES Education Convention, July 22-24, Online.
Bassett, M. (2018). 'The influence of training method on tone colour discrimination'. PhD Thesis. University of Sydney.
Bassett, M. (2016). 'Max as an interactive, multi-modal teaching tool for audio engineering', presented at the 141st AES Convention, September-October 2016, Los Angeles, California.
Bassett, M. and Martens, W.L. (2016). 'SAE Parametric Equalizer Training: Development of a technical ear training program using Max', presented at the 141st AES Convention, September-October 2016, Los Angeles, California.
Martens, W.L., Bassett, M., and Manor, E. (2015). 'Deriving a perceptual similarity structure for the timbre of three types of complex tones that also varied in spectral centroid', proceedings of the 2015 Australian Acoustical Society conference, November 2015, Hunter Valley, Australia.
Manor, E., Martens, W.L., and Bassett, M. (2015). 'Determining the odd to even harmonic amplitude ratio at which the ‘clarinet-like’ timbre of complex tones becomes dominant', proceedings of the 2015 Australian Acoustical Society conference, November 2015, Hunter Valley, Australia.
McKinnon-Bassett, M. and Martens, W.L. (2013). ‘Experimental comparison of two versions of a technical ear-training program: Transfer of training on tone colour identification to a dissimilarity-rating task’, presented at the AES 50th International Conference on Audio Education, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Martens, W.L., McKinnon-Bassett, M. & Cabrera, D.A. (2012). ‘Perceptual evaluation of stochastic-event-based percussive timbres for use in statistical sonification’, presented at the 132nd AES Convention, April 2012, Budapest, Hungary.
McKinnon-Bassett, M. and Martens, W.L. (2012). ‘Individual differences in the relative salience of percussive timbre dimensions’. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 131, Issue 4, pp. 3434-3434.
Martens, W.L. and McKinnon-Bassett, M. (2012). ‘Relating timbre discrimination to perceptual distances between interpolated percussive timbres’. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 131, Issue 4, pp. 3434-3434.
Dash, I., Bassett, M. & Cabrera, D. A. (2010). Relative importance of speech and non-speech components in program loudness assessment’. Presented at the 128th AES Convention, May 2010, London, UK.
Bassett, M. (2010). ‘Importance of speech in determining perceived loudness of broadcast applications’. Masters Dissertation (Unpublished) – University of Sydney.
Bassett, M. (2021). 'Development of a digital photo-real istic audio console simulation as a learning/teaching tool', presented at the Australian Sound Recordings Association 2021 Conference - Survival and Revival.
Kim, S., Kawahara, K., Corey, J., Olive, S.E., Bassett, M. (2016). ‘Critical Listening: Ear Training in Audio Education’, Workshop, presented at the 141st AES Convention, September-October 2016, Los Angeles, California.
Kim, S., Kawahara, K., Ko, D., Legarth, S., Marui, A., McKinnon-Bassett, M., Olive, S.E. (2012) ‘Listen professionally or Train your ear!’, Tutorial Seminar, presented at the 132nd AES Convention, April 2012, Budapest, Hungary.
Director, Academic Quality and Standards
Charles Sturt University
HDR Supervisor
Technological University of the Shannon
Founder / Lead Researcher and Developer
Zipper Noise
Academic Director, Education Partnerships, SAE Global (June 2021 – Aug. 2023)
Director of Academic Quality Assurance, SAE Global (Sept. 2018 – June 2021)
Academic Manager, SAE Global (Sept. 2016 – Sept. 2018)
Navitas SAE (UK) Holdings Pty Ltd.
Senior Lecturer, Master of Creative Industries (Apr. 2017 – Aug. 2023)
SAE Institute, Australia
Adjunct Lecturer
University of Queensland's School of Music, (June 2018 – June 2020)
Project Manager of Curriculum Development
SAE Institute Group, Inc. USA, (Jan. 2016 – Jan 2017)
Adjunct Lecturer
Central Queensland University, Mackay (Apr. 2015 – Apr. 2017)
Visiting Academic Consultant
SAE London, (Apr. 2016 – May. 2016)
Academic Coordinator / Senior Lecturer (Audio)
SAE Byron Bay, (Sept. 2014 – Jan. 2016)
Acoustic Consultant
Freelance (Aug. 2010 – Sept. 2016)
Academic Coordinator / Senior Lecturer (Audio)
SAE Institute, Dubai (Sept. 2012 – Sept. 2014)
Mastering Engineer (Mar. 2004 – Sept. 2014)
Turtlerock Mastering, Sydney
Academic Coordinator / Senior Lecturer (Audio) (Nov. 2011 – Sept. 2012)
Senior Lecturer (Audio) (Sept. 2011 – Nov. 2011)
Lecturer / Unit Coordinator (Feb. 2009 – Sept. 2011)
SAE Institute / QANTM College, Sydney
Tutor
University of Sydney (July 2010 – Nov. 2010)
Head of Audio Engineering - Melbourne (Jan. 2008 – Feb. 2009)
Lecturer - Audio Engineering - Sydney (Aug. 2006 – Dec. 2007)
JMC Academy
contact@drmarkbassett.com