I am a Colombian, born in Bogotá City on November 9, 1982. I love sound in all its forms, which is why I have studied it with a transdisciplinary approach. I have developed my career under three fields of knowledge: as a Sound Engineer and Acoustics, as Musician and Music Producer, and finally as Sound Artist, always accompanied by my professor and researcher vocation.
Like many, my first approach to sound was with music, the wonderful succession of sounds organized in time, frequency, and space. I studied classical and popular guitar at the Casa de la Cultura in Garzón-Huila, a city of which I am an adopted son. I took composition and harmony classes with Alexander Cuesta. I started my process as a songwriter when I was 16 years old, having as my main reference the Trova Cubana and Colombian Andean music. I have won five Colombian national composition awards (which includes two awards at the renowned Mono Núñez Colombian Andean Music Festival), and I have had the fortune that several musicians of my generation have performed my songs. I represented Colombia in the «Global Rockstar Rio + 20» in 2012, an event organized by the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges (IAAI), where my song «Por el borde del camino» was selected from among 315 proposals to be part of the compilation CD promoted during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a performer, I joined the OÍ group, with which I won more than fifteen Colombian national awards, in addition to shows in the most important concert halls in Colombia, playing in international music festivals such as the Cartagena International Music Festival, the renowned International Folklore Festival in Cosquín-Argentina and sharing the stage with important artists as Joaquín Sabina and the famous violinist Alexis Cárdenas.
As an Engineer, I graduated from the Universidad de San Buenaventura, where I developed my degree project on musical acoustics. I did a master’s degree in Acoustic Engineering applied to industry and transport at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, working on warning and alarm signals sound perception topics. At the same university, I graduated as a Doctor in Mechanical Engineering, where my doctoral thesis was on environmental acoustic management under the soundscape approach. I was directed by Professor Ignacio Pavón, and I did a research stay with Professor José Luis Bento Coelho at the Instituto Técnico Superior of Lisbon. I have directed more than 30 degree projects, participated in 5 funded research projects, and I have taught the university levels courses such as Architectural Acoustics, Noise Control, Acoustics Workshop, Capture and Recording Techniques, and Immersive Audio Production for the last 13 years. I am researching immersive audio and 360 mix, sustainable acoustic environments, sound quality, and musical acoustics. Likewise, as an engineer, I have recorded and mixed more than 200 audio tracks, having the fortune to carefully choose the projects I participate in.
In 2014 I traveled to Brazil to do a Master of Arts at the University of Brasilia, where I received the CAPES scholarship for developing my studies, directed by Professor Fátima Santos. I worked for two years in the study of soundscapes and interactive systems. Thanks to Professor Fátima, I understood that sound is also form, image, and meaning, discovering a field of knowledge I did not know as an engineer: semiotics. I had the opportunity to participate in art and technology exhibitions at the Brasília Museum, and at the Cultural Center Banco do Brasil as part of the Understanding Visual Music event.
In addition to Colombia, I have lived in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Spain, and Canada, where I am currently staying, where I am trying to balance my mind as an engineer and my heart as an artist.
Luis Hermida 