Joe Pino
Sound design works in the spaces between reality and abstraction. They are less interesting as a collection of triggers for giving designed worlds reality. They are more effective when they trigger emotional responses and remembered experiences.
-Joe Pino
Joe began teaching in the School of Drama in 1999. He teaches conceptual sound design, modular synthesis, Kyma, film sound design, ear training and audio technology in the sound design program.
Joe Pino is a professor of sound design specializing in content and conceptual design. After receiving his MFA in directing from University Of Virginia, he left that field and spent time mixing in jazz clubs for artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Sun Ra, Michael Hedges and Nancy Wilson. Following that, Joe returned to theater as a designer creating soundscores for theatrical productions. Over the last forty years he has produced soundscores for hundreds of productions across the US. In 2005 he was awarded the first ever sound design gold medal at World Stage Design in Toronto. He served as the head of the international sound design commission of the International Organization of Scenographers Technicians and Theater Architects (OISTAT) from 2013-2021. Starting in 2007, he has regularly curated workshops, presentations and exhibits for the Prague Quadrennial.
He began teaching in the School of Drama in 1999. Over the years he has taught a variety of courses for students at all levels and in all disciplines, undergraduate and graduate, and was co-coordinator of the Drama’s Design Option for eight years. His teaching focuses on process and helping students develop artistic practices that will sustain them over a long career in an ever changing field.