Leah Kardos

Dr Leah Kardos | Kingston University London

My research examines studio practices, recording technologies, and popular music production through interdisciplinary lenses that combine historical analysis, creative practice, and critical scholarship. Building on my work on David Bowie and Kate Bush, I investigate how recording technologies shape musical creativity and cultural memory.

My current research focuses on recovering women's hidden labour in British recording studios from the 1960s-1990s, using feminist oral history methods to document the experiences of women who worked in those spaces. This work interrogates how gender has structured access to technical creative roles and challenges male-centric narratives that dominate studio heritage. Through the Visconti Studio at Kingston, I explore studio culture as both historical object and living practice, combining archival research, oral history, and contemporary observation to understand how analogue recording environments produce knowledge, preserve heritage, and shape inclusive futures for music technology education.

Through the Visconti Studio, I bridge academic research with creative industries and public audiences. I have secured strategic partnerships generating income and equipment donations from music technology companies (Dubreq, Audient, M-Audio, Eventide), and maintain professional network relationships with major London studios (Metropolis, Angel, AIR, Abbey Road) some of which provide professional development opportunities for students. I founded the Kingston University Stylophone Orchestra, creating inclusive community music-making with commercial outputs (two released albums). As a regular contributor to The Wire magazine, I translate specialist music research for professional and public audiences. The Visconti Studio hosts industry masterclasses, public exhibitions, commercial sessions and knowledge exchange events. My KE activities generate financial value, enhance student employability, preserve studio heritage, and position Kingston within professional networks that shape music technology discourse and practice. As a member of the DACP KERI, I am interested in supporting cross-discplinary projects that involve the use of recorded media and performance (audio/music).