Mike Vernusky creates music for live performance, radiophonic sound, and audiovisual experiences.

Mike Vernusky’s music has been described as “brash” (New York Times), “isolationist” (The Wire),  “especially otherworldly” (New Music USA), “intriguing” (Exclaim), and “étonnante” (EtherReal France). As an emerging composer, he received the Grand Prize in Music at the Digital Art Awards from Keio University in Japan, and was awarded the MATA Commission.

Vernusky is an avid field recordist, having recorded chainsaws in the Amazon to the snake charmers of Marrakech; from deadly hippo pools in South Africa to the beautiful cacophony that is India. Combining electronic instruments, field recordings, and found sounds across various forms of physical media, Mike creates large-scale, often transcontinental musical works and releases them in album format.

He has presented his music and ideas at Shanghai Conservatory, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Harvard University, Institut Français Tokyo, Alte Schmiede Vienna, El Centro para la Música y las Artes Sonoras in Mexico, and University of Huddersfield, UK. His music is published on BBC Audio, MIT Press, The Wire, NEUS-318 (JP), Ferns Recordings (FR), Audiobulb (UK), Quiet Design (TX), and many other labels.
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Mike is a tireless seeker and archivist of obscure analog recordings, amassing a near-chimeric collection of highly eccentric vinyl, lacquer, flexi, tape, and instantaneous recordings from around the world. Using a variety of turntables and handmade devices, he traverses the endless possibilities of found sound as metaphor and reimagines spectral spaces through the unconventional use of audio technologies. These sonic artifacts often find their way into his compositions and collaborations, primarily through his ever-expanding hauntological found sound work, The Holy Sea, a home listening installation now well over 24-hours long.

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Mike Vernusky lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, percussionist & figure skater Carolyn Trowbridge. After 16 years of living a double life as an independent artist and Experience Analyst for Apple, he is currently a freelance composer for mixed media.