> ? what is Synthesize_Her ?

Synthesize_Her is a feminist sound technology organisation that promotes education for FLINTA* (female, lesbian, intersex, trans, agender) people.

We are based across the island of Ireland.

We provide education on sound + technology across the island via workshops, events, and digital communications. Primarily, we are focused on building + skill-sharing.

We encourage you to relate to sound + technology in new ways, thinking beyond industry-driven ideas of what ‘sound-work’ looks like, as well as alternative infrastructures for sharing resources.

Our projects are focused on

• sound synthesis, engineering, and listening
• building tools with which to create and listen to sound
• peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and network building

So far, we’ve built

• synths
• speakers
• microphones 
• transmission devices

We are inspired by

• hacker culture
• the dance floor
• DIY

Our educational outlook is one of experimentation and play.
We believe learning is peer-to-peer, iterative, and non-linear.
We want to express complex ideas plainly and simply.

HARD SKILLS 
via 
soft environments

? what do we do // and why? 

We deliver education on how to make sound through electronics, in various forms, with a focus on in-person workshops.

We deliver practical building lessons // teaching hard skills to those who have been historically been excluded from the process of making, conducting, and broadcasting sound.

We build speakers, synths, microphones, and transmission devices // with these, we develop our own ways of emitting, sharing, and listening to sound.

In the ‘classroom’ we remove the desk and use our bodies // so that we can bring together the somatic and cerebral in learning, refuting the Cartesian mind/body split.

We also keep the learning environment soft, comfortable, and adaptable // so that the site of learning is one you wish to spend time in, conducive to its purpose

We are peer-to-peer // so that learning can flow both ways and authority is based more on ‘who has the knowledge to answer this question?’ over presumptions via identity or expression.

We are community-driven // so that there is a legibility in understanding between experiences shared by facilitators and learners.

We focus on and prioritise FLINTA* // so that we may mend the inequity of the sound landscape in Ireland

We consider the power and uses of sound // so that we can think beyond industry-driven ideas of what ‘sound-work’ looks like.We partake in gear and resource sharing in our networks // so they we may give each other access to new sounds and experimentation where we are able and willing.

We facilitate access to music technology through open days // so that people can access electronic music equipment that is often costly, impractical, or difficult to procure.

We read texts together that reimagine ideas about sound and technology // so that we may analyse and critique theory with each other.

our history // ? who are we?

Synthesize_Her was founded in 2022 by Viva Dean and Kate Butler, based on their respective experiences as an engineering student and feminist sound researcher. Synthesize_Her was the intersection of these experiences. 

Pilot workshops began in spring in 2022, focused on building an analogue synth with the least amount of components to make a sound. The fundamentals and physics of sound were explored alongside the historical positioning of women within popular music. This original format has refined over multiple iterations, continuing to grow and deepen. We co-create the way we teach with those who are learning.

Since then, we’ve continued to develop and host events and workshops, expanding from our initial build into further analogue synths, speakers, microphones, and transmission devices.

In 2025, we undertook a synth library tour - The Means of Production [link to page] - to research and define the need for a synth library and other forms of sound technology//knowledge sharing amongst FLINTA* in Ireland.

Synthesize_Her has been historically funded by An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

We are currently made up of these core members >

Viva Dean

• Viva is an artist and researcher at Queens University Belfast, investigating gendered relationships to technology and sound. Viva founded Synthesize_Her in 2022.

Alba Molina

• Alba is a Dublin-based artist and creative producer working across sound art, urbanism, and spatial practices. Her work spans festival production, site-responsive events, and community-led sound projects.

Alix Craig

• Alix is an artist from the northern Highlands of Scotland, now based in Belfast. They work across sound, writing, and archives to explore alternative histories and futures of sound and place.

Roísín Berg

• Roísín is Limerick-based interdisciplinary artist working with electronic and digital systems, including the development of custom instruments. They lecture in digital art and media at the University of Limerick and run Concept NULL, a grassroots initiative connecting digital artists across Ireland.

Síoda Ní Cairealláin

• Síoda is a digital media artist and musician based in Limerick. She works across a broad range of disciplines: from noise music and EDM, to live video and motion graphics, to web and interface design.

We are deeply informed by cherished collaborators who shaped us >

Kate Butler 

• Kate is an artist and researcher based in Dublin who co-founded Synthesize_Her. We are indebted to her greatly for her imparting knowledge of politics, sound history, and social context of women within this sphere. Kate recently made the documentary Control, which explores women as producers within electronic and pop music, reframing histories of women using sound technology creatively.

Jennifer Mehigan 

• Jennifer is an artist based in the Slieve Felim mountains in Co. Limerick. She designed the visual language of Synthesize_Her and we continue to exist in her vision. Her work is particularly informed by omissions and misunderstandings of women’s contributions to horticulture and agriculture, examining the tension between excess and absence as it manifests within various enclosures, namely the field, the map, the screen and the picture frame.

As well as a network of FLINTA* in Ireland.

Our events mostly take place in Belfast, Dublin, and Limerick. 

We have a Discord connecting FLINTA* throughout the island.

things to know

• 5.4% of professional music producers identify as female 
  [source: USC Annenberg, 2025]
• We pledge to audit for access, to improve availability of our work across gender, age, ability, race.
• We want you to get involved. if you’re interested in what we do or have an idea for something contact us.

Email > info@synthesizeher.net

Instagram > @Synthesize_Her_

Discord > sign-up here

> what’s in a name, Synthesize_Her? <

Def. Synthesis - the act of combining different ideas, elements, or things to form a new, unified whole

Def. Her - possessive determiner of pronoun she 

We believe gender is open source, gender is synthesis 

Her as “other”

> somatic tech // the mind + body split <

400 years ago someone (René Descartes) said 

women = body 

men = mind 

women//men

body//mind 

We refute this dichotomy, we resist definition on these terms 

INSTEAD

The body as a site to access, blend and merge with technology 

Transcend gender and species 

Machine + Organism 

> on space + staging <

Create the space or the space will create you 

Space can be a stage to re-manifest oneself 

Disrupt visual language of masculinity within technological learning environments 

Propose new classrooms, worship and commune at new alters 

.> on learning <. 

We come with QUESTIONS 

Embrace RISK 

We believe learning is iterative, peer 2 peer, non linear

what do we do

We promote and deliver education on sound technology for FLINTA* across Ireland.
This is primarily focused on in-person workshops, through hands-on learning.

Practically speaking, this means we usually host day or multi-day long workshops in which participants learn the fundamentals of sound, electronics, and building basic synths, speakers, microphones, network devices and other forms of sound technology.

However, our web continues to grow. An inconclusive list of what we cover >

We deliver practical building lessons // teaching hard skills to those who have been historically been excluded from the process of making, conducting, and broadcasting sound.

We build speakers, synths, microphones, and transmission devices // with these, we develop our own ways of emitting, sharing, and listening to sound.

In the ‘classroom’ we remove the desk and use our bodies // so that we can bring together the somatic and cerebral in learning, refuting the Cartesian mind/body split.

We also keep the learning environment soft, comfortable, and adaptable // so that the site of learning is one you wish to spend time in, conducive to its purpose

We are peer-to-peer // so that learning can flow both ways and authority is based more on ‘who has the knowledge to answer this question?’ over presumptions via identity or expression

We are community-driven // so that there is a legibility in understanding between experiences shared by facilitators and learners.

We focus on and prioritise FLINTA* // so that we may mend the inequity of the sound landscape in Ireland

We consider the power and uses of sound // so that we can think beyond industry-driven ideas of what ‘sound-work’ looks like.

We partake in gear and resource sharing in our networks // so they we may give each other access to new sounds and experimentation where we are able and willing.

We facilitate access to music technology through open days // so that people can access electronic music equipment that is often costly, impractical, or difficult to procure.

We read texts together that reimagine ideas about sound and technology // so that we may analyse and critique theory with each other.

We spend time together // so that we may connect.

Our events mostly take place in Belfast, Dublin, and Limerick. 

We have a Discord connecting FLINTA* throughout the island where we host digital events, workshops, reading groups, + talks, as well as facilitating gear sharing and meet-ups.

and why

5.4% of music producers identify as women or gender-diverse.
[source: USC Annenberg, 2025]

To bring about a more equitable sound landscape, we believe that the solution is not to tokenise FLINTA* sound producers but to widen access and explore other means of beginning within sound production.

Our aim is to >

• redistribute access to the knowledge//tools//infrastructures of sound-making.
• practise alternative forms of education that refute the mind/body split and embrace experimental//non-linear//peer-to-peer learning.
• build community-led alternatives to the industry-driven models of music //technology.
• create learning that is communal//embodied//grounded in collective experience.
• practise different ways of making//sharing//listening to sound.
• cultivate networks of resource-sharing//mutual support that extend beyond our events.

Synthesize_Her is a feminist sound technology organisation that promotes education for FLINTA* (female, lesbian, intersex, trans, agender) people.

We are based across the island of Ireland.

We provide education on sound + technology across the island via workshops, events, and digital communications. Primarily, we are focused on building + skill-sharing.

We encourage you to relate to sound + technology in new ways, thinking beyond industry-driven ideas of what ‘sound-work’ looks like, as well as alternative infrastructures for sharing resources.

Our projects are focused on

• sound synthesis, engineering, and listening
• building tools with which to create and listen to sound
• peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and network building

So far, we’ve built

• synths
• speakers
• microphones 
• transmission devices

We are inspired by

• hacker culture
• the dance floor
• DIY

Our educational outlook is one of experimentation and play.
We believe learning is peer-to-peer, iterative, and non-linear.
We want to express complex ideas plainly and simply.

HARD SKILLS 
via 
soft environments

our history //

Synthesize_Her was founded in 2022 by Viva Dean and Kate Butler, based on their respective experiences as an engineering student and feminist sound researcher. Synthesize_Her was the intersection of these experiences. 

Pilot workshops began in spring in 2022, focused on building an analogue synth with the least amount of components to make a sound. The fundamentals and physics of sound were explored alongside the historical positioning of women within popular music. This original format has refined over multiple iterations, continuing to grow and deepen. We co-create the way we teach with those who are learning.

Since then, we’ve continued to develop and host events and workshops, expanding from our initial build into further analogue synths, speakers, microphones, and transmission devices.

In 2025, we undertook a synth library tour - The Means of Production [link to page] - to research and define the need for a synth library and other forms of sound technology//knowledge sharing amongst FLINTA* in Ireland.

Synthesize_Her has been historically funded by An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

We are currently made up of these core members >

Viva Dean

• Viva is an artist and researcher at Queens University Belfast, investigating gendered relationships to technology and sound. Viva founded Synthesize_Her in 2022.

Alba Molina

• Alba is a Dublin-based artist and creative producer working across sound art, urbanism, and spatial practices. Her work spans festival production, site-responsive events, and community-led sound projects.

Alix Craig

• Alix is an artist from the northern Highlands of Scotland, now based in Belfast. They work across sound, writing, and archives to explore alternative histories and futures of sound and place.

Roísín Berg

• Roísín is Limerick-based interdisciplinary artist working with electronic and digital systems, including the development of custom instruments. They lecture in digital art and media at the University of Limerick and run Concept NULL, a grassroots initiative connecting digital artists across Ireland.

Síoda Ní Cairealláin

• Síoda is a digital media artist and musician based in Limerick. She works across a broad range of disciplines: from noise music and EDM, to live video and motion graphics, to web and interface design.

We are deeply informed by cherished collaborators who shaped us >

Kate Butler 

• Kate is an artist and researcher based in Dublin who co-founded Synthesize_Her. We are indebted to her greatly for her imparting knowledge of politics, sound history, and social context of women within this sphere. Kate recently made the documentary Control, which explores women as producers within electronic and pop music, reframing histories of women using sound technology creatively.

Jennifer Mehigan 

• Jennifer is an artist based in the Slieve Felim mountains in Co. Limerick. She designed the visual language of Synthesize_Her and we continue to exist in her vision. Her work is particularly informed by omissions and misunderstandings of women’s contributions to horticulture and agriculture, examining the tension between excess and absence as it manifests within various enclosures, namely the field, the map, the screen and the picture frame.

As well as a network of FLINTA* in Ireland.

things to know

• We pledge to audit for access, to improve availability of our work across gender, age, ability, race.
• We want you to get involved. If you’re interested in what we do or have an idea for something contact us.