About

Atharva Dhekne “tacitonic”, is a recent graduate in Music Technology from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University (NYU). Atharva is a freelance audio engineer currently based in New York City, working at Sear Sound, and with Kevin Killen, Jerry Barnes, and another Grammy-nominated artist. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Pune. Born in 1999, Atharva has been playing and learning classical piano since the age of 5. His cross-domain research interests include interactive audio, spatial audio, game audio, mixing, mastering, recording, engineering, production, audio programming, sound design, and product design.

A research and development professional with generalist experience in audio, music, gaming, technology, production, project management, open source, design, and UI/UX development, Atharva has worked on projects spanning the globe and impacting millions. Notably, he has done research and worked on projects with Rockstar Games, NYU, Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, WordPress, Google, the Apache Software Foundation, Muellners Foundation, and the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI; Ministry of Industries, Government of India).

Apart from academics, Atharva’s passion is undoubtedly for his extracurriculars and volunteering. Being a true proponent of holistic development, he has given immense prominence to community building. Particularly, he has led multiple teams in organizing three TEDx events, the treasury in his college’s departmental student organization, and the editorial team for Google’s Developer Student Clubs. He has also volunteered for organizing various conferences including three Audio Engineering Society (AES) Conventions as an Event Coordinator and at the IRCAM Forum New York.

Atharva has collaborated with a distinctive ensemble of distinguished artists including Kevin Killen (David Bowie, U2, Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Shakira, Peter Gabriel), Greg Ellis (Billy Idol, Mickey Hart, Ust. Zakir Hussain), Taufiq Qureshi (Ust. Allarakha, Ust. Zakir Hussain), and many more. At NYU Steinhardt and the Clive Davis Institute he studied under and assisted the likes of accomplished engineers and producers such as Kevin Killen, Jim Anderson, Ulrike Anderson, Nick Sansano, Alan Silverman, Bob Power, Jeff Peretz, Michael O’Reilly, Erin Tonkon, Errol Kolosine, Bobby Wooten III, Kenta Yonesaka, Ahmir “?UESTLOVE” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter (The Roots), and Vivien Goldman. He appreciates a diverse scope of musical genres and is influenced by an extensive gamut of creative and musical artists. See his Favorites playlist for particulars. Atharva extends from this extensive sonic vocabulary to realize a unique multi-modal artistic identity.

Chat with Atharva about gaming, typography, geo-politics, languages, or the Oxford comma, and you’ll get his absolute attention. Atharva wishes to pursue his passion for audio and music as his profession. One more thing he wishes, is to not write this bio in third person.
You can view his Resume and Curriculum Vitae (CV).