Being Sound Studio

A sonic arts studio by Stu Pender

CONTACT

stu_pender@me.com

LISTEN

Bandcamp

WATCH

YouTube

FOLLOW

Instagram

DISCOGRAPHY

Being With
Stu Pender, Youngbloods, 2025
  • Feels Like
  • Feet Flurrying
  • Warmest Tones
  • Rewind
  • Awe
  • Metamorphosis
  • Flora
  • Flow On
  • Held
Stillness In Motion
Stu Pender, Youngbloods, 2021
  • Desertbloom
  • Peaks
  • Electric Petals
  • Palms
  • Tributary
  • Duet
  • Birds of Peace
  • Ravine Dream
  • Shared Space
  • Palms (Instrumental)
  • Birds of Peace (Instrumental)
  • Shared Space (Instrumental)
stillnessbubbles
Stu Pender, Self-Released, 2018
  • Golden Hue
  • Dancing Particles
  • Out of Focus, Sunset
  • Ghost Frequency
  • Colibri
  • Wind-Up Bird (Electric)

PRESS

RECORDINGS

Bespoke Sound for app, 2025
Bespoke Sound for podcast, 2025
Carlos Niño & Friends — engineer, 2023
Beloved Radio — monthly radio show, 2023
August Ponthier — live session, guitar, 2023
Poetic Thrust, 2022
Poetic Thrust, 2022
Yoh & Cartoons — guitar, 2022
Topaz Jones — guitar, 2021
Kareem Ali — guitar, 2021
faug — guitar, writing, production, mix, 2020
Yoh — guitar, 2020
SadoSan — guitar, 2020
haldeman — guitar, improvisation, 2020
Poetic Thrust — guitar, writing, 2019
Stu Pender — guitar, production, mix, 2019
Poetic Thrust — guitar, writing, 2018
Sam O.B. — guitar, 2018
Poetic Thrust — guitar, writing, 2018
Topaz Jones — guitar, 2018
faug — guitar, writing, production, mix, 2017
Elijah Wolf — guitar, production, 2016

FILM

August Ponthier, 2024
August Ponthier, 2024
August Ponthier, 2023
Photay Ensemble, 2021
Poetic Thrust, 2020
Poetic Thrust, 2020
Elijah Wolf, 2019
Poetic Thrust, 2018
Photay Ensemble, 2018
Poetic Thrust, 2017

PRESS

UPCOMING EVENTS

PAST EVENTS

COMMISSION

Bespoke Sound

DEVELOP

Music Lessons

SUBSCRIBE

Being Sound on Substack

COMMISSION

Bespoke Sound

Imagine your sonic world. Custom soundscapes and compositions for practitioners, creators, and spaces.

DEVELOP

Music Lessons

Develop your musical craft. Music Lessons are a 1:1 space for people who want to grow their musicianship while staying connected to intuition, integrity, and expression.

SUBSCRIBE

Being Sound on Substack

Subscribe to Being Sound on Substack for free writing, resources and inspiration on sound, music and creativity.

BESPOKE SOUND

Imagine your sonic world.

I make sound for people whose work deserves the same quality of attention that they bring to their craft.

Custom soundscapes and compositions, made to hold a specific intention or atmosphere. Sound that fits the work it serves.

Every piece begins with listening: to your work, to it's resonance, and to what's being communicating beyond the words. The music is created from an immersion into this world.

WHAT THIS CAN SUPPORT

Each project is shaped to fit its specific use, audience, and context.

HOW WE WORK TOGETHER

Every project begins with a conversation about your work, your audience, and the kind of attention the sound needs to hold.

From there, projects take different shapes:

WHAT YOU RECEIVE

Every collaboration is tailored, but may include:

PRICING

What a project costs depends on the kind of sound it asks for.

Some work is atmospheric — drones, tones, field recordings, and ambient textures that create a space or a state. A soundscape for a meditation, a treatment room, or a practice. This work begins at $400.

Other work is composed — melody, arrangement, and structure that develop into something with a clear shape and signature. A podcast identity, a theme for a course, a sonic world for a brand. These projects generally range from $1,500 to $4,000.

Larger commissions — retreats, platforms, or systems of pieces working together — are scoped on their own.

The discovery call is where we find what your work is actually asking for. It's free, with no expectation beyond seeing if the work fits.

IS THIS FOR YOU?

This work is most aligned with people who:

LISTEN

Thought To Thing Podcast
Bespoke Sound for podcast, 2025.
  • Thought To Thing Podcast
Creative Living App
Bespoke Sound for app, 2025.
  • Creative Living App

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

NEXT STEP

If this resonates, you're invited to schedule a discovery call.

PROJECTS

IOS APP

Working prototype · 2026

LANDING PAGE

For Vox Mundi School · 2026

WEBSITE & BRAND IDENTITY

beingsound.studio · 2024

NOTION TEMPLATES

For Being Sound on Substack

ABLETON TEMPLATE

Performance template · ongoing

STARTUP / PRODUCT DESIGN

Funded startup · 2020–22

MUSIC LESSONS

Develop your musical craft.

Music Lessons are a 1:1 space for people who want to grow their musicianship while staying connected to intuition, integrity, and expression.

Whether you're picking up an instrument for the first time, or returning to one you've played for years, we begin with the songs and sounds that already inspire you, using them as the doorway into embodied craft.

AREAS OF FOCUS

WHO THIS IS FOR

Students of all ages and skill levels, from complete beginners to working musicians refining their craft. My primary instrument is the guitar. I also teach ukulele, voice, and music technology.

PRICING

$100 per hour. Packages, sliding scale, and alternate payment options available upon request.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

NEXT STEP

If this resonates, you're invited to book a free 15-minute clarity call, or go straight to a first lesson.

ABOUT BEING SOUND

Being Sound is a sonic arts studio by Stu Pender. Exploring sound as practice — from deep listening to sounding with.

ABOUT STU PENDER

Stu Pender is a Chicago-based guitarist, composer, and sonic artist whose work is rooted in deep listening and sounding with.

A founding member of the hip-hop collective Poetic Thrust, Stu has performed and recorded with artists including Photay, Carlos Niño and Laraaji, Topaz Jones, Elijah Wolf, and Maggie Rogers — touring internationally and performing at the Greek Theatre, MoMA PS1, Central Park Summerstage, and the Beacon Theatre. His solo recordings have been featured on KCRW, KEXP, and Apple Music's Headspace playlist.

Stu's practice is shaped by years of study across traditions — from jazz (John Abercrombie, Barry Harris, SUNY Purchase) to West African kora music (Derek Gripper) to North Indian raga (Silvia Nakkach) — alongside contemplative training in the Zen and Tibetan Bön traditions. He holds a certificate in sound and the healing arts from the New York Open Center.

Through Being Sound, he composes original music and soundscapes for practitioners, creators, and spaces, and teaches guitar and music privately. He lives in Edgewater, Chicago.