Mitcham Tuell

Electrical Engineer & Maker

I graduated with Honors

from the Georgia Institute
of Technology in
December 2017 with a
B.S. Electrical Engineering
degree.



Since then I have been
working as the CEO of my
music technology
company Oddity
Instruments, and am now
seeking full-time
employment as a product
design engineer. I am
currently based in Atlanta,
GA, but am open to
relocation.

This portfolio showcases

some of my design work.

mitchamtuell@gmail.com
706-474-9477
 Interactive Coke Bottle
Designing an electronic beverage package for Coca-Cola

For my senior design project, Coca-Cola asked my team and I to

conceptualize, design, and prototype an interactive light-up beverage
package for their products. We were constrained to extremely tight
tolerances regarding size, weight, and
especially cost. The process took two
school semesters and included
preliminary research papers, a formal
proposal, Gantt chart, Bill of Materials,
multiple rounds of prototyping, and a
final paper and presentation to the sponsors
and the public. We were in constant
communication with Coca-Cola representatives
throughout, including weekly reports.

NFC tags are extremely inexpensive so we

thought we could build a system that used the
user’s NFC-enabled phone as a controller. After
determining that the phone’s emitter could not
feasibly be used as a power source itself, we did
a deep research dive and found some flat and slightly bendable Li-Po
batteries and managed to negotiate a sample pack with the manufacturer.

We chose 9 surface-mount LEDs as the light source - cheap, small, and Coke
red. We used a surface-mount microprocessor designed for use with NFC
tags. The only kind of PCB that could fit our form factor is a flexible plastic one, but we started with a
prototype on a rigid PCB before moving to the more expensive flexible type. Once assembled, the
processor was flashed with some embedded code that lit the LEDs in different patterns according to
different signals received from a smartphone transmitter. The whole assembly was wrapped in Kapton
tape to protect from moisture and static electricity.

We ended up with a design that satisfied the requirements for form-

factor and performance, but unfortunately could not meet the very
strict cost requirements. Flexible and thin PCBs and batteries are just
not cheap enough to make that possible. Coca-Cola wanted the
prices at manufacturing scale, which proved very difficult to
accurately estimate. Check out a demo video featured on GT’s
Twitter!
 Analog Electric Drum
Designing and bringing to market a novel electric percussion instrument.

In Spring 2017 I had an idea for a musical instrument

- a drum that works like an electric guitar. “Electronic
drums” are digital controllers for computers to play
back sound, but an electric guitar is all analog - no
sampling or computers involved. After doing
extensive research and reading dozens of patents, I
concluded that no one had documented an attempt
at this idea before. I recruited two undergrad
engineering friends (an ME and another EE, both
musicians) and we built a proof of concept. It worked.
We applied and were accepted to GT’s undergraduate
startup incubator and spent the summer working on
the product under our company Oddity Instruments,
with me as the CEO.

Since the proof of concept, the product has gone

through several prototype iterations, improving each
time. We have brought prototypes to two major industry
trade shows and worked with performing artists who are
excited to receive early production models for review
and to share with their fans. I have been working closely
with an IP lawyer for months and we are in the process
of applying for an international patent for the drum.

The design process for the drum has been complex. Since we are attempting to carve a new market niche
there are very few hard requirements for what the final product should encompass. We want to make
something that sounds and feels good and is durable and well-built, but also want to minimize cost. Up until
now, we’ve been relying on our own ears and
intuition to judge those factors but are
approaching the point of sending drums to
performing drummers for feedback, and we have
devised a schedule of qualitative and quantitative
feedback that we expect to receive from the beta
testers. Hopefully this feedback will allow us to
hone in on the right MVP to offer to our first
customers.
 Pedal Controller
Designing and prototyping a signal routing touch controller

The Oddity electric drum is designed to be used with effects pedals. There is already a
very mature market of fantastic effects pedals available to musicians, but drummers face a
challenge that guitarists don’t - their feet aren’t free
while playing. I set out to design and prototype a
controller that would allow drummers to turn on and
off effects pedals by
hitting a rim-mounted
pad with a drumstick.

The design uses a

piezoelectric vibration
sensor embedded in
the rim-mounted bar.
The piezo is connected
to a specialty IC used to debounce and toggle logic
levels from momentary switches. The output logic
controls a specialty audio SPDT analog audio switching
IC, which routes the audio signal to either bypass the
effect or go through it. The prototype has three such
effects loops chained together such that three
independent pedals can be switched. This system
preserves an analog signal chain, and does not
introduce unnecessary complexity or expense from
using a microcontroller.
 Moog Hackathon
Rapid design and prototyping of novel musical instruments
Since 2015 pioneering synthesizer company Moog Music has hosted a hackathon at Georgia Tech.
Students and community members have two days of non-stop working time to conceptualize and
realize a novel musical instrument based on Moog’s own Werkstatt-01 hackable semi-modular
synthesizer. I have participated for 4 years and with my teams each year have created several interesting
designs. The quick-and-dirty nature of these projects allows for unique creative technical approaches.

2015 - The SynthCycle

The first year of the hackathon, my team and I did not understand
synthesis well. Therefore, we sought to build an external frame for the
synthesizer that would allow the player to physically visualize and interact
with the different parameters that influence sound, hoping to create an
educational tool.
The Low Frequency Oscillator is
controlled by turning the crank of
the bike with your hand, which
causes the wooden post to rotate
and the affixed ball to centrifugally
orbit the post.
The pitch of the instrument is
controlled by sliding another ball
in a channel.
The amplitude of the sound is
controlled by squeezing a foam
pad, which was implemented
using a force-sensitive resistor.

2016 - The Shruti Pedalboard

In classical Indian music, there is an instrument called a Shruti Box which is used to provide a simple
harmonic drone to accompany rhythmic and melodic singing and playing. We set out to build a structure to
use the synthesizer as a drone pedal which could be operated using only the feet and could be chained
together with existing effects units. As far as we know, such an instrument had never been built.
2017 - Sigmoido String Controller
The Werkstatt-01 itself doesn’t have any controller except a small
pushbutton keyboard used mostly for testing purposes. My team and I
wanted to create a way to interact with the instrument that was very
physical and felt like a “real instrument”, not just a piece of electronics. We
designed a controller that uses six real guitar strings and five metal frets
per hand. It is designed to be completely modular and ambidextrous. It
can be played upright or flat on a table or the player’s lap.
The default configuration is for the left hand to control pitch chromatically
like a guitar, while the right hand strings control a different parameter per
string: filter, octave, and LFO speed. The two central knobs control
resonance and LFO amount.

2018 - Synth Kalimba

The Kalimba, also called the Mbira or the Thumb Piano, is a small
handheld acoustic instrument of African origin. The player strikes
metal tines with his or her fingers, causing a plink sound which
resonates in a wooden chamber. The team and I sought to build
a synth controller inspired by this instrument. We wanted it to be
entirely self-contained so the player could pick it up and play it
with as little setup and as few cables as possible to worry about.
We built an enclosure that houses the entire Werkstatt circuit
board and forms the body of the instrument. Affixed above the
front face of the controller are four metal tines. As the player
touches each tine, the instrument plays each of four pitches.
Plucking a tine causes a mechanical vibration which is
transduced by the piezoelectric pickups on the bridges
and is used to modulate the sound of the instrument. The
switch in the middle controls the octave. On the back of
the instrument are two pads, one for each hand, which
control synth parameters when squeezed.
The instrument is very simplistic and feels solid in hand. It is
designed to be immediately intuitive and all players found
it very easy to approach musically within seconds of
holding it.
 Hobby Projects
I’m always building something…

Guitar made of antique heart pine. Original body design.

Bass guitar with distressed paint job.

Original body design.

Original design for hand-forged steel Handmade bottle opener with magnet.
corkscrew. Original variation on known design.

Homemade “smart”
power strip used for
controlling string lights.
Each double outlet relay
is addressable with
externally accessible logic
pins. Original design
variation.