Kent Macpherson

Kent Macpherson is a sonic artist, phonographer and composer, whose main interest lies in combining visual and auditory experiences. Over his career, he has worked between installation works, sound art, minimal soundscapes, and composition/production.

Kent's interest lies mainly in the ‘unheard’ sonic attributes of natural and man-made structures. Resonances and vibrations are captured using specially designed contact microphones and hydrophones.

MA Music (Dist), GradDipMusTech, GradCertScreenMusic,CAT

Sonic art, Phonography, Composition, Field recording, Improvisation, Drones, Soundscapes, Audio recording, Music production, Live performance.​

Kent has an MA Music (with distinction) from Wintec. His dissertation and practical output discussed the emergence of the composer as producer, and to what extent technology has promoted this evolution of creative roles. He attended La Trobe University in Melbourne and studied electronic music, computer music programming, synthesis and recording techniques. Other postgraduate studies include screen music composition at The Australian Film Television & Radio School, Melbourne. He is a member of APRA.

Kent’s research outputs focus on representations of sound. His various collaborations have culminated in live improvised performances (Bugloop 2012 with Japanese sonic artist Haco, and Wintec researcher Luke McConnell), installation works (Confluence 2014 with Luke McConnell) at the Waikato museum as part of the Survey Hamilton project, and live performance (Large Resonating Structures Played on Electric Guitar) at NZ Fringe Wellington in February 2015 to a packed house of sonic art enthusiasts. His current projects include ‘The absent sense’, a two year project capturing the sound of wine fermentation in collaboration with Felton Road winery, Otago and The Auricle sonic arts gallery in Christchurch. A project beginning in 2016 was the bold undertaking of a Waikato river sound map, documenting the sounds of the river from its headwaters in the Kaimanawa ranges to its mouth at Port Waikato -​ 425kms of discovery. See more of Kent's work at http://www.kentmacpherson.com​, and read more of his research here.