Nathan Carter

Nathan Carter is a multi-instrumentalist and sound artist/composer, born and raised in Wellington, New Zealand.

Growing up as an avid drummer, he studied percussion under Lance Philip at the New Zealand School of Music (NZSM) from 2014 to 2020. This, in addition to his practice in hand percussion, piano, bass, guitar, ukulele, and vocal performance, enabled him to play a wide variety of parts for various classical, jazz, choral, and rock ensembles - both in-school (Wellington College) and professionally - between 2014 and 2018. These included most of his school's ensembles and performing as a guest percussionist for Wellington's 'Inspirare' choir.

At this time, Nathan also began composing music inspired by a wide range of genres, from house/techno, IDM/glitch, DnB, and ambient, to contemporary orchestral, minimalism, jazz, and rock. His commitment to electronic composition solidified after having his music reviewed and chosen two years in a row (2017, 2018) by New Zealand composer John Psathas for Wellington College's top composition award.

From 2019 to 2021, Nathan studied at the NZSM with a Bachelor of Music in Sonic Arts & Music Technology. There he maintained an impactful presence with his music, winning top prizes at the NZSM's Lilburn Trust Composers' Competition for his electronic acousmatic/soundscape compositions in 2020 and 2021 (‘The World of Data’ and ‘Moving Machines’, coming 1st and 3rd respectively). In 2022, he continued with sonic arts the NZSM attaining a first-class Honours degree; this involved several music technology disciplines, including film audio production under the tutelage of Thomas Voyce, and independent research into audio-visual coding/software and interactive hardware with supervision from Jim Murphy and Mo H. Zareei.

Nathan's recent work has included composing, scoring/sound for screen, and creating audio-visual art through his Alter Natural project; several public live electronics performances/fixed media works (Works For Loudspeakers, Ars Electronica Garden Aotearoa, Australasian Computer Music Conference); playing drums for an original-music rock band ‘Fifth Season’; and various ensemble collaborations with other local musical talents (Nikau Wi Neera, Peter Liley & Jack Woodbury).