Alex Mackay

Alex Mackay is a musician from the from the north of Scotland, creating electroacoustic works that integrate analog synthesis with exploratory approaches to the recording and manipulation of acoustic spaces and instruments, through a focus on interrelations between systems of signal flow, amplification, tuning, spatialisation and reverberation.

In live contexts, Alex has presented solo and collaborative works in performances, installations and exhibitions across Europe, as well as being active as an electric guitarist and synthesist, notably as a live member of the band Mogwai from Glasgow, Scotland.

Alex studied composition and music production at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of York, and is currently a doctoral researcher in electroacoustic composition at the University of York (supported by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council, through the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities) researching intersections of site specificity and studio-based composition practice, informed by a theoretical framework of time geography. 

Furthering this research at EMS, Alex will be developing a new electroacoustic work for analog synthesizers and Scottish smallpipes; devising analog synthesis techniques informed by the materiality, timbrality and airflow of and through the pipes, integrated with location recordings and resonance profiles of spaces situated in the Strathnaver region of the north Highlands of Scotland. Acknowledging the significance of temporal and spatial displacement in both the historical context and creation of the work, the creative process aims to explore engagement with sonic materialities rooted in place as means of re-activating, re-imagining and re-connecting with this site from the vantage point of the studio.