Luke Harrald

Associate Professor Luke Harrald

Head of Creative Practice

Elder Conservatorium of Music

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

My research investigates ways that we interact with digital media and how technology influences our experience of place and culture. I create a variety of work ranging from traditional concert performances through to immersive sound installation works for galleries, museums and other public spaces that offer unique experiences and use cutting edge technologies to tell historical and contemporary stories.

Works that demonstrate the breadth of my creative practice: In 2021 I collaborated with Grayson Rotumah on a commission for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, “Bula Yabru Banam” that responded to the story of the Three Brothers; a creation story of the Bundjalung people. The work featured boomerangs, water percussion and didgeridoo, with Kuarna man Robert Taylor performing the didgeridoo part for the premiere on Kuarna Country at the Festival of Orchestra, November 2021 to an audience of over 4000. In 2020, I collaborated with Steven Cook on a Virtual Reality project “Sound Escape” that focussed on movement rehabilitation and pain management for patients at the Northern Pain Rehabilitation Clinic. The system was designed to give audible feedback on therapy movements, while simultaneously providing relief from clinical settings. In 2015 I designed and built a permanent sound installation at Adelaide Oval in collaboration with designer James Coulter, the South Australian Cricket Association and Cricket Australia. This work has been experienced by an audience of over 100,000 and was updated and upgraded in 2023 to continue indefinitely into the future.

I welcome inquiries from Masters and PhD candidates interested in: Composition / Sound Art, Installation, Immersive technologies – VR, AR and surround audio, Algorithmic Composition / Computer Music, and AI or Alife and music.

Other previous projects:

  • Macau Days

Is a trilingual project that incorporated a book, art exhibition and sound installation, Macau Days comprised of images, stories and reflections on Macau and its rich transcultural history as Asia’s oldest European settlement. A collaboration between Brian Castro (Poet), John Young (Visual Artist) and Luke Harrald (Sound Artist), the installation sat at the intersection of media, incorporating an exhibition of paintings with a new approach to immersive audio where beams of sound were used to presented poems in three languages simultaneously while syncronised with a surround soundscape.

RealTime review of Macau Days
 

  • Way of the Warrior

Is an experiential public sound art work that is permanently installed at Adelaide Oval, which aims to give audiences a sense of what it is like for elite sports people as they walk out onto the iconic ground in front of an audience of 50,000 fans.  Making use of a unique approach to audio spatialisation using an array of 16 speakers, the majority of which are hidden, the work explores the suspension of disbelief, and how experiences can be custom built into spaces that blur the real and installed environments for audiences. 

Mini-documentary showcasing the experience of Way of the Warrior
 

  • Emergency in the Sim Ward

A collaboration with simulation researcher, and dramaturg Teresa Crea, this work was an immersive radio play commissioned by ABC Radio National. This work is a creative narrative based on clinical simulations and interviews with anaesthesists talking about their reactions and thought processes in dealing with emergencies in operating theatres. Based on field recordings of simulated and real hospital environments, the work aims to give the audience an impression of what it’s like when simulated and real environments potentially blur in our memories.

Listen to Emergency in the Sim Ward at ABC Radio National

 

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2023 - ongoing Head of Creative Practice University of Adelaide
    2011 - 2023 Head of Studies - Popular Music & Creative Technologies University of Adelaide
    2005 - 2011 Lecturer in Music Technology University of Adelaide

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2013 Award Excellence in Experimental Music Australian Performing Rights Association Australia -
    2013 Award Excellence in a Regional Area Australian Performing Rights Association Australia -

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2003 - 2008 University of Adelaide Australia Doctor of Philosophy
    2001 - 2002 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Music Honours in Composition (First Class)
    1995 - 1999 Flinders Street School of Music Australia Bachelor of Music (Composition)

  • Postgraduate Training
    Date Title Institution Country
    2006 - 2006 Centre de Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis Electronic Music Summer Intensive Centre de Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX) France

  • Certifications
    Date Title Institution name Country
    2014 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment Professional Development Training -

  • Research Interests
    Adaptive Agents and Intelligent Robotics Music Music Composition Music Performance Virtual Reality and Related Simulation
Date Course Title Course Level / Code
2012 Song Writing and Performance 1A / 1B Level 1, MUSPMACT 1202 / MUSPMACT 1202
2012 Contemporary Music in Practice 1 Level 1, MUSPMACT 1100
2012 Contemporary Musicianship 1A / 1B Level 1, MUSPOP 1003 / MUSPOP 1004
2012 Song Writing and Performance 2A / 2B Level 2, MUSPMACT 2201 / MUSPMACT 2202
2012 Contemporary Music in Practice 2 Level 2, MUSPMACT 2100
2007 Sound Design for Film 2 Level 2, MUSONIC 2820
2007 Computer Music Composition 2 Level 2, MUSONIC 2310
2012 Song Writing and Performance 3 Level 3, MUSPMACT 3201
2012 Contemporary Music in Practice 3 Level 3, MUSPMACT 3100
2014 -2015 Music Industry Studies 3 Level 3, MUSPMACT 3310
2007 Sound Design for Film 3 Level 3, MUSONIC 3820
2007 Computer Music Composition 3 Level 3, MUSONIC 3310
2014 Honours Music Final Performance Popular Music Honours, MUSHONS 4008

 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 Principal Supervisor Sonic Transition: Exploring Anthrophonic Interaction Through Interdisciplinary Soundscape Composition. Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Alan Stephen Cook
    2023 Principal Supervisor Sonic Transition: Exploring Anthropophonic Interaction Through Interdisciplinary Soundscape Composition Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Alan Stephen Cook
    2023 Principal Supervisor Rebooting the Muse: Cultural precincts and new ways Australian performing artists are engaging with audiences Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Adam Gardnir
    2023 Principal Supervisor Bundjalung Culture, Language, and Song: portfolio of compositions and exegesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Grayson Rotumah
    2018 Principal Supervisor Group Song Writing and Music Making Opening Social, Education and Career Pathways for Low Socio-Economic Status Youth in Adelaide's North Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Hannah Yates

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2021 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Make a Change: The experience, identity and culture of pub rock music in Adelaide, South Australia (1962–1994). Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Robert John Boundy
    2018 - 2023 Principal Supervisor A Methodology For Analysing Improvised Jazz: A Computer-Aided Approach Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr David James Blackwell
    2018 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Visions of Water in Lower Murray Country Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Dr Camille Marie Eugenie Rouliere
    2018 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Virtual Music: Developing a System of Music Notation and Performance for Virtual Reality Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nathan Cummins
    2016 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Ecotonality, or Adapting Soundscape Ecology to Creative Practice: Ecological Sound Art Responses to Four South Australian Ecosystems Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jesse Henk Nicolaas Budel
    2016 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Making the Virtual Actual: A Research Model to Understand Music of Contemporary Open-World Video Games Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Barnabas Gregory Smith
    2016 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Sounds in Space: A Portfolio of Spatial Music Works for VR Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Daniel James Pitman
    2013 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Developing Methods for Predicting Affect in Algorithmic Composition Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Daniel James Pitman
    2011 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Declarative Computer Music Programming: using Prolog to generate rule-based musical counterpoints Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Robert Pawel Wolf
  • Position: Head of Creative Practice
  • Phone: 83133402
  • Email: luke.harrald@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Schulz, floor 9
  • Org Unit: Elder Conservatorium of Music
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