Review of #02 – immersive sound

Thanks again to all the speakers and everyone who came by on a blisteringly cold Thursday night in the name of immersive sound.

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Ron Herrema showed us the simple pleasures that can be had with some quick manipulation via the visual, audio programming tool Pure Data, quipping that even a randomly generated sequence of notes played together was interesting to a sound artist. Have a play with existing patches via the MobMuPlat app.

Ron’s slides as a PDF

Tony Churnside shared some fascinating insights into his work with iBeacons, Rondo Motion boxes, poets, MoMA and of course the prolific and brilliant sound artist Björk. Apart from his reflections on collaboration, he also recalled the great anecdote that warns against letting technology steal the show. During the US / Russian space race, the enormous US investment in designing a biro that would work upside looked farcical next to Russia’s perfectly functioning pencils.

Tim Murray-Browne presented some curious and thoughtful immersive sound installations, such as This Floating World, made in collaboration with Jan Lee. His views on the medium of sound – and the fascinating dynamics it can create between artist and participant – were both inspiring and head-breaking. Imagine sounds ‘hidden’ in room and how audio feedback helps you build a picture of their size and location as your body encounters them. On collaboration, he extolled the virtues of a good old fashioned storyboard, and taking time to try out each other’s processes.

Tim’s slides as a PDF

Thanks to Campus London for making the evening so easy. What a luxury to have such a seamless AV setup, volume controls aside. But that glitch was in the spirit of things…

Drop us a line if you’re interested in demo’ing some technology or sharing your experiences of art + tech collaboration.

A selection of images from the night, by Jon Holloway, along with more on Flickr.