Cheapmachines - Public/Private (Setting Up)

"Public/Private" day 1 - setting up, speaker tests and positioning, software correction. Nightvision camera by Christopher Gowers.

"Public/Private" was an unmanned sound installation which ran for five days between 28/08/07 and 01/09/07 in an empty bank vault in London.

Each evening, an automated drone was set to run uninterrupted for three hours.

The event was held in complete darkness.

No instructions were given regarding the size or layout of the space. People where left to freely explore the vaults chambers.

The sounds were generated in real time using the SuperCollider software environment and amplified via three
DB Technologies L80 powered speakers distributed throughout the vault to provide stereo diffusion of the sounds, the unconventional speaker placement making use of the unusually thick, natural reverberation present in the space (the vault essentially being a large, sealed concrete and metal box for keeping money in, built in 1928.)

The wall thickness is 400mm and the ceiling height is approx 2.5m.

The software allowed for certain parameters such as pitch/frequency, volume, duration etc. to be suggested by the user. The computer then interpreted these instructions and generated a live, real-time composition without the need for any further user/programmer interaction.

The purpose of the event was to provide a live listening experience which was devoid of any visual information or any human performance element. The sounds (where possible) were set to a volume/pitch which made normal levels of conversation difficult amongst visitors to the installation (for example, tones in the 85-255 hz range were used
specifically in an attempt to fall across the general fundamental frequencies of male/female adult speech).

This recording is only a short selection from the fifteen hours which were generated over the five day period.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• cheapmachines
• cheap
• machines
• drone
• automated
• noise
• experimental