ABOUT

This project is both a field-recording device and an installation added in a space and it focuses on the sonification of the environment with the help of technological means, in order to enhance the experience of field recording. A real audio signal is received through my TASCAM-DR40, and the sound is changed by effects triggered by information gathered by environmental sensors on an Arduino and oscillators in Pure Data, which control the ambient composition (see Appendix 1). The Arduino and the Pure Data patch are connected to a Raspberry Pi 3 and can be used outdoors without the need of a display or other peripherals (mouse and keyboard).

The composition consists of three different chord progressions that change according to the temperature of the environment, to create a feeling for the space being recorded and listened to, and these are accompanied by three different series of notes that construct the melodic part of the piece. Each series of notes is controlled by a patch that generates the first order Markov chains from one series of the three, depending on the environmental conditions, and this creates numerous possibilities that remain controlled by the selection of notes entered by myself in the patch. The bass line of the piece responds to the vibration sensor and moves with differing intensity depending of the amount of movement in the surroundings, for example if there are more vibrations then the movement of the bass line becomes more distinct and vice versa. A granular synthesis patch manipulates the real audio signal that, according to the weather conditions and surroundings, changes the pitch and delay of the audio.

The device/installation expresses sonically the state of each space, with the oscillators creating the feeling of each attribute of the space and then augmenting the reality in a way that each sound produced can be original and unexpected due to the unknown factors that can change the sound.



Keywords: Field recording, installation, augmented reality, environment, algorithms, communication