Composer has created a soundmap of locations around Exeter during lockdown
For the past few weeks composer / technologist Simon Belshaw has been working on a project to create a soundmap of recordings in various locations in the Exeter area that he passed through on his daily exercise whilst we have been in lockdown. All these recordings were made in line with the Government advice on 'Staying safe outside your home' and 'Staying at home and away from others'.
He has created an online soundmap - information about it and a direct link can be found here:
http://www.simonbelshaw.co.uk/covid_intro.html
Direct link to the map:
simonbelshaw.co.uk/covid_soundmap.html
The map shows where each recording was made. When you click on a location you can hear the recording. Also present on the map is a square icon that reads Music Machines. When you click on this you will hear a soundscape that has been created out of all the recordings. This has been created using a Raspberry Pi computer using some code that Simon has written. With this code you can put in as many source recordings as you wish; the computer then decides how many smaller clips it is going to make from the originals. It then generates those smaller clips and decides how long they will be and from which section of the original. Once the clips are generated they are played back at various intervals, faded in and / or out, set to sound at a particular volume and location in the stereo field. This is very similar to Musique Concrète techniques and produces a work that is multi-layered and built from existing recordings.
All the original recordings and resulting soundscapes can be found here:
soundcloud.com/user-851152701-412765042/sets/covid-19-soundmap
This project was supported by Kaleider.
For more information read Simon's blog:
