The location is Kensington Market, Toronto and the challenge was to develop a responsive archival system that would allow its users to access and experience the soundscape of Kensington past, present (and future) while raising a critical awareness of sound in the urban environment. Beginning with the hypothesis that sound experienced out of context grows in potential, this project attempts to establish new relationships between the act of recording and the experience of tactile and aural perceptions. Decontextualizing the experience of sound can be educational, entertaining and transformative. A digital recorder, for example, with stereo headphones is a wonderful ear training device and, within a relatively short period of time, the fine details experienced in a good quality recording translate into first hand listening experience. Using a computer system to archive soundscape recordings allows for adaptability of access and interface design, while allowing for scalability in terms of storage. Designing a tactile interface means exploring sound at the scale of material, surface and construction. At the human scale, it also augments the conventional relationship between body and listening. The installation (shown above), presented at the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture Landscape and Design, was used to develop some simple tools for recording and accessing sonic information via a tactile interface. The architectural project was then used to suggest how the installation might be deployed at a larger scale within the city. (Above right) The installation consists of: a soft, smooth and continuous surface supported by a metal frame backing; 8 contact microphones used as sensors and mounted to the frame; 2 wireless microphones (one stereo mic and one pair of binaural mics); two speakers; and a computer running Max/MSP to control the interface. The system is activated by touching the surface which causes vibrations to be detected by the software through the contact sensors. The overall sensitivity of the system is set within the Max/MSP program by manipulating the threshold of the incoming amplitudes from the contact sensors and the wireless mics. The wireless microphones constantly supply the system with both static and dynamic sound information. The stereo mic is fixed in a remote location and is activated to record only when there is sound present, while the binaural microphones are worn in the ears like headphones and record sounds dynamically as the person wearing them moves through space. Sounds from both microphones produce high quality recordings that are stored into databanks on the computer hard drive at 10 second intervals. The threshold of incoming amplitude from the wireless microphones can also be adjusted in the Max/MSP program and determines the sensitivity and length of the recordings. The Tactile Soundscape responds to touch by playing back recordings randomly. As the subject caresses the surface, sounds begin to emerge in real-time and may be live or recorded depending on the amount of pressure applied. This creates new and interesting relationships at multiple scales between body, the act of recording sound and the experience of listening. |
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