when considering the instillation, I decided I wanted to approach it from a more musical standpoint. I struggle with a non musical approach, so wanted to come at this brief with a composed song. I remembered an exhibition I went to at the museum of London in 2019, showcasing memorabilia of the clash. The part I remember most was an interactive four track mixer, each channel having bass, drums, guitar or the vocal to the song ‘London’s calling’. The listener could put on headphones and isolate or remix the instruments of the song. This was a crucial part of my growth of musical understanding and why this song will always be important to me. I decided for this instillation piece I want to take a similar approach, making the sensors trigger different parts of a track.
I started composing the song, taking inspiration from ‘the downward spiral’ album by Nine Inch Nails to make a noisy and distorted industrial track with a healthy amount of reverb. I thought the idea of also breaking up the effects into different speakers would be cool too. Placing the snare on one speaker, but the long reverb trail on the same as the piano, or every other word of the vocal on opposite speakers. I plan to have the ~4 minute track synchronised, and activating the sensors will just raise the volume of a given speaker so it can be heard. I will have a medium fade in and long fade out on the speakers too so that each element will chaotically feed into the next. I plan for the mix to be very distorted and soundscape based to create an eerie ambience within the space.
Fearon, F. (2019). This brand-new exhibition on The Clash reveals an unseen archive of music, clothing and stellar photos. [online] British GQ. Available at: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-clash-london-calling-exhibition.
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