Doppler machine
Part of my work at the RCA has been investigating our sonic environment by developing a series of sonic objects that modify sound in different ways. As Kenya Hara states in his “Designing Design”, design should also be about “making the known unknown”, and by reintroducing sonic phenomena in a new and interesting way, I hope to show people in greater detail how sonic effects are actually created, and how they may thus be manipulated in modern composition.
Inspired by pieces such as Luigi Russolo’s “Intonarumori”, Steve Reisch’s “Pendulum Music” and Ray Lee’s “Chorus”, as well as the Leslie Speaker, I wanted to work particularly with the Doppler Effect, and how it can be used as a compositional tool, as well as creating a greater understanding of the effect itself to a broader public. I’ve been particularly interested in the usage of feedback along with the Doppler Effect, and creating a more performative piece using microphones to interact with the disc, and thus creating quite ephemeral, alien-esque soundscapes.
I worked closely with composer Lara Poe from the Royal College of Music (RCM) in developing ways where musicians can play their music through the disc and create interesting effects, this culminated in a group of us from the RCA and the RCM holding a performance at the RCA showcasing some of our latest sound pieces.
I put together some posters and flyers for the event, and me and Lara Poe performed two sound pieces with my Doppler machine. In the first performance, we performed one of the feedback performances, while clarinetist Piotr Dec joined us for the second performance, using a score and Max MSP patcher prepared by Lara, creating a “call and response” effect between the two.
