LCD – light controlled drones
Digital media studio project:
Raz Ullah; Andreas Miranda; Martha Winther; Ian Hynd; Fiona Keenan; Marie-Claud Codsi; Jim Pritchard:
Optical / Audio Explorations:
Supervisor: Dr Sean Williams
An exploration into the lightscape of the contempory urban environment, where transient aspects of the urban lightscape were examined, recorded and translated into an audio format to make the variations perceptable to the observer’s senses.
LCD is a sound installation that amplifies this secret world of light and manifests it as a material that can be directly manipulated and interacted with.
Informed by the work of early experimenters with Optical Audio such as Daphne Oram, Oscar Fischinger and others. LCD uses specially designed optical circuits and repurposed computer parts as components in an array of six sound sculptures that emit electronic tones when activated by LED torches.
The interactive element It’s self comprises two elements, firstly we utilise handheld led torches to stimulate a series of electro-mechanical oscillators to manufacture base tones. we utilize a second LED light source to modify the tone by sonic granulation and pitch shifting by means of MaxDSP via an Arduino processing to create a rich and pervasive sound world that is determined by user interaction.
Secondly, the data from background and transient light level variations was intergrated to form an audio composition that forms the background to the installation, representing the urban landscape, over which we lay interactive elements to represent the way in which people influence their environment.
The interactive element is laid on top of the background composition to reflect the complexity of the modern urban lightscape.
