Bureaucracy, Soundscapes, and Fermentation
Hello friends,
We're Miriam and Duncan, the duo behind Loud Numbers - the studio that turns data into sound. It's been a while since we were last in touch, but that's mainly because we only send a message when we've got something to say.
Quick reminder that you're getting those emails because you subscribed to our newsletter, likely via loudnumbers.net. If you ever want out, there's an unsubscribe link waiting for you in the footer of this email.
An Installation of Bureaucracy
A few years back, we did an episode of the Loud Numbers podcast called A Symphony of Bureaucracy. It's a data-driven fugue, where eight interlinked melodic lines weave in and out of each other, covering a timeline from the 1950s to the present day. The more melodies you hear at once, the more laws being made by the EU at that point in the timeline. You can listen to it here.
Then, earlier this year, we were invited to contribute an installation to an event titled "Sonic Citizens" - and it seemed like a great fit. So we retooled the original piece to be played on eight different Eurorack synthesizers, each sitting on its own table, with a lamp that lights up when it's active. We shot some video, so there'll be a version that you can see and hear in due course. In the meantime, we've made a small page on the website with a bunch of pictures.
The Sonification Machine
At Malmö Gallery Weekend this year, we exhibited a prototype of something a bit weird. It's called The Sonification Machine, and it's a wooden box, covered in switches, that draws invisible data from the world around us and uses it to compose a strange, lo-fi, ambient soundscape. Taking inspiration from Yuri Suzuki's Ambient Machine, each layer can be switched on and off by the user.
It incorporates data on the weather, from space, from the web, and from below the surface of our planet. With more than 250 possible sound combinations, and each sound changing as the world changes, the possibility space is vast, and we're really excited about exploring this form factor further. Check out more details on the Loud Numbers website. Video also coming soon for this!
Kōji Fermentation
Earlier this year, long-term friend-of-the-studio Maxene Graze reached out to ask us to contribute to a sonification she was developing on the fermentation of kōji - a filamentous fungus used in Japanese cuisine.
We worked with her to turn her ideas into sonification reality - handling the sound design, mixing and mastering, while she sketched out melodies, wrote a script, and created a beautiful animation. Check out the result over at datagrazing.com/koji.
Data Sonification Awards
We're spinning up our engines for a new year of the Data Sonification Awards. Right now, it's looking like entries will open in a couple of weeks, at the start of November. If you've made a sonification in the last couple of years, and you didn't submit it to last year's awards, then you're eligible! Check out last years' criteria and sign up to the mailing list to hear when entries open over at sonificationawards.org.
Bye bye Spotify
We've taken the difficult decision to remove all Loud Numbers musical releases from Spotify. In the wake of revelations about founder Daniel Ek's investment in military technology, as well as the damage Spotify is doing to small-scale artists, and the company's longstanding failure to meaningfully innovate, we felt like we couldn't justify continuing to make our music available there. Our music remains available on all other streaming services, for the time being, but if you want to buy and own our music, then head on over to Bandcamp. If you’re paying for Spotify, we recommend shifting to another service.
Unfortunately, Spotify for Creators is also where the Loud Numbers podcast is hosted, and despite much research we’ve had a hard time finding good alternatives. We're looking for a podcast host that is cheap, has been around for a while, is not VC-funded, and has a track record of supporting non-commercial shows like ours. That's a tough set of requirements to fulfill. As we'd like to get this decision right, we're gonna take a bit more time over this - but recommendations from fellow non-commercial podcasters who have a host that they're happy with would be very welcome. Just hit reply.
Decibels
Interested in trying out sonification? We help run a friendly and welcoming sonification community over at decibels.community. There are spaces to ask questions, share your work, find an audience, and exchange tips. You can also just join and hang out. Go sign up here.
Elsewhere in Sonification
This is a short round-up of sonification news, links, and other stuff that's caught our eye in the last few months.
- Milton Mermikides has written a book about sonification, titled "Hidden Music - The Composer's Guide to Sonification". You can watch the video abstract here, and pick up a copy here.
- Ellie Wilson's Moth x Human turns data on moths into an immersive soundscape, performed at the Southbank Centre, London, at the Museum of Natural History in Oxford, and in Bradford as part of its UK City of Culture celebrations.
- Everyone in the world sent us a link to Benn Jordan's video where he "saves" a picture via sonification into a starling's brain, and is then able to recreate it when the bird sings it back. So in the same spirit, now we're sending the link back to you all too.
- Tiziana Alocci has been experimenting with sonification of the Living Planet Index, while Noah from Manifest Audio has been experimenting with real-time sonification of human brainwaves.
- Ljómi Systems is doing some really interesting work transforming images of the aurora, and forest scenes, into sound. They're looking for beta testers for new products, so join up to Decibels if that sounds like something you want to play with.
- The New York Times has written about the "sounds of climate change" - real world sonifications of how our planet is changing.
Spotted or created something we should feature here? Hit reply and tell us about it.
We'll be back in your inboxes again when we've got new work to share. In the meantime, don't hesitate to hit reply if you have any questions, or want to share something sonification-adjacent that you made.
- Miriam and Duncan