Devlog #27
Happy new year, sonification fans! We've missed you. We took a few weeks off to celebrate the holiday season, but we're now back in action and making plans for 2021 - the year that Loud Numbers will be unleashed upon the world.
But let's back up a moment. Newcomers! Welcome to the Loud Numbers Development Log, which is basically a secret club of sonification pals. It costs nothing to join, and you get a newsletter every week with behind-the-scenes glimpses into how we're making the world's first data sonification podcast. You're getting this email because you signed up for it on our website, but if that doesn't sound familiar, then there's an unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email.
Let's start with some big news. We've been asked to give a talk about Loud Numbers at Outlier, the first conference of the Data Visualization Society. The talk will be the first time that you'll be able to hear one of the finished tracks from the podcast.
Here's the talk pitch we sent over.
People have been telling stories with music for millennia. Music can uplift us, console us, excite us, scare us, and energise us. It speaks to the heart as well as the head.
So why aren't more people using it to tell data stories? Sonification -- the practice of turning data into sound -- has been around for more than a century, but it remains niche when compared to the explosive popularity of visualization.
In this talk, we'll look at some of the reasons why this might be and share what we've learned about effective storytelling with music and data in the process of creating Loud Numbers -- the world's first data sonification podcast.
We'll look at the landscape of sonification possibilities, from audification, through "earcons" and live data soundscapes, to complex parameter mapping.
We'll share what we've learnt about the kinds of data and stories that are most suited to clear, compelling sonification, and how to avoid confusing listeners.
And we'll go in-depth into one of the episodes from Loud Numbers Season One -- explaining the story, the data, and how we encoded it into music. We'll end with a world-exclusive preview of the final track from that episode.
People who watch the talk will learn how to create powerful, compelling data narratives with sound and music, and get an exclusive first look at one of the most exciting data projects of 2021.
We've got to fit all that into 20 minutes, which will be a bit of a challenge, but we think we can do it. We're extraordinarily excited about finally letting you all hear what we've been working on, and we promise it won't sound like any sonification you've ever heard before.
So, how do you get a ticket? Well it's easy. They're on sale now, at a range of price points to suit all budgets, including "totally free". Pay what you think it's worth. As well as us, you'll also get access to a stellar lineup of other speakers and lots of other data-oriented fun.
We've been spending much of our Loud Numbers time since we last spoke on putting our talk together, but we've also found time to finalise a couple of tracks and send them off for mastering. That's a full third of the podcast finished, which feels great. Two more tracks aren't far behind, and then there are two that will need a bit more work.
We've gone back to our Beer sonification, refining it and figuring out how we're going to turn it into a full track rather than a bunch of discrete pieces of music. We've also been adding samples to reflect some of the more special beers in our tasting menu, like a smoky Rauchbier, and a fruity sour.
Oh, and also we've been writing an article for datajournalism.com about the project and what we're learning. That will hopefully go live in a few weeks - we'll share a link with you when it does.
That's all from us today. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter if you're not already, where we often share great sonification links. If you're excited about what we're doing, then the best way to help is to forward this email to someone who you think also might be excited about learning about what we're up to.
Thanks, and see you next week!
- Duncan & Miriam