Devlog #40
Hello sonification fans!
Welcome back to the Loud Numbers development log - a weekly newsletter where we talk about how we’re putting together our upcoming data sonification podcast. You’re getting these emails because you signed up at loudnumbers.net, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.
We’ve lots of exciting news to share this week – including how to get your hands on a Loud Numbers T-shirt!
One More Track Done
It was the first track we started working on, a year and a half ago. And now, at last, it’s finished. Our sonification of climate data in Nenana, Alaska (along with data on global sunspots and atmospheric carbon dioxide) is ready to be sent to the excellent mastering engineers at Queer Ear in Berlin.
It’s a techno track; it’s got builds and breakdowns and drops and everything. We think it bangs and hope you think so, too.
You can hear the track in our first podcast episode, The Natural Lottery, which will be released on 5 June.
Our Trailer is Up
The Loud Numbers trailer is now up on Spotify!
If you listen to your podcasts through Spotify, hit “follow” to get all the episodes as soon as they’re released. Other platforms (Apple, Google, Overcast, etc) are coming soon. And of course we have an RSS feed which you can grab from here.
T-Shirts
It’s here. The Loud Numbers T-shirt is now available from our Etsy shop. There are five nerdtastic designs (all by Duncan) to choose from, available in men’s and women’s styles in maaaany colours.
Here’s Duncan modelling one of them.
Sonification Festival on 5 June
As you’ll know if you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, we’re planning to host a small sonification festival on 5 June 2021, the same day that the first episode of Loud Numbers will be released.
The festival will consist of a few talks and interviews from people doing interesting things with sonification. It’ll take place over the course of a few hours, starting at about 8am LA / 11am NYC / 4pm London / 5pm Berlin / 8.30pm Mumbai. It will be streamed live on YouTube, and totally free to attend.
We’ve still got a few open speaker slots, and that’s where you come in. If you’re doing interesting things with sonification, then hit reply to this email and tell us what you’re up to. If you’re not sure if what you’re doing qualifies, or is worth talking about, then drop us a message anyway and we can figure it out together.
Elsewhere on the web
- The folks at the Data Sonification Archive are now on Twitter as @datasonif. Earlier this week they tweeted this sonification canvas, a downloadable tool to help you represent your data through sound. Miriam’s a particular fan of the Analytical vs Narrative spectrum: ‘Are you representing hard values from a dataset?’ vs ‘Do you want to communicate a message or tell a story?’
- In a nice example of analogue data sonification (albeit on a desperately sad topic), Simon Huwiler made this sonification of COVID-19 deaths in Switzerland using a music box and a four-metre-long punch card.
- Jamie Perera and Katharine Round’s new data-driven audiovisual work Anthropocene in C Major will be performed online on Earth Day, April 22. Here’s what they say about it:
‘Anthropocene in C Major’ is an “expanded cinema” performance re-imagining 12000 years of human influence on earth as a 40 minute symphony of sound and image. It is created live by the artists, and you, the audience – as listeners, makers, observers and subjects.
It sounds epic. Tickets and more info here.
Phew, that’s it for this week.
If you’ve made (or just seen!) any cool sonification things on the web recently then send those links our way!
xox
Miriam and Duncan