Scorched Earth, Conferences and Mentoring
Hello friends,
We're Duncan and Miriam, and together we're Loud Numbers - a data sonification studio. We've had a busy first few months of the year, and we've got a whole bunch of news for you below.
First though, a quick reminder: you're getting this email because you signed up for our newsletter, probably at loudnumbers.net, and you can unsubscribe at any time with the link in the footer.
Scorched Earth
Earlier in the year, we were invited to contribute an artwork to Nature's Harmony, an exhibition about humankind's relationship with nature. We put together an audiovisual piece called Scorched Earth, which tells the story of the 2018 fire season in Skåne, the southernmost county in Sweden.
If you've been following our recent work, you'll notice some similarities with Hold the Line - the podcast episode we released earlier this year about Canada's 2023 fire season. Indeed, Scorched Earth borrows some sonification elements from Hold the Line. But it takes a totally new approach to sound design, and - in a first for us -it's paired with a striking data-driven animation that we built from scratch in Touchdesigner. You can get a little taste of both in a teaser we've posted over on YouTube.
If you're in the vicinity of southern Sweden, you can head on down to Kulturhotellet in Helsingborg, where you'll be able to see the piece in full before the end of the exhibition on 15 June. You can also see us talk about the project at the venue on 13 June at 5.30pm local time.
If not, stay tuned - we're looking into ways in which we can exhibit this piece more broadly in more places.
Hold the Line Feedback
Speaking of Hold the Line, we've been getting some great comments back about it from listeners. Here's a little selection:
"It's eerie and marvellous."
"It's quite sobering, brilliantly executed, and incredibly emotional too. I feel as if I could be part of the soundtrack of a sci-fi movie."
"It's so effective at creating the unsettling momentum of the fires' sequence."
"I love the base sound you are using for the day, and that you use recognisable sounds like wood crackling and the Zippo lighter."
"Truly incredible, makes the phenomenon tangible and truly brings home the terrifying extent of the fires."
"Really like that the notes stay afterwards. Post-fire landscape is like an apocalypse."
We're also super-proud that Hold the Line was featured on the mighty kottke.org, and on infogr8's Best of Data for Everyone newsletter.
If you've not heard it yet, you can listen to the full episode on our website or in your favourite podcast player - search for "Loud Numbers". Or download the music track on Bandcamp.
Outlier and DIS Conferences
Duncan will be appearing on stage at the Outlier and DIS conferences in the next month, talking about our collaboration with Jordan Wirfs-Brock and Jamie Perera around what we're calling "Open Sonifications".
Open Sonifications is a new approach to sonification aimed at broadening inclusion and making the art of turning data into sound less arcane and more human. We've published a little manifesto over at opensonifications.net where you can learn more.
Hope to see you at one of the conferences (Outlier has a great virtual attendance option), but if you can't make it and want to know more then drop us a line at opensonifications@gmail.com.
The Carrington Event
Our first experiment with creating a live data sonification concert experience is complete. The Carrington Event, which sonifies the 1859 solar storm of the same name, was performed three times in Malmö, Sweden, in May 2024.
We learnt a lot from the experience! It was very much an Open Sonifications piece, in that it was set up such that the data provided a "score" of sorts for the human performer to interpret live in real-time. As we wrote last time: "the 20-minute long performance transforms data from observatories monitoring the Earth's magnetic field at the time into a roaring maelstrom of guitar, modular synths, and shortwave radio recordings."
If you didn't make it to one of the shows then don't worry - right now we're putting the finishing touches on a recording that we're hoping to release in the next few weeks. Keep an eagle eye on our website for more details on how you can hear that, and we'll try to send a short note to this list when it's released too.
Mentoring
From time to time we get requests from an artist, or a producer, or a musician, to help them put a sonification together. We love getting these emails, and help as many folks as we can. There's nothing more fun than helping people realise their sonification visions!
So if you've got a project coming up, and you'd like some mentoring, then it's totally cool to drop us an email while you're filling out the funding application. We can talk about what you want to achieve and how feasible it is, as well as what it would cost to write in some of our time.
Shoot us a message any time - either by hitting reply, or mailing numbersloud@gmail.com.
Remix album
A quick reminder that earlier this year we published an album of remixes of music from season one of Loud Numbers.
It includes Saint Silva tackling the End of the Road, Wimperis remixing Tasting Notes, Cotter Koopman working with both Boom & Bust and the Loud Numbers theme music, Jason Forrest's "Trickledown Aftermath" of Boom & Bust, and a ambient remix of The Natural Lottery that Duncan made.
You'll find the album on Bandcamp and all good streaming services.
We'll be back in touch again in the next couple of months with another update - in the meantime, drop us an email if you have anything you'd like to chat about!
- Duncan and Miriam