Sound

Come and be beside the seaside. Or let the 3D soundscape Ah… the sea, our 1940s bathing belle, deckchairs, fish ‘n’ chips and candyfloss make you feel as though you are.

‘Sound’ lets you explore acoustic engineering and advances in surround sound.

Ah… the sea was specially commissioned from multimedia artists Braunarts for the ‘5 Senses’ series and runs all week. It’s a 3D seaside soundscape that lets your ears and imagination combine to take you to the scene and beyond. Use the joystick to play with the sounds; push, pull, spin, squash and invert them yourself, and find out how they come out. But just how convincing are the sounds produced by the sophisticated 12-speaker surround sound system?

Discuss the installation with the artists Terry and Gabi Braun and the acoustic engineers with whom they’ve been working closely, Paul Gillieron and Dave Hunt. They’d like your opinions on how realistic you found the installation. Discover how they’ve been developing surround sound technology and transforming it into works of art.

Take part in a surround sound workshop with Tim Brookes and experience how the brain decides what direction a sound has come from and how far away the source is. Does your brain always get it right? How easily can it be fooled? Find out how psychoacoustics is used to create auditory illusions for hi-fi, headphone and cinema sound. Can these tricks be improved? Can you tell what's real and what isn't?

Meet Bill Davies and hear a variety of outdoor sounds. How do they make you feel? How well can you follow specific sounds and can you always tell where they’re coming from? Find out from one another what your favourite London sounds are and explore the urban audio landscape. How would you design this?

These events are supported by The Royal Academy of Engineering.

Speakers

Terry and Gabi Braun, Directors and Producers, Braunarts
Paul Gillieron, Director, PGAD/surroundAV/Quantum Theatre
Dave Hunt, Director, Dave Hunt Audio
Tim Brookes, Senior Lecturer in Audio, University of Surrey
Bill Davies, Senior Lecturer in Acoustics and Head of Acoustics, Audio and Video Group, University of Salford

Facilitator

Susanne Buck, Educational Facilitator, MA Creative Practices for Narrative Environments, Central St Martins

Listen to an audio description [mp3] of this event.

Listen to our audio file [mp3] containing directions to the Dana Centre from Gloucester Road tube station.

event video

podcast

You can download an audio podcast [mp4] of this event.

This event is part of 5 Senses