« Subtle Distortion »

September 2016

In 2016, I was asked to create a sound installation for the Idea Festival, a “TED”-like conference that took place in Louisville, KY, near to where I grew up. This was the beginning of my journey into the world of multichannel audio.

Back then, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing (one might argue that I still don’t), and I had recently discovered the timeless magic of granular synthesis… So of course, I had the “brilliant” and “totally unique” idea to sample the sounds of some random objects and run them through a Max for Live granular synth. It’s a rite of passage, right?

In the end, I came up with some messy sounds, and played them through a circular set of speakers in a dark room. The sampled object was illuminated in the center. “Subtle”, eh?

Looking back, the funniest thing is that at the time, I had absolutely no knowledge of the half-century of creativity and wisdom that had been amassed by the countless electroacoustic composers who had come before me. I just knew I liked synthesizers, and that I wanted to work at the intersections of sound, space, and light. … Mmmm actually let’s be real – I was just excited to get paid for making weird noises.

All these years later, thinking about this project makes me cringe a bit, but I’m very thankful I got the opportunity.