« T/|\LT »

July – October 2021

Tilt is an interactive sound-object that uses 24 hanging pendulums to wirelessly control 24 synth-oscillators, which are tuned to the relative frequencies of the overtone spectrum. On one side, the lowest bar is assigned a pitch between 40-50hz, and each consecutive bar is an ascending multiple of that frequency (2x, 3x, 4x … 24x). However, as each bar is pulled further from its neutral position, its pitch bends slightly upwards, ensuring that the object will never fully settle into tune with itself.

Choreographer Jonathan Kolski and dancer Nolwenn Samson improvise with the object for a closed video shoot

The object was built in collaboration with choreographer Jonathan Kolski and made its stage premiere as part of a dance performance (not seen in these videos) at the Ernst Busch Hochschule für Schauspielkunst, also choreographed by Kolski.

Throughout the piece, the multiplication factor between the swinging pendulums slowly decreases in value – rather than even-multiples, the bars might be tuned to something like 1.9x, 2.85x, 3.8x, etc. of the fundamental – resulting in a distorted, crunched-up version of the overtone spectrum. By the end, all of the bars are nearly as low as the lowest pitch.