AV - MULBERRY DAWN
Ever wondered what a photo might 'sound' like?
This AV project is an exploration into the geometric and textural patterns that exist in photography and how they have correlations in the audio realm.
For those of you curious as to some of the musical systems I used to create the audio, here's a deeper dive ...
The time signature also unfolds – in the early part of the piece, bars of ¾ time alternate with those of 5/4 time. At bar 25 we begin alternating 5/4 and 8/4 bars giving way to 13/4 time at bar 73.
Most of the audio samples of footsteps, water and squelches were recorded on the same beach as the photograph was taken. From right to left, the photograph is split into 13 imaginary measures.
The ‘clicker stones’ occur every 21 measures throughout the piece. The deep kicks occur every 13 measures. The ‘Mulberry’ harbour has its’ own stoic, slightly metallic-sounding drone sound that occurs every 13 measures from 1:38 onwards, fading into the brightness of the day.
The Sky streaks, ie. the clouds that form diagonal lines across the sky have their own motif which comes in at 3:48. Its position in the 13-beat structure corresponds to its relative position within the image. There are also echoes of this motif in keeping with the echoing streaks in the sky. I was intrigued by how the perspective line of the jetty and the clouds seem to be on a collision course with each other somewhere in the distant future.
The basis of the drone content came of a hyper time-stretch of Debussy’s ‘La Mer’, for obvious reasons, given ‘La Mer’ translates to ‘The Sea’ from French to English. Chords were then chosen to help create a mood in keeping with the photographic content.
