As mentioned in my last post, the budget for audio gear has been hugely cut, which means that surround sound and even using sub-bass sounds to push those “emotional buttons” is now out, but Jarrad and I are working with MOD to make sure that the speakers that can be afforded are OK.

Another reduction to the scale of the project is that my original design for sound was that it would go around the entire vessel, as discussed in an earlier post, so that the sound would bleed from one space to the next, deliberately and carefully merging. MOD’s contract doesn’t extend to installing in every space, but there are still quite a number of spaces (for example the showers, comms room, sailor’s galley, dining room and gun bay) that are clustered together and where sound will spill from one space to the next. It does mean, however, that sound won’t be continuous and that I have few opportunities to establish sound ideas and develop them through a lot of spaces: it’s more likely therefore that each space will have its own sound identity, and that I’ll rely more on the timbres used (including electronic) than motifs to create continuity from space to space.

This is a shame, but as I said, working with MOD adds new layers of interactivity to the installation that weren’t there before, so easy come, easy go, say I. The “brain” behind this interactivity (not just including sound but sensors, projection and lighting) is being custom-built by Michaela and will run from networked Raspberry Pis right around the boat – in itself an innovative use of technology. I’ve really enjoyed playing with the Pi over the last few years and it will be fascinating to see it in use in a commercial venture. In addition, the actual aesthetic decisions and ways I always hoped to innovate in sounds are still in tact, so it’s an exciting time to up the pace of the project and its output.