THE WOVEN SOUND PROJECT

Commissioned by the Essex Cultural Diversity Project partnering with the National Trust at Paycocke's House and Grange Barn, Coggeshall

E Fineston-Robertson provided sound sets for the 808 inspired contactless instrument that is the centrepiece of a season-long exhibition for the National Trust at Paycocke’s House, Coggeshall. In addition to the sound sets, E Fineston-Robertson produced a rhythmic pattern that demonstrated each sound set. The contactless instrument works like a 5 track 808 drum machine in single pattern mode – members of the public are able to create a pattern on 5x16 grid and the play it back.

Each sound set includes 5 ‘one-shot’ sounds suitable to work within the context of an 808 style drum machine. Each sound was generated from audio, and from the following sources: sounds of weaving, small fragments of Gustav Holst’s music, clockwork, and fabric sounds. The pitched sounds were tuned to notes in the pentatonic scale. The grid is 16 note resolution (like the 808) which was treated as 1 bar of 16th notes or 2 bars of 8th notes depending on the tempo.

The tempo was between 70bpm and 160bpm (but in 10bpm steps only). Members of the public are able to play with the sound sets and mix and match them with sounds from other sound sets. Given the exhibition is open to all ages, it was inevitable that several participants will challenge themselves to switch on every grid cell at full tempo (160bpm). So E Fineston-Robertson made sure the sound sets worked in this context.