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Frozen Sound

Jony Easterby 1999

'Frozen Sound' involved several speakers sitting in a stream near the start of the Ridding Wood Trail. We're not talking about a set of hi-fi tower speakers though, thankfully; these were disguised as rocks and played ambient noise. Jony Easterby describes the piece on his website:

"Frozen Sound consists of six loudspeakers set into cored slate boulders, which act as resonant enclosures, these are sited along the course of a small beck in the forest.

A microphone placed in front of each speaker/boulder was used to make six recordings of the beck prior to the completion of the work. Six sounds of the river have been 'frozen' in time within the sound samplers. The work also explores the linear spatial dynamics of sound along the streambed.

I was worried at first by the potentially adverse impact a sound piece would have on the forest environment. In part this led me to use the existing sound ecology as a basis for the work. The first recordings were made during the middle of winter when there was little birdsong, however I imagine replacing them with sounds recorded during early spring could create territorial confusion amongst the locals.

Whilst recording the audio sources, a passing light aeroplane added its drone to the mix. When this section of audio is replayed, almost without fail, people observing the work look to the sky."

The above link will lead you to the unabridged version of this text, where Easterby mentions the possibility of updating the audio to change with the seasons. I'm not sure whether this ever came to pass.

Also by this artist:

Hive 1996

Wind Thrust 1996

African Drums 1999

Marimba 1999

frozen sound.jpg

Photograph by Jony Easterby

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