Bell mouth spillway sonic accumulation An ambisonic installation commissioned by Fluid Borders
A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam into a downstream area, typically the riverbed of the dammed river itself. The bell mouth spillway at lower Huia dam in Titirangi is one such example and is easily accessible from central Auckland. Over a three month period I recorded sound and visual material at the spillway site while composing and compositing the data collected. The composition is thus based on the three dimensional shape of the bell mouth using the accumulated data which includes film, dimensional survey together with actual field recordings of the acoustic properties of the bell mouth during different times and atmospheric conditions. These recordings are incorporated into the composition. The output comprises a binaural listening experience set up in the round, using a speaker array. Part 1 of the installation ran at the Audio Foundation Auckland in September 2019. Unfortunately part two was cancelled due to covid lockdown the following year and the complete piece is still to be experienced in its entirety. |